Garage sale app brings thrifting into the 21st century

There was a time when the only way to find a good garage sale was to pore through the newspaper classifieds or run into one, by chance, in your neighbourhood.

But an Alberta man is bringing garage sales into the 21st century.

Travis Lutz has developed an app that uses asmartphone's location services to point usersto the closest sale.

"And then, you just hit the go button and that links you straight into Google Maps, which takes you into GoogleNavigation which takes you straight to the sale. So there's nodriving around looking aimlessly for the next sign. It's easy."

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The GLICKINapp also allows those advertising their garage sale to post photos, video and go into great detail about their hours of operation and what they're selling.

That way, buyers don't end up wasting their time on sales stocked with VHS tapes, shoddy toys and broken IKEA furniture.

"I love Kijiji and Craigslist for the bigger stuff [items], that's absolutely the way to go But I think garage sales have been missing this major technological advancement for a long time."

The app is a freedownload and if you're wondering why it's called GLICKIN, well, the answer is a bit convoluted.

"I was thinking garage sale, that's where the "g" come from. I wanted something short and sweet,like YELP. Then I was thinking 'Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the garage sale,'" said Lutz.

"But then when I tried to buy the name GLICKEN it wasn't available so I changed it to GLICKIN which really makes no sense."

• With files from the Calgary Eyeopener