Shopping at thrift stores, or, let's start a mass movement

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, I think that there is a fairly large segment of our society that agrees that Wal-Mart is evil. However, there is also a fairly large segment that believes that Wal-Mart is good, because they offer low, low prices, and there is also a large segment of society that simply can’t afford to shop anywhere else…

or so they think.

There are usually several thrift stores salted throughout any fair to mid-sized to largish city anywhere in the U.S. Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, Savers, plus some smaller stores operated by local charities. The charities that operte these stores do a lot of assorted good work, ranging from providing shelter to the homeless to providing job training for handcapped folks.

They also sell a wide variety of goods at really, really low prices. I have found that, from Savers at least, you can often find better quality clothing than you could get at Wal-Mart, at less than half the price. OK, so my “new” jeans might have a bit of wear on them, but at least I know they’ve been “wash tested” and won’t fall apart at the seems the third time I launder them. I once purchased an entire new wardrobe for what it would have cost me to buy maybe two outfits at Wally World.

Oh, and if you’ve got some thrift store savvy (ask people who are regular shoppers, they can give you lots of good tips) the stores periodically have half-price sales. If you can get an idea of when new stock is most likely to hit the racks, well, my mom was out shopping and picked up some Laura Ashley designer sweats, never been worn (still had the department store tag on them) for about seven bucks for a complete outfit. I’ve gotten Gloira Vanderbilt jeans and assorted other designer clothes with minimal wear for, again, less than half of what I would have paid for the cheaply-sewn “made for Wal-Mart” brands.

If you’re in a health-care related field, you can usually find scrubs aplenty at these places as well, especially if you live in a town that has a large hospital or two. Ditto for people who work in places that have dress codes that basically amount to “buy it yourself” uniforms.

Household items like small appliances or electronics are a little riskier, but I have yet to have a thrift store employee tell me, “no, you can’t plug that jambox in to see if it works”. They’re almost always quite happy to let you test out an item before you throw down your cash.

So, come on, Dopers, let’s get our friends to stop shopping at “Big Box” discount stores and spend their money at thrift stores instead.

2

I like Wal-Mart.

They have low-low prices.

3

if it makes you feel any better i started shopping at dollar general instead of walmart for some of my goods because the prices are the same.

4

I’m a thrift store fanatic! I am currently wearing the jeans I got for $4 (Aeropostal- I’m not familiar with the brand, but they’re great jeans). The fit fantastic and are a dark indigo blue- no wear or fading. On that same trip I bought my Liz Claiborne sweater- hard to describe but trust me- gorgeous. Looks brand new, and might just be. $4 I also got a brand new pair of Keds stretch Leather sneaks- $4.

So for $12, I got a great outfit- looks new, all of it, and didn’t buy any weird impulse items while I was in the store. (which I’m really bad about in Wal-Mart) For $12, I doubt I could have gotten any 1 single of those items, anywhere else.

5

A few weeks ago I found a Rowenta iron at a thrift store. Works wonderfully and only cost $6. The same day I found a French brom mandoline slicer at a different thrift store. There was no price so I asked the clerk how much. She sold it to me for $1. It still had the instruction booklet. The sme make and model of slicer sells for $100 on e-bay.

I’ve bought barn jackets at thrift stores. Why pay full price if you’re gong to be mucking around the horses? I don’t usually look at the regular clothesw, because going through the racks of stuff bores me.

StG

6

I have a local non-chain consignment shop that specializes in baby stuff. I love the place. The staff are really cool, and the prices are amazing (if you’ve ever bought baby stuff, you know how pricy new items can be). Last time I was there, I picked up a bedrail for $4.50 that was priced at $30 new in a store. On principle alone (ignoring the money savings) I hate to buy new things that you can only use for such a short time.

My only dilemma is that by telling all my friends with similar-aged kids about it, I’m reducing my selection. :frowning:

7

Dammit, Thea BE QUIET!

I’ve just submitted a book proposal to a publisher on this very topic (no, seriously, I did.)

So, SHHHH! Wait 'til I get published, buy the book and THEN you can all talk about what a genius I am for starting this movement.

8

I like my mass produced Wal Mart products, thank you. If I need a suitcase or something, I’ll go to a thrift shop but I’ll stick to my large department stores for the most part.

