For years, starting in the early 1970′s, Sudberry House has held a ” Garage Sale ” the first four Saturdays in August. It started out as a sale of the errors made in the production of Sudberry trays, boxes, mirrors,footstools, and luggage racks. We were located in a small building in Westbrook, CT. The company soon outgrew that facility and built a new building on I-95 in East Lyme in 1975.
When we moved we asked other manufacturers in the needlework industry to send their second quality merchandise to us “on consignment”. Everyone liked the idea, and soon we had crowds of customers lining up on our driveway ,especially on the first Saturday. It got to be such mayhem that we’ve had to rope off the entrances, and with a horn warn people not to run for the bargains. Bus trips from Boston, New York, and Long Island are part of the crowds. Our most famous attendee was the Governor of Connecticut who loved to do needlework and loved our bargains!
We have a special staff of past employees who still enjoy working for the Garage Sale. Mary sets up the garage with needlepoint canvasses stapled to the wall the week before the sale. Natalie and Jeannie join Mary in adding up the totals and checking out the people they see every year that say ” You should see my stash of things from past years sales! ” Several area businessmen attend every year, one who stitches needlepoint rugs and another who uses oak boxes by the dozen for resale with his art added.
Our funniest among many stories are-
1.Two women wanted a Lois Caron designed rug and both had their hands on it from either end. The staff could not not get either one to give it up, and called the owners of Sudberry who were at a trade show to resolve the spat!
2. A group arrived in a camper and parked in the parking lot and slept in it the night before the sale.
3. Two women flew in a husband’s private jet into Hartford, left their husbands there and drove down to the sale in a rented car,
4. A woman brought binoculars so that she could see some of the items up close while standing in line.
5. And every year, there are customers who arrive at closing time always with the same line -the traffic held me up for hours, so PLEASE stay open a few more minutes!
About Judy & Sudberry House
My husband was a frustrated corporate executive and I was a surburban wife and mother busy as a bee in 1967! He wanted to start his own business and had wild big capital ideas, so I thought of making Bermuda handles for matching a skirt fabric with a bag! So we started the part-time business in our basement making handles then moved to our garage in New Jersey for four years. Needlecraft was taking off and our handle customers wanted more things such as trays, footstools, and luggage racks to display needlepoint, We moved to Connecticut in 1972 and Sudberry House grew to a business with 30 employees in the 80′s and 90′s! Tom retired in 1996 and our son David and I now run the business. Our new address is 323 Boston Post Rd. #3 Old Saybrook, Ct. 06475. You can find them on the Web at: http://www.sudberry.com/.
Tags: needlepoint garage sale, sudberry
