Patricia Jones of Des Moines was ahead of her time.

For more than 45 years, before minimalism was popular and Japanese “declutter queen” Marie Kondo was born, Jones helped Central Iowans divest themselves of their possessions – and make money off it. 

They might be newly widowed or divorcing. They could be aging couples moving into assisted living, or young professionals relocating for better jobs.  Through her business, Pat Jones Tag Sales, Jones and her daughter and business partner meticulously researched the value of goods before selling them, and offered an ear and a shoulder to people in transition.

Jones died last month at 88. It is a testament to the legacy she built that her visitation was attended by people who furnished their homes or wardrobes with the high-end goods she sold for a fraction of their original prices. “Everybody was given the same treatment, whether they were the mayor or the garbage man,” says her daughter  Suzanne Volkmer-Jones, who is carrying on the business. 

Some balk at buying clothes or furnishings that belonged to someone else. But estate sales make it possible for everyone to live elegantly for a fraction of what it would have cost: Think a $1,000 couch for $150. Picture a stash of brand-new, designer men’s shoes or a roomful of Tiffany hats still in their original boxes. In a world of endless ways to buy but the same limited styles in fashion, it’s a refreshing reprieve. 

“We sell everything from Steinways to screwdrivers,” said Volkmer-Jones, one of Jones’ five children. Before starting her business in the early ’70s, her antiques-loving mother used to hit the road with a group of friends and packed lunches, spending the day browsing through small-town antique stores, she said. “My dad was a minimalist. My mom could have filled the house 10 times over.”

When women-owned businesses were few, Jones married her love of high-end goods with a flair for customer care honed while working retail at Younkers.  Auctions were then the common way to dispose of household goods. 

I met Pat and Suzanne while attending my first estate sale in 1994, one they had for my friend Bev Davis, who had sold her house and all her belongings and moved to Woodstock, New York, on a whim. We’ve been friends since. 

We Americans have a love-hate relationship with our stuff. Many of us learned shopping as a pastime, as one might learn bicycle-riding or going to museums. While contributing to overflowing landfills and over-dependence on fossil fuels, we gave little thought to where all that stuff would eventually go. We’ve gone into debt buying things we couldn’t afford, some of which we now hoard. This is where the beauty of the secondary market comes in.

It gives the young couple starting out and the immigrant family starting over an equal chance to live in well-equipped, nicely decorated homes, dress in brand-name clothes and buy diamond engagement rings without breaking the bank. Shopping at Pat Jones Tag Sales has become a family tradition for some, handed down over generations.

Volkmer-Jones and her mother have seen the fallout of overbuying. In addition to the gracious, well-appointed homes they’ve held sales in, they’ve had to claw their way through some chaotic ones. One, which a bank had reclaimed, had no plumbing or electricity and was missing part of a bedroom floor. It was so packed floor-to-ceiling with stuff that it took weeks to spot anything of value. But the house yielded $40,000 in sales before being demolished by the fire department. 

In a Boone home, they found Mamie Eisenhower memorabilia. The former first lady was from Boone. A letter from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow turned up in a woman’s underwear drawer in another home. “I’m always stunned at the quality of things we find in the Midwest,” Volkmer-Jones said.

They also have to adapt to changing tastes and prices. The demand for antiques, especially antique furniture, is in “deep decline,” Volkmer-Jones says. Fine china and crystal don’t turn up on young couples’ wedding registries, and any monetary value in sterling flatware is in melting it down into a commodity.

More from Basu:

• Survivors of child sex abuse speak out for legislation extending the time for victims to seek justice
• Fake crime numbers from Steve King bolster Trump’s fake border crisis

Remember Beanie Babies, and the slick marketing strategy to release them in limited quantities without notice? There are now 10,000 of them for sale on E-Bay, Volkmer-Jones quips. “And please never show me another blue and white Christmas plate.”

But good art and precious jewelry have held their value, she says.

Their work has given Jones and her daughter an intimate view of the inner worlds of clients. “You move into the house. You almost immerse yourself in their lives,” said Volkmer-Jones, who recalled her mother helping one client who was alone move into a new apartment and set it up, and even throwing her a birthday party. “I’ve sat at the kitchen table with widows who were weeping and telling me their stories.” 

Other stories emerged in what people left behind: Lurid pictures of the occupants. A trove of love letters from a married woman to a man who wasn’t her husband. Letters from a woman to a doctor worrying about her husband sexually abusing their (by then adult) son. Being impeccably discrete, it is likely Jones took some clients’ secrets with her to her death.

Pat Jones Tag Sales have developed a loyal customer base. Some 750 names are on an e-mail list that gets sent out before a sale. Buyers were so eager to get the first pick at one that they spent the night before it on the front porch.

As stores are replaced by online buying, estate sales retain the human dimension in shopping. They offer glimpses into how our neighbors people live. They make shopping an adventure and they reduce waste. For that and all the great buys, many of us are in Pat Jones’ debt.

Rekha Basu is an opinion columnist for The Des Moines Register. Contact: rbasu@dmreg.com Follow her on Twitter @rekhabasu and at Facebook.com/rekha.basu1106. Her book, “Finding Her Voice: A collection of Des Moines Register columns about women’s struggles and triumphs in the Midwest,” is available at ShopDMRegister.com/FindingHerVoice

Read or Share this story: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/rekha-basu/2019/02/28/life-well-lived-shows-power-and-beauty-secondary-market-marie-kondo-born-pat-jones-helping-people/2992393002/