The above photo features Carol Poling who owns “Thrill of the Hunt” Estate Sales. She is standing in the stairwell of the house at 1007 N. Elm Street where she was running the estate sale at the property all weekend. Carol was in awe of how meticulously arranged the owner had all of her many collections: Original artwork, pottery, an extensive book collection, beautiful furniture, glassware and more. This seven bedroom, four bathroom house also had a bar and ballroom- running the length of the house- on the third floor. The ballroom was used for social gatherings (likely during prohibition). Carol and her staff had to price every single item. Every. Single. Item. By Sunday, the house was almost empty and most of the people we talked to on Sunday had already attended the sale at least once.

You may remember Carol from her brick-and-mortar days. Since 2003, she has been selling vintage items and antiques in Greensboro. She first opened a store at 604 South Elm Street and then moved to a larger location at  3122 Battleground Avenue near Lowe’s. Now, Carol works estate sales only. Carol has a keen sense of market value and what items will sell for in the Greensboro market. She has boundless energy. As people called her name, she ran up and down all those stairs like a teenager.

We don’t think we’d seen  Carol since brick-and-mortar years. In retail, friendships get cultivated, especially when the proprietor is on site. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve missed someone, until you see them again. Yesterday, we had a great little reunion, and, as you can see from the photo, hard work has kept Carol fit and looking young!

Happy Monday. We hope you get some rest, Carol. Until the next estate sale!