Yard sales flourish as economy worsens

MANTECA, Calif., Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Sociologists say the garage-sale economy is flourishing across the United States as the financial crisis deepens and more people lose their homes.

"This is the perfect storm for garage sales," said Gregg Kettles, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who studies consumers and outdoor commerce. "We're coming off a 20-year boom in which consumers filled ever-bigger houses. Now people need cash because of the bust."

Some cities, including Weymouth, Mass., Manteca, Calif., and Richmond, Ind., are limiting, with mixed results, the number of yard sales and where yard-sale signs can be placed to avoid impeding traffic, The New York Times reported Saturday.

While practical items such as beds, dressers, chairs and tables are put up at yard sales, many increasingly feature items still used and loved by the family, the Times reported.

That's because many people need cash and no longer can afford to be sentimental, said Beatriz Duarte of Manteca, who sold her 3-year-old daughter's tricycle to a stranger for $3 even as her daughter was riding it.