BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD (Sept. 8, 2016) – With a name like “The Big Grab,” one would have to imagine the event has considerable scope. After all, the word “Big” is right there in the name of the event.
But this weekend’s curbside crawl of yard sales might have been better dubbed “The Bigger Grab.”
Shoppers at last year’s Big Grab search for deals.
The event that links Blythewood, Ridgeway and Winnsboro in a network of yard sales has grown and expanded this year to include more of Richland County and will run all the way to Newberry.
“It started out at 25 miles as a way to bring people into our communities and to enjoy small towns again, as well as a way to help our citizens put a little money in their pockets,” Terry Vickers, President of the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce, said. “Now we’re in our fifth year and it is up to 85 miles.”
Vendors will be out trolling the roadsides from sunrise to sunset this Friday and Saturday along a route that beings at Exit 71 on I-20 and travels up Highway 21 into Blythewood and on to Ridgeway. From Ridgeway, shoppers can follow Highway 34 to Winnsboro, where sales will stretch along Highway 321 Business and the 321 Bypass, looping back to Highway 34 and running all the way to Exit 74 at I-26 near Newberry.
The event was the brainchild of Ridgeway merchant Denise Jones, Vickers said, who saw the success of Ridgeway’s semi-annual sidewalk sales and envisioned a chain of similar sales running for miles along the open road. Since its inception, The Big Grab has not only drawn shoppers into local businesses, it has also drawn vendors from as far away as New Jersey, Vickers said.
The event has also been a boon to local churches, who have capitalized on The Big Grab as a major annual fundraiser – not only selling their own wares, but also renting out prime selling space to vendors who otherwise would not have had a spot along the route. First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro has set the bar for other churches, raising approximately $5,000 last year.
Vendors will begin trickling into the area soon, Vickers said, setting up Thursday evening so they will be ready for the first light of dawn on Friday. Shoppers will just have to stand by and wait until day breaks.
“It’s exciting,” Vickers said. “My phone has been ringing off the hook!”
Shoppers, Merchants Ready for Sept. 11-12 Yard Sale Crawl
Organizers for this year’s Big Grab event, Denise Jones (Ridgeway), Terry Vickers (Winnsboro) and Jean Bell (Blythewood), kicked off last year’s Big Grab with an early morning interview with WLTX-TV in an already crowded downtown Blythewood.
BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD COUNTY – Shops, restaurants, service stations, hotels and other merchants in Blythewood, Winnsboro and Ridgeway are stocked and ready for the invasion that will happen next week when the fourth annual 43-mile Big Grab yard sale descends on the three towns and everything in between. Already businesses and residents along the sale route are renting 12×12-foot patches of their parking lots to vendors.
And the Big Grab is not just for businesses anymore. Some churches found the sale so lucrative last year that their members have been collecting and storing items for it all year. One church in downtown Winnsboro reported sales last year of more than $4,000.
The event promises to bring some of the best profits the towns’ shops will see this year.
“It was two of the best days we’ve ever had,” Kristen Statton said of last year’s Big Grab. Owner of two Bits and Pieces Consignment shops in downtown Blythewood, Stratton said everything in the store was 25 percent off with some items marked down to half price. “Lines of shoppers were carrying purchases out the door all day.”
“Us, too,” echoed Liz Humphries, owner of Blythewood Consignment. “Our store was packed both days. It was great.”
Even shops not normally associated with used merchandise, such as the Tea Rooms in Winnsboro and Ridgeway and Over The Top dress boutique in Ridgeway, also reported multiple lines at their checkout counters both days of the event. Louise Ruff, 11, made more than $200 on the home-baked cookies, brownies and breads she sold at her little sidewalk booth in Ridgeway.
“By noon on Friday I had sold everything my mom and I baked for the weekend,” she said. “So we had to bake more that evening for Saturday.”
Hotels, restaurants and service stations in all three towns also reported a significant uptick in business. Larry Sharpe, owner of three Sharpe Shoppes and the Bojangles in Blythewood, said his business during the two days was up 25 percent more than when the rodeo comes to town every summer.
Terry Vickers, chairwoman of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, said organizers are expecting vendors and shoppers from several states away again this year.
“It’s great for our businesses, and it’s great for our resident shoppers who get to browse all this stuff brought to our doorstep by outside vendors,” Vickers said. “Prices are great and the selection, well, there’s no end to it. It’s phenomenal!”
While traffic slowed to a crawl at times during last year’s Big Grab, Vickers said traffic issues should be greatly alleviated this year. The Town of Blythewood contributed $1,000 for deputies to assist in traffic control and another $1,000 for advertising costs. The Town of Winnsboro contributed $500, and Ridgeway, $200.
“Every year we get more organized,” said Denise Jones whose brainstorm it was for the three towns to host a multi-mile yard sale three years ago during her tenure as president of the Board of the Fairfield Chamber. “It caught on and has really been a fun, lucrative event for our three communities,” Jones said. “We appreciate not only our venders and volunteers who make it happen, but we appreciate all those folks who come out to shop and have a good time. It helps our businesses, the economy of our communities and just about everyone takes home a great find!”
