Marie Kondo effect sparks ‘crazy’ surge in joy for consignment shop
SASKATOON More than a month after Netflix released the new reality series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, a Saskatoon consignment shop is still struggling to keep up with the barrage of items people have decided to ditch.
“We’ve been bombarded,” said Sarah Middlemiss, co-owner of Underground Trends. “We didn’t take things for the month of January, which was big ... it’s been crazy for us.”
Middlemiss said it didn’t take long for people to start using Kondo’s method of deciding which items “sparked joy” and would maintain a spot in their households and which would be thanked and then taken to the shop to sell.
The show premiered on Jan. 1. By the next day, people were already showing up at Underground Trends with what Middlemiss describes as “whole houses” worth of items stuffed into bags and boxes.
It’s not unusual for items to make their way into the shop after Christmas, but it’s usually just people coming in with a few unwanted Christmas gifts — not entire bags of socks, she said.
“People were saying, ‘Oh, I sat in front of the TV and went through all my jeans or all my shoes.’ It’s really flourished us,” she said. “Instead of the average one bag, it was like six bags.”
Ashley Taylor was one of the people inspired by Kondo’s show. She said it took her four days to sort through all her clothing — painstakingly deciding what to keep and what to clear out.
“Most of what I was holding onto was junk,” she said. “So the majority of what I got rid of went into the dumpster. I definitely don’t have as many outfit choices now as I used to — I might have to go out shopping and find some new items that spark joy.”
So far, Taylor said she has only been able to purge items from her closet, but she has plans to continue the clear-out once her university classes are done in the spring.
Not everything people bring to the store can be sold. When that happens, the items are often donated to local charities like The Lighthouse or The Friendship Inn.
While Underground Trends is once again accepting new items for consignment, Middlemiss said the staff would like people to refrain from bringing a house’s worth of items in one day.
Middlemiss said she isn’t sure how long the Marie Kondo effect will last, but she does expect the clear-outs will become less extreme — and once people start cashing their consignment cheques, they will be much more likely to return with more to sell in the future.
“It’s definitely been both a blessing and a curse,” she said. “I didn’t think (the show) would be as recognized as we’ve seen it to be ... but it’s a good thing though, I think. People needed to have something to make them change their lives.”