There was an auction 30 miles away from me yesterday with three lockers and I decided not to go because of gas prices. 

Taxidermy, already tried that business with a buddy of mine years ago.

@ aftermath

I don't know how big a city you live in, but I think it would be more likely that a former locker owner sees you selling his or her furniture and calls to hassle you about it, or someone sees you selling thier stuff at a flea market. So far this has not happened to me yet.

any thoughts from the "old timers", has anyone confronted you at a flea market or thrift store or on Craigslist claiming you are selling thier stuff they left in a storage locker and give you a hard time about it?

Sorry if this is a "thread hijack" question.

Do you have a Cracker Barrel restaurant near your house?

plausible deniability? 

I try to look for items in the lockers that tells me the owner has ecletic taste or disposable income. A good sign for me in my area is artwork, vases, unusual fashion sense, unique furniture, or any hobby related items EXCEPT for tools and or hunting/fishing/camping supplies. A door goes up on a unit in my area and you see a fishing pole or a gun case or a tent, you can forget about getting it for less than $500! Most of the lockers in my area are Wal-Mart chic, so if I see some unique things that can't be bought at Wal-Mart in a locker, my radar starts to go up.

@ Ironman,

I don't know how far north you are willing to drive, but I hear the Summerville Ga. flea market on tuesday is real good, and several of the guys from my area are having success at the flea market in Dalton Ga. I think I am going to try the one in Dalton in the next couple of weeks. The flea market near me is not generating the level of income I would be happy with making over a weekend. Both of those flea markets are mainly outdoors.

Hey guys,

Like many auction hunters I have thought about opening a "thrift store" as a way to create business and sell items found in storage lockers. Over the last few weeks I have been doing a visual inventory of the number of thrift stores, consignment shops, resale shops, in my area to get an idea of the competition. I was astounded by what I found. On one stretch of road less then 10 miles long there are at least 15 resale related shops NOT including pawn shops. Another road about the same distance had 7 resale shops. close to my home there are 3 shops in the same strip mall, and at least 5 others I can think of off the top of my head. That is NOT including the big non-profits like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Thrift Stores of America, etc.

My question is "How many thrift stores can a city support?" I have not tried to do a "head count" of the people running thrift stores and comparing that to auction attendees. I know several of the regulars are thrift store owners. I guess I am wondering if the shift in the American economy can support all the new thrift stores, or are there going to be a lot of people losing money and going bankrupt trying to open and run thrift stores?