Writing by Gia Miller
Photography by Justin Negard
Ever wonder what it’s like to spend a day in someone else’s world? What would you see as you go through their homes, their things, their lives? We spent some time with Mary Zipkin of KnaCk of All Trades and The KnaCk Shoppe in Pound Ridge to see what it’s like to work as a home stager/consultant, estate sale manager and owner of a consignment shop. What we learned is that she’s more than just the middleman (or woman) in the buying and selling of stuff, she’s an integral part of life’s transitions – the “stuff” is simply the conduit.
To put it simply, Mary Zipkin helps people detach from their things and move on. In the process, she helps them make a little extra cash for their next venture.
But when you peel back the layers, Zipkin’s foray into other people’s lives and possessions isn’t just about getting people to leave their stuff behind, she becomes part therapist, part life coach and part trusted confident. She’s there for the emotion that comes with saying goodbye to items that hold decades of memories, she’s there for heaviness that comes with moving to the next phase of life and she’s there for the excitement a buyer experiences when finding items that will enhance their lives. Zipkin spreads joy, gives new life to beloved objects and makes people, and our earth, happy.
When she meets with homeowners, Zipkin treads lightly. “I always start by telling them that this isn’t a judgment on what they have. Instead, I’m doing this because I have been very successful with home staging, and what I do will help their house sell faster. Because it is true – a staged house usually sells more quickly.”
When Zipkin stages a home, she mainly uses the homeowner’s items, but she will add a Ciseaux rug, modern lamps and perhaps some white bedding or
towels when necessary. “When people hear the word staging, they think you’re coming in and replacing all their furniture,” she explains. “While there are people who do that and have a warehouse full of furniture, it’s incredibly expensive. Most of the homes I go into have good bones and the homeowners have nice things. You can do a lot with just editing what they have, and I pride myself in that. I’m not there to take somebody’s money, that’s just not my motivation.”
“WHEN I’M WORKING WITH A HOMEOWNER, AND THEY ASK ME, ‘HOW MUCH YOU THINK WE CAN GET FOR THIS,’ I REMIND THEM THAT THEY DID NOT BUY THAT TABLE 25 YEARS AGO THINKING, ‘I’M GONNA SELL THIS ONE DAY AND MAKE MONEY,’” SHE EXPLAINS.
“You buy a Picasso or other art and hope it will make money one day, but you don’t buy a bed or dishes hoping to amortize every stinking dime out of it. So, if you get $100 for a sofa, you should be happy.”
“I tell everyone not to go crazy throwing everything away,” says Zipkin. “Don’t give away your baseball mitts – people buy sports stuff. They’ll also buy nails, a half empty bag of grass seed or used cleaning supplies. It’s all about repurposing. Why not spend $3 on something that’s used? Look, $3 and $3 and $3 adds up to $9. Sell ten of those, and you have $30. All the little incidental stuff adds dollars to the bottom line.”
“EVEN THOUGH THE HOMES ARE VERY NICE, A LOT OF THEM ARE VERY FULL AND NEED TO BE PURGED.
When I edit someone’s home, we’ll often get a pod if they have too many things. Just under half the time, after everything has been removed and the home has been sold, we’ll bring the items back in. The other times, we unload everything and have an estate sale.”
Zipkin has a long list of collectors, regular buyers and occasional shoppers that she texts before each estate sale. She also posts her sales online, which helps her draw a crowd. Certain sales will even lure collectors from nearby states. “At this sale, there was a record dealer from Pennsylvania and a book seller who bought about 20 boxes of books. A lot of these books were very dark books about Hitler. But he’ll buy books and sit on them until he can get the price he wants. It can take a long time to sell books like these.”
FOR MOST OF ZIPKIN’S ESTATE SALES, PEOPLE LINE UP AN HOUR BEFORE TO BE THE FIRST ONES IN THE DOOR.
But some of them feature such coveted items that people camp out overnight. A recent sale near Cantitoe Corners in Katonah was one such instance. “There was this beautiful house that had amazing stuff, and I knew it would be an epic sale,” said Zipkin. “The homeowners were an Asian couple who had already moved a lot of their items to their apartment in Manhattan and housein Florida. Their son also took items to his house in the Hamptons. There wasn’t a lot left, but what they did leave was incredible. People were dying for this stuff, and I could tell it was going to get chaotic. So, before I let them in, I said, ‘It’s just stuff, everyone. Please be on your best behavior.’ For sales like this, we give out numbers because we can’t let everybody in at the same time.”
