Bargain hunters snap up high-end inventory donated by showroom
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| Paul Parks |
AIDS Services of Dallas added about $60,000 to its budget from the recent sale of upscale designer furniture and accessories donated to the group by a local showroom that went out of business.
The sale on Oct. 27-28 cleared most of the merchandise from a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Oak Cliff where it had been stored for several months, according to Paul Parks, director of development and public relations for the agency. Agency officials are delighted by the success of the sale, he said.
“It went wonderful,” Parks said. “Given that everything was donated including the space where it was stored it was a 100 percent success.
“A lot of people got things they liked at great prices. The customers were happy, and we’re happy too.”
Parks said the windfall comes in handy for the agency because of federal funding cuts through the Ryan White Act that have put a strain on all HIV service providers.
“The way funds are shifting to primary medical care, it’s going to allow us to have some money to move around as unrestricted funds to fill that gap,” Parks said.
The merchandise had an estimated retail value of $500,000, according to Dallas designer Bil Milton, who along with designer Brian Alden organized and priced the merchandise with the help of several other volunteers. The inventory included furniture, lamps, oil paintings, sculpture, mirrors, luxury bedding sets and rugs.
It was donated by Design Source, a showroom at Dallas’ World Trade Center that was operated by Larry Kenneth Payne for 27 years. The showroom relocated its headquarters to North Carolina, and Payne donated the merchandise to the agency rather than liquidate it on sale or move it.
Parks said Payne had donated merchandise to the agency twice before that was used in its residential and office facilities.
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This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 2, 2007