In one day, Kelly Riegler found a Louis Vuitton keychain for a dollar, a Fendi watch for a dollar and a luxury Coach bag for three dollars at several garage sales in Vancouver.
These bargains were all documented on the locally shot web series Garage Sale Diaries. The lifestyle show follows Riegler, a self-described “shopaholic soccer mom,” and her more practical best friend, Renee Camazzola, as they visit Metro Vancouver garage sales, finding bizarre items and amazing deals along the way. With the first two seasons, consisting of six episodes each, already on the web, the program’s third season will air on Telus Optik TV this spring.
Garage Sale Diaries creator and producer Scott Reynolds says that the idea came to them one night over a couple of bottles of wine.
“Kelly in particular pointed out that she felt there wasn’t any interesting stories within the garage sale culture, whether it’s the artifacts and items of the sale, the people holding the sale or the crazy people you can meet when you garage sale,” Reynolds says. “There’s a very rich environment for grabbing some fantastic stories, so it’s basically based on that. It was the next weekend where we picked up a couple of cameras and just followed Kelly around.”
Although Garage Sale Diaries can be seen as a reality show, Reynolds is hesitant to compare the show with current reality programs on television.
“In terms of reality TV, we don’t call ourselves reality TV, we are unscripted. A lot of reality TV is not that real and scripted and contrived and we’re not — we are completely spontaneous and authentic. And I think that is what the audience picks up on and that’s part of the charm of the series,” Reynolds says.
That “charm” has not gone unnoticed, with the show picked as an official selection in Toronto WebFest and nominated in the best reality show category at Vancouver WebFest. This exposure caught the attention of Telus, which approached Reynolds about funding the third season.
Reynolds says Garage Sale Diaries is more than just storytelling and getting great deals; it also brings awareness to the reuse and recycling movement.
“There is much enhanced mindset today around the reduce, reuse, recycle and that’s pervasive across the entire population. With garage sales we are enhancing that — it’s our contribution to that mindset.”
Details at garagesalediaries.tv.
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