North Americans Sell Valuables at Home Parties"
Move over Tupperware, Avon and Pampered Chef. Hard times have brought a new twist to the home-product demonstration parties that have long been a fixture of North American suburbia.
In some ways the party held one recent Sunday afternoon at Karen Starr's home in Thornhill, north of Toronto, followed the traditional pattern. About a dozen of Ms Starr's family, neighbours and friends – including a husband or two – chatted around the kitchen table as they tucked into a goat-cheese dip, bruschetta and fresh fruit.
But the guests had not come to buy cosmetics or plastic kitchen containers. Instead, they were there to sell gold and other precious items – in the form of unwanted earrings, bracelets, cufflinks, coins, charms and rings. One brought her mother's gold tooth, another a place setting of silver cutlery.
Such "gold-rush parties" have grown in popularity across North America as rising unemployment and shrinking stock portfolios squeeze household finances.
"The first thing is the economy – some people need food for the table," says Yalda Peera, owner of Direct Gold and Diamond, in Flint, Michigan, who organised 30-40 parties last year. General Motors is the biggest employer in Flint, and the local economy has been devastated by the crisis in the Detroit-based car industry.
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