I have attended quite a few of the estate sales that have been conducted by Ampersand. This is a company which clearly strives to do the best it can to provide extraordinary service to its clients and its customers. Brad, who is in charge of the company, is straightforward and ethical to a fault, if that's possible. I strongly recommend Ampersand to those who need to secure the services of a company to conduct their estate sale, and I recommend, without reservation, that people shop their sales.

I love estate sales and try to go to at least 2-3 per week. And here in Chicago, there are an awful lot of companies that operate them. If you check out the different listing sites, there are well over a hundred companies. And that means you have a huge range in how the sales are conducted. Some are great and some are terrible. Ampersand is one of the best. Here's why: 1) Pictures: they spend a lot of time documenting and photographing the contents of a sale. This is hugely helpful to me because I primarily collect mid-century modern furniture. Having many, detailed photographs helps me figure out whether a sale is worth attending. If a chair is really banged up, I want to know about it in advance. 2) Description: their sale description is also very detailed. This is important because I tend to search for specific words and if those terms aren't listed in the sale description, then I miss out on what might be a great sale. 3) Sale Advertising: the sales are really well advertised / marked. Those orange signs are never hard to find! 4) Organization: The sales themselves are well organized. I'm always amazed at how estate sale companies can take a house full of stuff and actually turn it into a fairly well organized sale. These guys do a good job. I've actually never been to one of their sales that I would characterize as a picker's sale - where everything is a mess and you have to pick through it to find anything worthwhile. 4) Staff: All the staff wear orange shirts, which makes them super easy to identify if you have questions / need some help. And there's generally also a lot of workers at a sale, which means if you need something, you can quickly get an answer to your question. I think this lends an air of professionalism that a lot of other companies could learn from.They also seem to be pretty knowledgeable. 5) Sale Location: Ampersand's sales tend to be on the north side of Chicago. And a lot of them are in very nice neighborhoods. That means that the quality of the merchandise is often higher than in some other areas. 6) Prices: A lot of the negative reviews seem to focus on high prices. And yes, Ampersand sales are sometimes priced higher than other sales by other companies. But they are still lower than eBay / at an auction. And if you wait to the end of sale, they are more flexible on pricing than if it's on the first day. Generally speaking, the stuff that I really want is gone by that point, so I'm happy to pay the initial asking price. I think a lot of people think of estate sales as garage/yard sales. They aren't. These companies are in business to make money for themselves and their clients. So if you are looking for the cheapest estate sale company out there, these guys aren't it. But if you are looking for good, well-organized sales, staffed by people who know what they are doing, I'd definitely check them out.