It’s been nearly four months since we announced that we will be closing to the general public in the fall. We’ve been fielding copious amounts of questions ever since we made that announcement. Answers to most of these questions can be found on our FAQ page. However, given all the questions, and the trade wars, we thought we would provide updates on inventory levels, new arrivals, sales, outdoor new arrivals for spring, a closing date, and more. As we are being asked these questions many times a day, every day.
We keep getting asked about new arrivals. For those unaware, The Barn sells both antique and new/reproduction items. Below are two separate updates, the first for antique new arrivals, and the second for new/reproduction items.
Yes there will continue to be antique new arrivals, all spring and summer long. However, there will be a significant reduction in inventory. We are bringing in dozens of antique new arrivals every week, but more pieces are being sold and leaving than new arrivals are coming in, so there will be a gradual reduction of inventory on display over the summer months.
New/reproduction new arrivals is a different situation. We purchase these items in large quantities, that’s one of the reasons we are able to offer low prices. We only leave one or two of each new/reproduction item on display. We have all the extra new/reproduction inventory hidden away inside The Barn, or in storage. As new/reproduction items sell, we replace the sold items with duplicates we have in storage. Because we buy in large quantities, we normally have far more stock of new/reproduction items in storage than what we have on display in The Barn.
Since December we’ve been having sales to reduce inventory levels. During that time new/reproduction items have sold at a much faster pace than we anticipated. We have already sold out of some new/reproduction items, however approximately 85% of new/reproduction items are still in stock and available for purchase. However, sales have been so strong that we have have nearly exhausted our excess inventory, the inventory not on display. Approximately 90% of the extra stock we normally have has already been sold. What this means is that our ability to replace sold new/reproduction items has been greatly diminished. Many of these items are going to sell out over the next few months, and they will not be restocked. If the current level of sales hold over the summer, we expect to be sold out of over 80% of the new/reproduction items we normally have in stock by labour day.
We’ve provided all this detail on inventory levels so that everyone can be aware that this is the final opportunity to purchase these items. The majority of new/reproduction items will be sold out by the end of summer. If you normally do your Christmas shopping at The Barn, and want to purchase new gift items, currently there is lots of selection. However, we will be closed by December, so don’t delay. In January, we received many requests for new/reproduction items that sold out in December. Most of these items have been restocked and are available for purchase. However, going forward, as these items sell out, they will not be restocked.
There are still some new/reproduction shipments coming. There has been shipping delays with some of our metal birds, and wind spinners. We are expecting some to arrive in April, and the very popular blue jays, and cardinals are now scheduled to arrive in May. Also in May, as long as there are no further shipping delays, we are expecting a final shipment from our Nature Form line, and a shipment of cast iron bookends. However, that will be the end of new/reproduction new arrivals.
We are still accepting orders for new/reproduction furniture until June 30th. After June 30th only pieces on display will be offered. So if you want to place an order for any of our new/reproduction furniture lines; Irish Coast, Provence, Springwater, Sundried, Arcadia, or Lifestyle, June 30th is the final deadline. We chose June 30th because some items will take several months to arrive, and we want to make sure that there is time for everything to arrive before we close to the general public.
The number one question we keep getting asked is; “What is your final closing date?”. The closing date is going to depend on many factors, the most important being inventory levels. If there wasn’t a trade war, and the economy was stable, the level of sales would be predictable, and we would be able to estimate a closing date. But given the current state of the global economy, very little is certain, and we likely won’t announce a closing date for some time. What we can say is this, our best guess is that we will close to the general public, some time in October. It could be sooner than October, it might be in November, there are just too many variables right now for us to announce a closing date.
We’ve decided to simplify things and change up our sales from weekly to monthly, as our customers have been asking a tremendous number of questions regarding our weekly sales. We thought monthly sales might be easier. FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL ALL ANTIQUE ITEMS WILL BE 20% OFF! Yes, you read that right, ALL ANTIQUE ITEMS 20% OFF, all antique furniture, all antique smalls, and all antique pieces in between. New/reproduction items are not part of this sale and will not go on sale in April. To make it easy, we’ve marked all new/reproduction items with a small round yellow tag. All items that have a small round yellow tag are new/reproduction items, and are not on sale. Everything else in The Barn is 20% off for all of April. And since March 31st falls on a Monday, this sale will start one day early. We are going to call this our DON’T ASK US ANY QUESTIONS, JUST TAKE 20% OFF ALL ANTIQUES SALE.
We hope all this information has clarified things. We will update this page again in two weeks. A few photos of some of this past week’s new arrivals are below.
