# Do You Shop at Thrift Stores **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847 "2024-07-08T00:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/101 "2024-07-10T14:57:36Z")
I remember once in my yute being mortified at running into a girl from school who was going into K Mart at the same time I was coming out. It did no good for my mother to point out that we were _both_ shopping there. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/102 "2024-07-10T15:02:30Z")
I’m a little leery about buying clothing that’s at all distinctive-looking from thrift stores near where I live. Because would it be weird to be seen wearing it by the person it used to belong to? Or by the (former) wife/partner of that person, especially if they’re now dead or a despised ex? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/103 "2024-07-10T15:47:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > would it be weird to be seen wearing it by the person it used to belong to? My gf gives Thrift Stores beautiful evening wear worn once to work events, knowing she’ll never wear it again. I always wonder who will end up with the dresses/gowns and where they will be wearing them. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/104 "2024-07-10T15:47:54Z")
That happened to me one time. I bought a really cute pair of shoes at a neighborhood thrift store, and when I wore them to work, my supervisor said, “I just donated those!” I said, “Well, next time just give them straight to me!” 🙂 Ah well, money to a good cause. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/105 "2024-07-10T16:00:30Z")
Some people would have been mortified. I’m glad you reacted with appropriate good humor. I think that the big chains send all of their stuff to central hubs for processing so the odds would be slim for that to occur. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/106 "2024-07-10T16:36:57Z")
I’ve only had one negative experience shopping at a Goodwill store. They had a cool [guitar-shaped CD rack](https://photos.app.goo.gl/419s7XCxAiJrm2q49) up on a shelf that I couldn’t reach, so I asked the cashier if someone would get it down for me. Much to my surprise, she said it was for display only. That didn’t make any sense to me so I asked to speak to the manager. No luck there, the cashier said I’d have to call back later. A couple days after leaving a voicemail with no response I decided to go back…and of course the CD rack was gone. (There are multiple listings on eBay, but prices w/shipping are way more than what I’d consider paying.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/107 "2024-07-10T17:12:48Z")
They must have been saving it for someone or one of them wanted to take it. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/108 "2024-07-10T17:26:12Z")
I figured as much but it would’ve been just as easy to tell me “someone already bought it”. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/109 "2024-07-10T17:32:59Z")
You also coulda said you just bought them new at the most expensive store in town. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/110 "2024-07-10T18:04:07Z")
> [@chela](#): > > I’ve donated jigsaw puzzles. However I’m never sure if all the pieces are there but I donate them anyway because the box is still in good shape. I do so many that if a piece is missing, it’s not a tragedy. But it seems that the Friends of the Library has a problem with people not buying donated puzzles at library sales because they are worried about pieces missing. So now I have a dream volunteer job of doing the donated puzzles so that I can certify them as all there. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/111 "2024-07-10T18:12:20Z")
That _is_ a cool volunteer job.🕶 ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/112 "2024-07-10T18:24:51Z")
apparently, they sometimes keep things back to sell online–I bought a pair of Stacy Adams shoes from SA or Goodwill, forgot which, on Ebay, as well as books ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/113 "2024-07-10T18:31:21Z")
They absolutely do and have experts in various fields. A regular looking pair of old 501 Levis can be worth thousands if the label is a certain way which indicates that it’s pre 1960 or something. It’s nearly impossible to get a super valuable thing that someone missed anymore ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/114 "2024-07-10T20:11:17Z")
Just popped in to say that my kids were “back home” for the fourth, and one of the things they wanted to do was to hit some small town thrift stores. Living in LA and Manhattan, they miss the “Midwest Cast-Offs”… I took them on back roads where I’d found some good places just this spring\*. . \*Take a road trip from Milwaukee to Madison and hit the stores in Pewaukee, Oconomowoc, Cambridge and Lake Mills. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2024, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/115 "2024-07-10T22:35:11Z")
I have two suits that I would love to own. One is a double-breasted charcoal gray and the other a single-breasted prince-of-wales plaid. 100% wool of course. I found the second one in a thrift store today. How does it fit? You would think I had it tailored for me and it is a fitted suit no less. Less than $10. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/116 "2024-07-11T00:04:25Z")
Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/117 "2024-07-11T02:30:10Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > They had a cool [guitar-shaped CD rack](https://photos.app.goo.gl/419s7XCxAiJrm2q49) up on a shelf that I couldn’t reach, so I asked the cashier if someone would get it down for me. > > Much to my surprise, she said it was for display only. This happened to me – not at a thrift store, per se, more a kind of curio shop – it was a solid wood carved head. They said it was display only, but I talked them into selling it to me. Still have it and love it. I also got my “gangster” suit by begging (the owner of the thrift store wanted to diet her way into it). I was a late 1940s grey wool chalk stripe with a nipped waist, wide lapelled, slightly shoulder padded jacket with an a-line knee length skirt with an inverted pleat front and back from Bullock’s Wilshire. Still have that, too, but now _I_ have to reduce into it! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/118 "2024-07-11T03:09:10Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > IOW, my own stains on my clothes - okay; your stains on my clothes- **ick** Plenty of clothes at my local thrift stores are in fine, unstained condition. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/119 "2024-07-11T03:11:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Bad news: my daughter thought she saw someone she knew as she was exiting the store and she was near tears over it. Lol - nowadays all the hipster teens shop there, and at Halloween you can hardly get in the door. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847/120 "2024-07-11T16:41:25Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > on. A practice grenade, I’m guessing. Basically a grenade without the explosive or actual fuse (a dummy one is in there instead), that is weighted so soldiers can learn how to properly throw them without using the real thing. Army surplus stores have had them for decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-shop-at-thrift-stores/1003847.md?page=7)