The sale will run from dawn ‘til dark Friday, Sept. 11 and Saturday, Sept. 12. For those still needing a space to sell their wares, check out available rental spaces at www.fairfieldchamber.sc. Stay up to date on the Big Grab Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheBigGrab. Organizers are asking shoppers/vendors to not park in front of mail boxes along the route. For more information about the event, call 803-635-4242 (Fairfield County), 803-337-2213 (Ridgeway) and 803-550-9323 (Blythewood).
You’ve Been Grabbed – John Davis, a Fairfield County Museum volunteer, helps Janet Spires of Lexington carry her Big Grab $35 purchase (a mid-century vanity that she plans to refurbish and use as a desk) to her truck. Pelham Lyles, director of the museum, reported that the museum’s ‘back yard shade tree’ sale was a huge success.
On Shoestring Budget, Event Gives Local Merchants Shot in the Arm
BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD – Friday and Saturday were good days for the shops, restaurants, service stations, hotels and other merchants in Blythewood, Winnsboro and Ridgeway. Long lines of cars and trucks began snaking into the towns early Friday for the annual Big Grab Yard Sale. The vehicles’ occupants arrived with large amounts of cash for two days of non-stop bargaining and buying . . . and bargain and buy they did.
“It was two of the best days of the whole year for us,” said Kristen Stratton, owner of Bits and Pieces Consignment Shop in Blythewood where everything in the store was 25 percent off with some items marked down to half price.
“Us, too,” echoed Liz Humphries, owner of Blythewood Consignment. “Our store was packed both days. It was great.”
“We were slammed on Friday,” reported Christine Fair, owner of Winnsboro’s Cornwallis Tea Room. Tina Johnson, owner of Over The Top in Ridgeway, said she had multiple lines at the checkout counter most of the time both days. “It was way more than I expected. Two great days!”
One church that had a sale booth on Congress Street in downtown Winnsboro reported sales of $4,000 before the booth closed on Friday.
Louise Ruff, 10, cashed in big on the home-baked cookies, brownies and breads she sold at her little sidewalk booth in downtown Ridgeway.
“I made about $200,” she said. “I sold everything my mom and I had baked by noon on Friday, so we had to bake more that evening. And on Saturday I sold everything by mid-afternoon. It was a good day,” she said, quite pleased.
Blythewood’s hotels and fast food restaurants as well as service stations in all three towns reported a significant uptick in business.
Larry Sharpe, owner of three Sharpe Shoppes and the Bojangles in Blythewood said his business during the two days was up 25 percent more than when the Rodeo comes to town.
“Until this, the rodeo gave us our big sales days,” Sharpe said. “But there was lots of foot traffic from The Big Grab, lots of people buying snacks and Bojangles. It’s a good thing for the town’s merchants.”
The Big Grab was advertised online, on radio and in newspapers. Vendors came from as far away as Alabama, and shoppers from as far away as Ohio and Florida.
But for all the business it brings the town’s merchants, it doesn’t get the big bucks of support from the respective town governments that other events do. The Blythewood town government donates $15,000 to the rodeo and similar amounts to the Band and Baseball Tournaments each year. But merchants say those events do not bring as much business to the town during shopping hours as The Big Grab. The Town of Blythewood, which had the greatest number of vendors and shoppers over the two days, donated $1,000. Winnsboro Town government donated $300 and Ridgeway, $175. Vendors paid from $20 to $50 for sponsorships.
Terry Vickers, one of the organizers said the event’s no-frills budget is a little more than $3,000, small for such a large event.
“That has to cover insurance, advertising, portable restrooms and other expenses,” she said.
While he agreed that The Big Grab could benefit from more hands on deck to help with the planning, Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross said, “if the town gets all this and the organizers only need $1,000 from us, I think that is the way we want it to work.”
He said he is going to get some numbers from the restaurants, hotels and merchants for the weekend to see how much the event might have generated over regular weekends here in Blythewood.
“If the numbers come back with increases, we would certainly entertain increasing the amount if they need it,” Ross said.
The brainchild of Blythewood’s Denise Jones who co-owns the Cottonyard Market in Ridgeway, the sprawling yard sale now in its third year covers 43 miles encompassing Winnsboro, Blythewood and Ridgeway. All but the long stretch on Highway 34 from I-77 to the bypass in Winnsboro was fairly solid with yard sales. Vendor tent cities cropped up in several locations between Blythewood and Ridgeway, at times bringing traffic to a crawl.
“But when it slowed down,” said shopper Nadine Branham, “we just got out and shopped!”
Jones expressed her gratitude to the shoppers, the vendors and the sponsors who signed on with financial support.
“It’s a volunteer effort and we are dependent on volunteers for things to run smoothly,” Jones said. “The organizers try to think of ways each year to improve on the previous year.
“The Big Grab provides a big financial boost for our businesses as well as our church and resident vendors,” Jones said. “Plus, it brings a big selection of bargains for shoppers. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
