Arts Watch: The art of the deal

By Bill McCann. This piece was orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished by The Winchester Sun. 

Whether you liked watch­ing TV’s “Let’s Make a Deal” or read­ing “The Art of the Deal” by Donald Trump’s ghost­writer, the art of the deal was once again live at Bargains on Broadway at 26 East Broadway Street on Saturday, March 9, start­ing at 5:30 p.m.

Robert Pritchett owns and his fam­i­ly help run one of the most unusu­al busi­ness­es
around. Most days, it is only a store and a café. But some­times, as on March 9, Pritchett
hires an auc­tion­eer to con­duct live auctions.

Though live auc­tions have become rar­i­ties else­where in the wake of the COVID pan­dem­ic, they are mak­ing a come-back at Bargains on Broadway.

Before March 2020, Bargains fea­tured week­ly auc­tions that often felt like game shows. As an auc­tion­eer myself for ten years, I knew auc­tions were big busi­ness, heavy on seri­ous­ness, and focused on get­ting the high­est prices pos­si­ble. Pritchett turned that approach on its head by mak­ing them low-stress and high-fun events.

Items sold at sim­i­lar auc­tions are antiques and col­lectibles, only one-of-a-kind items. At Bargains, the items sold are of the types used in house­holds and are typ­i­cal­ly avail­able in quan­ti­ty. So win­ning bid­ders can pur­chase from one to all of the items being auc­tioned. Whereas a typ­i­cal auc­tion audi­ence is filled with peo­ple who are buy­ing for resale, the Bargains crowd is there buy­ing for their pantry, work­shop, or garage; typ­i­cal­ly, most peo­ple buy a sin­gle item, or maybe two if a birth­day or spe­cial occa­sion is ahead.

This past Saturday, items sold includ­ed bam­boo sheet sets for Queen, King, and California King beds ($12.50 per set); 8 gauge twelve-foot jumper cables ($10); hum­ming­bird wind chimes ($20); 30-ounce UK (hot/cold) mugs $10. The most expen­sive item I saw sold was a ham­mock for $60. Though there were none sold at the most recent sale, I have seen gen­er­a­tors and oth­er large items sold at the pre-pan­dem­ic sales.

Despite traf­fic cones and con­fu­sion right out­side the door, by auc­tion time the store was packed with cus­tomers seat­ed and stand­ing, some drink­ing or eat­ing food items and desserts from the Broadway Café. The evening opened with Pritchett wel­com­ing every­one before turn­ing the night over to his auctioneer.

Things were a bit slow, lack­ing some of the con­vivi­al­i­ty and good humor of pre­vi­ous auc­tions. But that is a minor point. The food was good, prices were always fair, and the auc­tion­eer did a nice job keep­ing things moving.

“Fair” is a sub­jec­tive term. But if auc­tion-goers got car­ried away bidding—for exam­ple, a small self-sharp­en­ing knife was bid up past $30, but Pritchett sold the knives for $10 each instead. ”Getting car­ried away” is not as prob­lem­at­ic at Bargains as it would be at a tra­di­tion­al auction.

It was good to see every­body back at Bargains on Broadway hav­ing a good time and find­ing bar­gains. At least for the fore­see­able future, Pritchett is expect­ing to hold his in-per­son auc­tions twice a month. On auc­tion days, a sand­wich board will be placed out­side the store entrance, but a check of the Café’s Facebook page may be eas­i­er to find.

Bill McCann is the author of God Hires Gardeners (Finishing Line Press) and a nom­i­nee for the 2025 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. He can be reached at WHMwriter@gmail.com