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Photo by Jim Craven Dick Goble, of Ruch, hauls away latticework he bought Wednesday when the mall liquidated obsolete Christmas decorations in a one-day sale. The mall sold its obsolete Christmas decorations in one-day sale. Goble said he plans to use the lattice to keep deer away from his roses. Mall sells off its old decorations Christmas buffs scoop up special items By JIM DAVIS The giant, decorative stars -- glittery green, gold and purple -- went fast. Even so, Kari Nolte of Central Point found what she wanted in a box of oversized, purple-and-teal Christmas ornaments. "They're a little scuffed up, but it's going to work out great," said Nolte, pulling one of the ornamental balls out of a cardboard box. The Rogue Valley Mall spent $150,000 on replacing its holiday ornaments this year -- moving from colors such as purple, white and teal to a more traditional red, white and green. On Wednesday morning, the mall sold its old decorations -- and a few other items -- to a mix of bargain hunters, shop owners and Christmas aficionados. Jeff Barber, who took over as manager of the Rogue Valley Mall in 1997, said it was a one-day sale to clear some of the mall's storerooms. In a vacant store, Barber had the decorations lined up: 22 garbage bags full of the oversized Christmas balls, a Santa Stable and boxes and boxes of the giant ornamental stars, priced at $3 for the big stars and $5 for the bigger stars. The sale also included non-holiday items such as bike racks and even a black fax machine. The big-ticket items were two large, covered carts priced at $1,000 apiece. The mall will donate the unsold items to a charity. Janet Brodin of Central Point found rows and rows of purple-and-white, knee-high fencing for $200. "I'm finding exactly what I was hoping for," she said, adding that she wants to enclose her garden with the fence -- after painting it a different color. Richard Goble of Ruch said he found out about the sale because he regularly watches the newspaper's classified ads for sales and auctions. On Wednesday, he found four large white walls of latticework for $40 apiece. "I didn't try to chew them down," Goble said. "because there's too many people behind me who would have grabbed them." Kathy Henry of Eagle Point said she is one of those people who really decorates for Christmas -- putting up as many as five Christmas trees in her home. She sifted through the ornamental balls before finding three decorative poles with garlands and ribbons. All of the ornaments were just a little larger than normal, to match the size of the mall. "This is not something you're going to put in your 1,200-square-foot home," Henry said. "But I have a large home and it's equally hard to find decorations to fill it." Nolte, who found the box of purple-and-teal decorations, falls into the category of a Christmas fanatic. She said she puts up her Christmas decorations the day after Halloween and she has hoisted as many as seven trees a year, each with its own theme: a ship tree, a hunt tree, a Hallmark tree done exclusively with collectible Hallmark ornaments. The bank manager also has a purple-and-teal tree, and has long admired the decorations at the mall. So Nolte squeezed out of the bank for an early lunch and got her box of ornaments. "This is going to be perfect," she said, looking at her loot. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA