Last Frontier Gear brings brick, mortar and safety to the buy, sell, and trade game

WASILLA — The online buy, sell and trade phenomenon has grown so exponentially that Facebook recently included it as a permanent menu bar option.

But do you ever wonder how these transactions agreed upon on social media or Craigslist really go down? Heidi Pace knows all too well.

“I was constantly re-selling things my kids had grown out of online, but it was getting to the point where it wasn’t safe hustling jeans in the parking lot,” Pace said. “I could make a profit, but I’d have to meet with a stranger, and I’ve worked with Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sex Assault, and I’ve heard how women will get set-up on Craigslist.”

Not only do these exchanges often put women in harm’s way, they can also make them indistinguishable from black market traders to authorities.

“One of the (consigners) told me a story about how she sold a necklace that was really expensive on Craigslist, went to the parking lot at Walmart and handed him the box, he handed her the money and the police pulled her car over and searched it because it was reported as a drug deal,” Pace said. “Generally people meet in public parking lots, but that’s where drug dealers are meeting, too.”

Personal safety issues aside, many of these meet-ups end up as no-shows, and a waste of everyone’s time, gas and money.

If only there were a better marketplace, Pace thought, and in late October, along with her husband Will, they opened Last Frontier Gear on Hermon Road in Wasilla.

“This provides a safe way, a central location with a dressing room, you’re not going to people’s homes,” she said.

Barely a month old, Last Frontier Gear is already exploding, Pace said.

“We have an inventory of over 2,000 items with 80 consigners in that short span of time,” she said. “People are just loving the idea.”

Pace said she’ll only take goods in good condition — mostly clothing, but also sporting goods, kitchenware and miscellaneous items like a collection of medallions from the 1996 Iditarod, or a cargo sled from the 1990s used in an Alaska village to transport people and goods.

“I parse out the name brand — it has to be really good quality,” Pace said.

If an item meets that standard, Pace will typically price it at 50 to 70 percent of the original cost, and when it sells, the consigner gets 60 to 80 percent, in cash, she notes, not in-store credit.

“They’re thrilled… they’ve had such bad experiences locally,” Pace said. “With buy, sell, trade, you’ll get 20 people who say they want it, then none of them show up and you’re stuck with it. Here, you drop it off, pick up your money — it’s painless.”