WHEN YOU’VE MADE A CAREER OUT OF WORKING WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S BELONGINGS, YOU LEARN A FEW THINGS ABOUT PEOPLE. MAINLY, MOST OF US HAVE WAY TOO MUCH STUFF. “I ALWAYS TELL PEOPLE THAT THEY SHOULDN’T BE POSSESSED BY THEIR POSSESSIONS,” SAYS ZIPKIN, “WHEN WE’RE PREPARING FOR THEIR ESTATE SALE, I ALWAYS REMIND THEM THAT THEY’RE GOING IN THE HOLE ALONE – THEY’RE NOT TAKING ALL THIS STUFF WITH THEM. I DO FIND IT’S HARDER FOR THE OLDER GENERATIONS TO GET RID OF THEIR STUFF. THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS DON’T HOLD ON TO THINGS THE SAME WAY.”
THE KNACK SHOPPE
Zipkin opened her first consignment and antiques store with her husband around the time her daughter was born. After the store closed, she began hosting trunk shows featuring jewelry and scarves she purchased in Manhattan. As time went on, she began staging homes and running estate sales. Eventually, she opened The KnaCk Shoppe in Katonah, and she moved to her Pound Ridge location about a year ago.
Zipkin opened the store after completing the estate sale of a 12,500 square foot home in southern Westchester. “Her adult kids were no longer living at home, and the couple was moving to a 6,000 square foot home. She didn’t want to take anything with her, so we did this huge sale. It was fabulous. After it was over, we took two truckloads of the remaining items to the store. Since that time, we’ve had some of her items out in our store at all times.”
Zipkin’s store in Pound Ridge features a variety of items, from home furnishings and decor to jewelry and clothing. About 60 percent of the items are pieces that didn’t sell during an estate sale, but she believes will sell in her store. The other 40 percent are items from consignment.
When it comes to consignment, Zipkin is “very particular.” She doesn’t want broken items and knows what will sell in her store, so she always asks for pictures first. “It saves them time, and it saves me time,” she explains. “Who wants to schlep all that stuff from their trunk into my store and back again? I’m very selective because I want to be known as a high-end store with fabulous prices. I don’t want to be another overpriced store. I also don’t want to be a store where customers see the same stuff every time they come in.”
Zipkin fills every inch of The KnaCk Shoppe with items for sale, grouping like items together. “It always looks better when you have similar colors or types of items together,” she explains. “When people come in, they’ll tell me, ‘I want all of these items because they really look good together.’”
ZIPKIN CONSTANTLY RESTOCKS AND REARRANGES HER STORE, OFTEN WITH THE HELP OF HER EMPLOYEES.
She keeps a lot of her merchandise in the basement and switches things out regularly. She’ll bring up seasonal items or pieces of a specific color to create a themed area or room. “The store is labor intensive –there’s no question about it,” she says. “It takes about four to five hours each time I move things around because I rearrange the whole store. I move every single piece. But it’s my joy. Truthfully, it’s what I like to do in life. I need the store to look cute and different all the time.”
ZIPKIN WORKS HARD, RARELY TAKING A FULL DAY OFF. EVEN THOUGH HER OFFICIAL WORKDAY ENDS AT 5:00 P.M., SHE’S OFTEN RESPONDING TO EMAILS AND PHONE CALLS FOR ANOTHER HOUR OR MEETING WITH CLIENTS.
It’s by choice, though, because she loves the life she’s created. At the end of a long day, she’ll relax by watching a little TV and playing Words with Friends.
But even when she’s relaxing, she’s still helping others and spreading joy. “If you play a certain game for a while, you become really good at it,” she explains. “So then, everyone asks you to play them because everyone wants to up their game.”
This article was published in the May/June 2022 edition of Connect to Northern Westchester.
Gia Miller is an award-winning journalist and the editor-in-chief/co-publisher of Connect to Northern Westchester. She has a magazine journalism degree (yes, that's a real thing) from the University of Georgia and has written for countless national publications, ranging from SELF to The Washington Post. Gia desperately wishes schools still taught grammar. Also, she wants everyone to know they can delete the word "that" from about 90% of their sentences, and there's no such thing as "first annual." When she's not running her media empire, Gia enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, laughing at her crazy dog and listening to a good podcast. She thanks multiple alarms, fermented grapes and her amazing husband for helping her get through each day. Her love languages are food and humor.
Justin is an award-winning designer and photographer. He was the owner and creative director at Future Boy Design, producing work for clients such as National Parks Service, Vintage Cinemas, The Tarrytown Music Hall, and others. His work has appeared in Bloomberg TV, South by Southwest (SXSW), Edible Magazine, Westchester Magazine, Refinery 29, the Art Directors Club, AIGA and more.
Justin is a two-time winner of the International Design Awards, American Photography and Latin America Fotografia. Vice News has called Justin Negard as “one of the best artists working today.”
He is the author of two books, On Design, which discusses principles and the business of design, and Bogotà which is a photographic journey through the Colombian capital.
Additionally, Justin has served as Creative Director at CityMouse Inc., an NYC-based design firm which provides accessible design for people with disabilities, and has been awarded by the City of New York, MIT Media Lab and South By Southwest.
He lives in Katonah with his wonderfully patient wife, son and daughter.
