Disposition gives 'U' furniture new home

For those wondering where their beloved desks and dressers from their residence hall days have gone, a trip to Property Disposition might go beyond sentimentality. For around $30, they can even purchase those "antiques" of yester-year.

Property Disposition, located on North Campus, is home to the relics of all buildings and departments on the University's Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses. The "store" is situated in a warehouse-type building, and its merchandise overflows out of the back door onto a large, fenced off area.

Most antique shops are characterized by their small, cozy establishments; their products line every wall, and even the most diligent of shoppers might miss a prized item due to the clutter of boxes and glass cases. Property Disposition is a signific

DHANI JONES/Daily Property Disposition employee Aaron Wells shows off just one of the many ex-University items now on sale to the public on North Campus.

antly enlarged version of your typical antique shop, however a refined search is still needed to capture the "gems" it has on offer. Row upon row of desks, dressers, sofas, chairs, lamps, computers and mattresses crowd the obviously enormous surface area of the store. Scattered among the larger pieces on sale are items as diverse as antique lamps, harp boxes, and dental chairs.

Jim Day, manager of Property Disposition, describes his business as selling "all the used assets of U of M."

"We only sell university owned property, and university departments have first dibs at the merchandise," Day said.

The store makes a 15 percent profit on all sales; the remaining 85 percent goes to the University. The prices are shockingly low - a desk from a classroom runs around seven dollars, sofas from residence hall lounges are $75. Store employees determine prices by tracking the items' original values on the computer, and then discounting accordingly. Perhaps the most attractive of the bargains lie in the electronical goods Property Disposition has on offer. There is an immense selection of fax machines, computer monitors, keyboards and printers. A fax machine was priced at $25; most of the computer monitors were selling for under $20.

"Computers, overall, are around 60 percent of our sales," Day said. "Students buy all sorts of computer equipment, they just have to set them up themselves."

Day said that working at Property Disposition often leaves him curious as just how the merchandise is used when it leaves the store.

"We get a lot of dealers and computer repair people who come in. But a lot of the time, it is people from the Ann Arbor community buying odds and ends," Day said. "Who knows what some students do with all the equipment they purchase - maybe they're making a bomb!"

Many of the store's more eccentric items do not stay there for long. Exam tables and dental chairs are hot sellers for students.

"Some students use the exam tables as massage tables," Day said. "But when they buy dental chairs, that leaves me guessing!"

Aaron Walls, a University salesperson and employee since 1975, also has found working at Property Disposition an interesting experience.

"When I first came here, we somehow ended up with former Michigan Gov. Williams's trenchcoat. But we had to give that back," said Walls.

Williams was Michigan's governor from 1949 to 1960.

Walls, sitting on a dental chair, amidst desks, sofas, and mattresses, said that all the store's merchandise is left untouched when arrived.

"We sell it as it is," Walls said.

Perhaps the lack of polish and touch-ups only accentuate the character of every piece in this vast time capsule of a store. Each item has touched the University in its own way, and each holds a story of somehow influencing the lives of University affiliates. So if that desk in your English class has caught your eye, or you want to commemorate the place where you studied for your first blue book, look no further than Property Disposition. It's a highly economical way to furnish that new apartment.

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