LIFESTYLES
Comedian
fighting
cancer with
laughter/3C
Hanford
becomes
national
park/4C
WEEKEND, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2015
Getting a
close look
at Haystack
Rock/10C
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A mobile ice cream cart sits among old juke boxes in the warehouse for the
We Sell Stuff store in Pendleton.
A large portion of the We Sell Stuff store warehouse is devoted to old
arcade games.
One man’s junk
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
We Sell Stuff owner Greg Dixson has spent years buying what others have deemed to be garbage and selling it for a profit.
Treasures abound at We Sell Stuff,
where owner Greg Dixson
salvages defaulted storage units
By SEAN HART
East Oregonian
When other 4-year-olds had
allowance money to spend,
Greg Dixson dragged around a
wagon full of wares so he could
earn his own.
The 63-year-old owner of the
Pendleton secondhand store We
Sell Stuff said he always liked
having money and never saw
a pro¿t in stealing, so selling
things became second nature.
After getting out of the
military, Dixson put himself
through college in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, with the GI Bill and a
side business selling used items.
Yard sales were a new fad
across the nation, he said, but
people hadn¶t Tuite ¿gured out
how to use them successfully.
Dixson encountered a man
who was upset no one bought
anything at his Wednesday yard
sale, griping that he should have
just taken everything to the
dump. Dixson told the man he
would dispose of the entire lot
and even pay him a small sum.
He then sold all of the items at a
Àea market. Before long, he was
making $1,000 a week turning
one person’s junk into another
person’s treasure.
After college, Dixson spent
30 years in the mountains,
migrating to pick wild edibles,
such as mushrooms, that he sold
to restaurants. A heart attack put
an end to his nomadic lifestyle,
but a new life awaited when he
headed West.
Dixson ¿nally got a day job
dealing blackjack at the Wild-
horse Casino about 10 years ago.
He got married, had children and
then he got cancer. Doctors told
him he couldn’t be on his feet
all day, and he found himself
unemployed. He said he didn’t
have enough money to provide
for his children, so he returned to
his entrepreneurial roots.
With little money in his
pocket, Dixson went to a storage
unit auction. No one bid on one
of the units, so he offered $1.
Inside the unit, in a drawer in
an antique end table, he found
a $2 bill and immediately
doubled his money. He ended up
making $700 selling the items
he purchased at that auction at
yard sales.
In September 2014, he
opened We Sell Stuff on South-
west First Street in downtown
Pendleton. The $2 bill is still
on display at the store. Dixson
said his favorite ¿nd is money
because “it cuts out the middle
man.”
The secondhand store features
an eclectic mix: from power
tools to antique furniture, from
an old police crime kit to motor-
cycles, from shelves ¿lled with
unique trinkets to an entire room
of arcade games that he acquired
for a good price for the same
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Greg Dixson, owner of We Sell Stuff, looks at items on a blackjack table in his store.
reason he was able to acquire
everything else: Somebody else
wanted to get rid of them.
With the money he earns,
Dixson restocks the business at
auctions to keep his inventory
fresh. He travels as far as Nampa,
Idaho, Spokane, Washington,
and Portland to ¿nd auctions.
He said he once got scabies at a
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Rows of white baby shoes sit on shelves at We Sell Stuff.
storage facility that had housed a
chicken farm.
“It’s not like on TV,” he
said. “I hate that show, ‘Storage
Wars.’”
Dixson said he used to
compete with just one other
local secondhand store owner,
but competition has increased
and driven up prices. Many
more people believe they
can turn a pro¿t purchasing
unknown items, he said. Even
with a storefront, business can
be slow.
“It’s picking up, but it’s a
struggle trying to stay alive,” he
said. “Who doesn’t want to save
money? People should check
here before buying new.”
With his keen eye, honed
from years of experience, Dixson
said he has only lost money on
one unit in the last four years. It
looked pristine. Everything was
clean, boxed and labeled with
titles such as “dining room”
and “bedroom.” He paid $500.
When he started opening the
boxes, he discovered they were
all full of paperback romance
novels. He paid someone else
$100 to get rid of them.
Most of his purchases,
however, have either been sold
to someone again or are on
display in his shop or stored in
his warehouse. If an item does
not have a price tag, he encour-
ages people to make an offer,
and he said he often gives deals.
“If I’m making money, I
don’t care what I sell it for,” he
said. “I’m not going to give stuff
away, but I’m trying to run this
like a yard sale.”
Dixson said people can also
haggle for the items that do have
a price listed. All of the price
tags in the store include “OBO”
— or best offer — except one:
a photograph of Janis Joplin that
Dixson found in a unit.
“That’s my favorite thing
I’ve found,” he said. “I don’t
really want to get rid of her.
It’s marked at $200. I mean, I
say that, but if you came in and
offered me $100 — I love you,
Janis, but...”