For Inland Empire Auction in San Bernardino, the current economic slowdown has been a mixed blessing.

The auction house at 420 S. E St. is loaded with household items, including furniture, jewelry, tools and various appliances, much of which likely came from home foreclosures.

But a lack of disposable income among the buying public, also keeps overall sales down.

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Photo By Terry Pierson / The Press-Enterprise

Inland Empire Auction Office Manager Nancee Mincheff of San Bernardino reflected in an armoire.

About one year ago, Inland Empire Auction began auctioning household goods every Thursday night. Before then it held two household goods auctions a month. The business takes a percentage of the sales, although there is no fixed rate.

"There's no average for us," said Terri Cooper, a manager at the store for 26 years. "It all depends on how much you sell. We've sold items for $10,000, and we've sold things for less than $5."

About 100 people attend the four-hour auctions, during which the store's entire inventory is for sale to the highest bidder, but the extra two events each month failed to increase revenue.

Like the housing market, the auction industry has become a buyers' market.

"There's a lot of merchandise, but there aren't enough people out there who are buying it," Cooper said. "We're doing more auctions than we used to because we have so much to sell, but we aren't making as much money as we used to."

The home foreclosure crisis isn't solely to blame for Inland Empire Auction's current situation, Cooper said.

"I think it's the overall bad economy," she said. "A lot of the household items we're getting from storage places, which could mean they're coming from foreclosed homes. But I don't have a clue about their actual reason for being in storage."

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Sales have been steady at Redlands Antique Auction, said Ron Curran, a co-owner of the business whose inventory includes collectibles from all eras.

"I'd say we're in the same boat as everyone else," Curran said. "Not that there are that many auctions houses left in the Inland Empire. We're one of the few left, and it's not just because of the housing foreclosures. One of the problems is that young people aren't buying old stuff."

Founded in 1988, Redlands Antique Auction holds 18 auctions a year, with an average attendance of about 300.

"We don't have a glut of inventory," said Curran, who has been a part-owner of the business at 1547 W. Park Ave. for the past 12 years. "We sell everything we have at every auction, no matter what. There's still a market in Riverside for antiques. We're making money, we just aren't making a lot. I'm paying my bills and plugging along."

Auctions are up throughout Southern California, most likely because of the foreclosure crisis, said Rich Wasser, secretary with the nonprofit Southern California Auctioneers Association in Rolling Hills Estates.

"It started to pick up within the last six months," Wasser said. "We're seeing more of them as the economy keeps slipping; industrial sales and a lot of residential items. You have more houses now being sold at auction. I'm also a real estate broker and I've never seen the market take a dive like the one it's in now."

Several factors, including the online site e-bay, have helped the auction industry by making more businesses and individuals aware that auctions are a reputable way to do business, Wasser said.

Still, the industry is hurting because of a lack of disposable income.

"This is a very rough time," Wasser said. "But we're going to be OK."