Gary Germer & Associates

Very helpful! Quick response!

My partner and I have been to a lot of estate sales, it's a hobby. In the last couple years of shopping the one Gary Germer sale we went to has stuck out as the only unpleasant experience we've had with estate sales so far. We found them sterile and unwelcoming and arguably racist. We're regulars with Alta, Last Call, Rusty Trunk and any others that pop up. Those folks are always friendly, patient, flexible, welcoming, even when things get crazy first thing in the morning. We went to the Riverwood sale run by Germer in Dunthorpe on day two. We found that the woman at the door and another sales associate were polite albeit somewhat sterile and reticent in interactions. We did our shopping and at checkout the man at the register (he was referred to as the business owner) was short with us about payment methods. He reluctantly split the payment between cash and card and then when we hesitated because we found that we had less cash than we thought, he used what I would call a sharp snarky tone to tell us that he had already entered the transaction, presumably implying that he wasn't going to change it. The impatience and inflexibility felt uncomfortable because it seemed unnecessary. There was no one behind us in line, they were not busy or understaffed so there was no immediately apparent reason to be acting that way. I've also worked retail and any useful modern POS system has a split payment function that is simple and easy. After paying we realized there was a garage we hadn't seen so we went back downstairs to look. There was nothing appealing and we saw other folks walking out the garage door so we decided to leave out that door too. There was a man, presumably a sales associate, who immediately stopped us and demanded to know if we'd already paid. We said yes and kept going. He stopped us again insisting in a very sharp impatient tone that we had to leave out the front door. There were no signs that publicly stated that requirement and all the other (white people) walking out the door left undisturbed. We are really conscious of these sorts of interactions because we are an inter-racial queer couple. I'm black and my partner is brown. Again, we've been to a lot of estate sales. If they have anti-theft measures or any special policies there is clear signage or clear communication to everyone entering. Even if there had been clear signage, there was no reason to be rude. At that point we just wanted to leave without a fuss so we went back upstairs to exit out the front door. As we were walking out, another sales associate stopped us to ask us again if we had already paid and no one else was being stopped. At that point we felt acutely aware that we were being singled out and we left feeling pretty put out. Needless to say we will not be going to any more Gary Germer sales.

Haven't got in touch with him yet, but I've heard only great things about Gary and his associates.

I had some items that had been in the family for many years that had been looked at but we had no idea if it was valuable or not. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something that may or may not be valuable so we asked Gary. He told us all about the item and that there actually are several around. Although it is in good condition its value is not that great. Gary provided us with help and didn’t charge us, great knowledgeable person

I ordered an early Christmas gift for my husband from Gary Germer & Associates. It was a stone sculpture of a seal, made by a late artist that we had purchased from in the past. The box arrived undamaged in October and the sculpture was heavily wrapped in bubble wrap inside. I did not unwrap the bubble wrap completely, as it was covered in tape and very secure. On Christmas morning my husband opened his gift to find the entire end of the seal's tail (at least a 1" piece) was missing. We carefully looked through the box several times and the missing piece of the tail was not in the box. The seal also had a bunch of other chips on it, but not a single fragment of broken off stone was inside the box. I immediately reached out to Gary Germer and sent photos. Gary said he would do nothing about the situation. He said it was too late to file a shipping claim. I explained that this was not a shipping issue, since no broken pieces were in the box. The seal had to have been broken BEFORE it was packaged up. Gary admitted the seal's body had chips on it when he sent it, but that the tail was not broken off. The advertised photos of the seal showed no body chips, so this too is upsetting. My husband is very disappointed and I feel scammed. Admittedly, I should have unwrapped the seal completely in October, but I trusted Gary. If the broken 1" tail piece was in the box, I would understand that it was shipping damage and accept the loss...but without a single stone fragment of any kind inside the box tells me the seal was already broken when it was wrapped and I have been cheated. This is not an expensive problem for Gary to solve (the seal cost $248,) but he choses not to. Sadly, I would not recommend trusting the integrity of this business.

I have used Gary twice now to have some antiques evaluated. Both times I sent my inquiry in with photos attached. The process is quite easy to follow and it allows him to know if the items are worth appraising further. Both times, my items were not of significant value, which I appreciated learning, -and Gary's process saved me the cost of a detailed appraisal. Gary responds to the inquiry quickly with a personal note. His kindness and personal touch make the experience positive no matter the outcome!