A few years ago Linda organized a block-wide yard sale. By ‘block-wide,’ I mean maybe three of the neighbors, Linda included. Linda’s goals were to sell off some of the stuff we no longer needed or played with, make some money, and (I am guessing here) make room for more things she could use to redecorate the house, which may have indirectly helped her launch her blog.
Linda succeeded on all counts, and exceeded the other neighbors in the profit category. Ha ha! We vaulted into a higher tax bracket than you suckers, by 185 bucks!
So while Linda was peddling her used wares – and I mean our stuff, not herself – I suggested Sam go to the end of the block and set up a lemonade stand. It would be a strategic spot where he could catch people walking back from a Cubs game on a warm summer afternoon. Given many of them may have been drinking beer at the game, they might be ready for a lemonade on their way back home.
I took a small cooler of beer and sat nearby as Sam and his buddy Simon hawked their lemonade. They did well. I thought he might do even better if he wagged his eyebrows and greeted the women with, “Hiya, toots, how ‘bout a drink?” Sam somehow ignored my business plan. I wondered how much I could make selling my own beer to the passersby.
Despite my keen insights, Sam made good money that day. It’s probably hard not to give a few quarters to an eager, friendly kid – especially when you’re happy from a few Old Styles at Wrigley.
Which reminds me: When I was 9 or 10, my friend Steve and I set up a lemonade stand in front of my house. The problem was, I didn’t have much lemonade mix, so of course I supplemented it with chocolate Instant Breakfast® and mixed it all together with tap water and ice.
Wow – a gray drink! I knew it was just a little unappealing, so I made a sales sign: “10 Cents a Cup — No Indian giving.” Not only did we offend any Native Americans who might have been walking through the mean streets of Wilmette, Illinois – we didn’t make a single sale.
I suggested to Steve that next time, we try strawberry.
~ Mike
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Egads. Hope your beverage making skills have improved, and did you refer to Linda’s charms as used wares?
~Bliss~
oh goodness. i might have that gray drink image in my mind all day. 🙁
You need to meet my husband. He’s a Cub fan who believes that every recipe benefits from the addition of tomato soup! You should try the vanilla…I’ll bet that it would be divine! Hugs.
I used to live on Sheffield between Waveland and Grace. Needless to say I saw my fair share of Cubs traffic. One day, I got off the el at Addison and began walking North on Sheffield. It was a game day so the neighborhood was packed but a particularly dense knot of people caught my eye. They were huddled around two little girls, maybe ten-years-old, who were holding a sign that said, “ADVICE: 25 cents.” I’m pretty sure they made a killing that day…
Genius! Stealing that for my sons next summer!
Michael me boy, love the picture of our house and your story made me laugh! Love you.
LOL – this made me laugh! Didn’t realize we’re “neighbors” although I don’t live in the City but the ‘burbs 🙂 I’m seriously thinking of throwing together a sale to make some money for our vacation — it’s so much work but it DOES allow me a day to do nothing but sit in the sun or shade, read a good book, collect money, paint my nails, and blog of course!
Haha. Maybe you should just stick to drinking the beer! 😉
Love the story….:)….We recently bought a lemonade stand for our granddaughter to sell her lemonade at our neighborhood yard sales…we have one as a neighborhood twice a year….but with the issues of the “health dept” we had to revert to her selling bottles of lemonade….where has the simple days of lemonade and in a paper cup gone…She branched out at the next yard sale and added bottled water to her inventory!!