One Florida antiquer got more than she bargained for after showing up to an anonymous estate sale earlier this week — only to find herself in line with hundreds of fans of the late Kirstie Alley.
Sophie Schiff, who lives in the Tampa Bay area, drove over to the Clearwater event after receiving a hot, last-minute tip from her savvy sister — not expecting a brush with stardom.
Alley died at age 71, back in December 2022.
“My sister and I, two years ago started a little business called Irving Road as a fun, part-time thing. We do antique and vintage thrifting, mostly of home decor. My sister lives in Colorado and I live in Tampa. And on Tuesday, she sent me like a link and was like, ‘You have to go to this estate sale,’” Schiff told People.
When Schiff arrived at 9 o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday to find “people freaking out” in a 35-40 minute line outside of a warehouse, she knew something was up.
“People in that small area of Clearwater knew it was her stuff. I’ve heard her name and recognized her when I looked her up, but I wasn’t a ‘fan,’ so I was surprised to learn that it was her things,” she said.
“They didn’t have it at her house because that sold about a year ago. The way they set it up, there were all her clothes and shoes in one area. Her garden stuff and animal cages were outside. She had these huge lemur cages and bird cages, and all of that was pretty cool to see. Then they had a whole kitchen section and it was set up, really, really pretty,” Schiff recounted.
Unfortunately, the stiff competition and heavy security meant that she didn’t get a chance to get close to many of the things she’d hoped to pick up.
“It was crowded inside, very hard to move around. And by the time that I left, the line was just as long. They had crazy security. They were only letting one in as one came out, so that’s why it took long. And there are no shopping carts, so it’s crazy trying to hold onto everything, especially the fragile stuff,” she said.
“I went almost right when it opened and some things were gone in two seconds. She had a collection of Staffordshire dogs, these little dog figurines. She had about 10 or more of those. One couple came and got every single one of those within the first few minutes. People were grabbing the artwork really quickly.”
There was at least one obvious reason for the frenzy, she explained — a lot of the items were priced really fairly, considering Alley’s celebrity, with some pieces starting just $1.
“She had a really pretty bar cart that was $1,500, which obviously seems like a lot for a little bar cart, but somebody said it was Chanel, so for that? It was a good price when online it goes for $5,000,” Schiff explained.
Still, she noted, $18,000 for the dress Alley wore in her iconic Jenny Craig commercial seemed a little steep — even for collectors.
“With a lot of the clothing, they had pictures of her wearing the items alongside the piece. So some were from TV shows, red carpet events, stuff like that. Same with the bigger pieces in her house — they had pictures of them as they were decorated in her house, so you can see which items she used and how she used them,” she said.
A lot of people attending the sale, Schiff said, were loyal fans determined to “leave with something, just because it was hers.”
“Some people had just a pot or a single knife,” she said.
“Another thing I saw is that they had her boxes that would say, ‘Kirstie china sets’ or ‘Kirstie kitchen’ from when they were moving her things. And people were grabbing them to take them.”
Schiff shared scenes of the busy sale on TikTok. The video went viral, racking up more than 600,000 views and attracting a lot of opinionated comments about the actress and her life.
“A lot of people in the comments were debating her personal life and life decisions and what they did or didn’t agree with,” Schiff said.
“I was like, ‘Truthfully, it’s cool that it was a celebrity’s stuff, but I was mainly there for the pretty decor.’”
Schiff finally walked out with “a couple of Fenton glass pieces, a few single plates, miscellaneous kitchenwares. The most I spent on one piece was $45. She had really pretty stuff.”
