COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--May 20--One Fourth of July, Earl MacEnulty and his brother, Bill, were working on their pack-rat problem by selling their extra tools at a yard sale.
'We were selling $10 wrenches for a buck, and we thought, 'This is ridiculous,'' MacEnulty said.
Then an idea struck them.
MacEnulty's sister-in-law sold clothing on consignment; why not sell tools the same way?
So four years ago they opened Sport & Tool Consignment, at 2202 E. Pikes Peak Ave., and chiseled out a niche.
'We have regulars,' said Earl MacEnulty, who now runs the business.
'We have ranch and farm people who come to Furr's next door. We have regular plumbers and carpenters. And some people come in every day, because not a day goes by that we don't get something new.'
The store's shelves are crammed with hammers, screwdrivers, chisels, socket wrenches, power saws, drills, sanders, axes and staple guns.
There are garden tools, painting, plumbing and mechanics' tools, too.
Most items cost about 60 percent of their new sale price.
There's a brand-name area, with Snap-On, Mac and Craftsman items, and an antique area, where old and sometimes unidentifiable objects are arranged.
'There are things in here, I don't even know what they're for,' MacEnulty said. 'Mostly they come from farmers, ranchers and older people who are retiring. I finally had to buy a book to help figure out what they were. I still run into things that confound me.'
But he doesn't shy from accepting the oddball widget.
'No matter what it is, in time, we'll sell it,' he said. 'I don't care what it is. The craziest things, people buy them.'
Originally, the store's inventory was all consigned. But customers started asking if special items could be ordered. Now some new items round out the store's stock.
Sometimes tools end up at the shop for unfortunate reasons.
'Often, a husband dies, the wife goes down to the basement and it's full of tools she doesn't know what to do with,' MacEnulty said. 'That's the sad part. Or there's a divorce, and they need money.'
MacEnulty also sells sporting goods, but because other shops specialize in that equipment he is concentrating on tools.
The store offers free pick-up, itemizing and cataloging for consigners. Consigners usually get half of the selling price, more for expensive items. Or, they can specify a certain amount they want to get out of an item, and MacNulty figures his percentage on top of that. That can be confusing when identical hammers have different prices because owners disagree on the value.
MacEnulty's customers are mainly 'men who come in and relish tools,' he said. The most rewarding part, he said, is meeting customers, sharing advice on how to fix or use a tool.
'A tool never wears out unless it's abused,' he said.
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