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SELL IT ALL: Tucson estate sale company reaches major milestone

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A crowd of people begins to gather outside of a nondescript home in a quiet Oro Valley neighborhood on a recent Friday morning.

They are here for an estate sale. The Girls, a Tucson company, is running it.

Shoppers come from all over, looking for the unique, interesting and valuable, in the hopes of decorating their own homes with the perfect accent piece or selling what they find for a little profit.

Many of the customers are dedicated estate sale shoppers. Depending on the time of year, the number of sales being held in the Tucson area can reach into the double-digits.

Local companies that put them on include, Grasons Co Estate Sale Services, The Browns are Selling, and Integrity Estate Sales.

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"I learned my way around Tucson through these estate sales," said customer Frances Pientack. "For a while, I used to come every Saturday, every weekend."

In the local estate sale game, there is no bigger fish in Tucson than The Girls, one of the longest operating companies of its kind in the area.

The business has held estate sales nearly every weekend for the last 20 years.

"At least 52 (sales) a year," said Girls co-owner Daniel Lamb. "We are well over 1,000, that's for sure."

He added, "We sell everything from the junk drawer, all the way to the sofa in the living room. We sell everything in the home."

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This Saturday, The Girls will celebrate 20 years in business with an all-day celebration at its store at 330 S. Wilmot Road.

The Girls started as your typical estate sale company, but quickly grew in popularity.

"The house sales, we can have over 100 people in line; sometimes 200 people," Daniel said.

About 11 years ago, the company opted to take its business to the next level by opening a store on East Grant Road.

They've since moved to the property on South Wilmot.

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The Girls hold one to two, in-house sales each weekend and sell several estates through the store throughout the month.

"We have the store for people who can't have an estate sale," Daniel said. Sometimes the HOA won't allow it, he said, and sometimes there just isn't enough to sell at the home.

Regardless of where items are being sold, The Girls treat everything they sell as if it was their own.

"These are items they collected their whole lives and had memories around," Daniel said.

They further that personal touch at the cafe that they built within the store. Each Saturday, shoppers can sit and enjoy a piece of cake while shopping the new inventory.

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What isn't sold at the store or at the home sales is donated to the nonprofit Treasures & More at North Craycroft Road and East Pima Street.

Girls co-owner Laura Lamb said the most rewarding part of the job is helping Tucsonans in need.

"When I go and talk to families and tell them what we will do for them, and how we will help them, nine out of ten times, they say, 'Oh my God, this is such a relief. Thank you!' And that means everything."

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Heidi Alagha is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. Heidi spent 5 years as the morning anchor in Waco where she was named the best anchor team by the Texas Associated Press. Share your story ideas and important issues with Heidi by emailing heidi.alagha@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.