Rental Firm Sale a Party for Collectors of Tabletop Items

It’s a supersale weekend in the South Bay, where bargain shoppers wait all year for the Regal Rents parking lot tent sale.

To augment your tabletop collection, be there Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Whether you can use glassware, flatware, china, table linens or silver serving pieces, the score is here. Once a year, the owners go through their warehouse inventory of party rentals and offer a large selection to the public at unbeatable prices.

Used white wooden folding chairs are $5.95, Revere bowls and bread and butter plates are 50 cents each, pastel dinnerware is $1 and dinner-size plates are 99 cents.

Some two-quart silver chafing dishes should move fast at $35.96. The linens fly out the door so if this is what you want, get there early.

Regal Rents parking lot tent sale, 2310 E. Imperial Highway, El Segundo. (310) 535-3660.

Another favorite is the Texuba kimono and obi sale that sends fabric junkies into orbit. This semiannual event happens Saturday and Sunday at the Torrance Cultural Center.

A large designer clientele pounces on 6,000 vintage kimonos and obis for use as textiles and then recreate them into wearable art, clothing, pillows, hangings or whatever. Most pieces have been reclaimed from the Japanese countryside and date from the 1920s through the 1970s.

The cheapie kimonos start at $8, but expect to pay up to $150 for the truly luscious pieces and some wedding kimonos. Obis arrive Sunday only. Allow plenty of time for this sale, which starts at 9 a.m. and goes to 5 p.m. each day.

Texuba kimono and obi sale, 3330 Civic Center Drive (corner of Torrance Boulevard and Madrona Avenue), Torrance. (310) 827-8535.

A big shipment of furniture from a major upscale hotel just arrived at the Hotel Surplus Outlet where gently used furnishings go for a song. Lots of lobby and patio furniture in this load. Tropitone lounge chairs are $39.95.

You’ll find a deep inventory of occasional tables and TV cabinets at better than bargain prices. Keep in mind this is sturdy furniture, made to commercial standards.

Occasionally, new merchandise is offered, usually as a result of decorator’s mind-change. Such is the case with a large inventory of brass lamps--table, floor or wall models--that are tagged at prices below wholesale for $69.95.

Hotel Surplus Outlet, 3170 E. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 780-7474.

For more bargains, see www.bargainsla.com.