9

I think that the segment of the population that enjoys low prices does agree that Wal Mart is good. In fact, other than maybe the increased traffic these stores can bring to an area, I don’t see what people think is wrong with Wal-Mart other than some vague “corporations are evil” mentality.

Not to mention that for the same low price, you can buy clothes at Wal Mart that some other person didn’t already wear.

10

You just reminded me of something I forgot to add above…a lot of “used” baby clothing at consignment shops is not even really used. I get things with tags still on. Babies grow so fast, and people love to give you baby clothes.

Anyway, what’s so bad about things someone else has already worn? You do wash your clothes, right? :wink: And we’re not talking underwear. Do you go out to restaurants and stick forks in your mouth that hundreds of other people have stuck in their mouths? :eek:

11

I buy a lot of my daughter’s clothes at the thrift store. She’s only a year old, and kids at that age don’t usually wear their clothes long enough to mess them up. I got her a cute, $35 Hanna Andersson dress for $1.
I do my fair share of Target, Baby gap and Old Navy clothes shopping as well, but I’ve gotten some really great clothes for a dollar or less at the thrift store. Plus, the one closest to my house had a 25% military discount on Thursday, which is great.

12

Good point! I’ve never worked in a restaurant, but I’ll bet they don’t give brand new silverware to every customer. I have no qualms about wearing used clothing, I buy a lot of stuff off eBay. As long as there are no stains, it’s cool. I wash the item before wearing, no problem. I’ve recently bought 5 pairs of shorts that would have a retail value of close to $130, for about $24 on eBay. Add a few bucks for shipping, and it is still a great deal. Some of them are brand new, too, never worn. We have had a few thrift stores in my town, but they don’t stay open long. So I do eBay.

The only reason I’ll step into a Wal Mart is either we’re all out of dog food and I don’t feel like driving in horrible traffic to PetSmart, or it’s 2 AM and nothing else is open and I need something bad. I loathe Wal Mart. Our local WM is a nightmare.

13

Sorry, I already bought a book from someone else who started the movement. :wink:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060952091/qid=1081724749/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-7808233-9407204?v=glance&s=books

On principle I advise people against shopping in thrift stores…because that leaves more great stuff for me!!!

14

Thrift stores are wonderful, and we visit them any place we go. We once went direct from the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco to thrift stores. They are great for kids, buying and selling, and my wonderful daughter, by choice, wore thrift shop clothes all through high school. I think she spent less in a year than many kids did in one shopping trip.

The clothes in thrift shops are often of better quality than the crap you find in WalMart.

As for what is wrong with WalMart - there have been several threads about that already. Look it up.

15

I don’t want other people to shop at thift stores, Goodwill or Salvation Army.

Why?

Because they will a) clog up the aisles b) * get the stuff I wanted to get but didn’t know I wanted to get it until I saw it and saw the price tag * c) They are amateurs. These are the same type of people who turn up their noses at Garage Sale finds and curb-side specials and would never ever in a million years root through the “free bin” because it is beneath them.

These are the same people whose houses and wardrobes all match. Phsaw. Like that means anything.

I want them to continue to be tools of the system and buy, buy , buy whatever is hot, new, trendy and then throw out last years hot must-have’s to charity.

It must be kept a secret.

It must be kept a secret so I can continue to get Liz Claiborne, J.Jill, Abercombie& Fitch and a host of other cough top brands for under $4. (Which is probably what it cost in the first place to make it and, the bonus is, the money is going to charity, not some designer.)

It must be kept a secret so that when people ask me where I got my daughters ultra cool vintage dress (the kind always featured in Martha Stewart) I say,
" Hand me down" or when they see the Gap/ Hilfiger/ Polo/ Hannah Andersson label, they can assume I spent gobs of money on full price.

Let them live in the illusion that I have money, style and taste.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHA. ::::wipes a tear from my eye:::::::::

I’ve never paid full price for any clothing for my kids. Ever. Not even underwear or socks. It costs me possibly $200 a year to cloth them. Probably less, if I could control my urges to buy the bargins at the thrift shops. But I can’t because it is so darn cheap and wonderful and, b est of all, when I tire of it, I can donate it right back to them. The love that keeps giving.

**Why Must It Be Kept A Secret? **

People are inherently lazy.

We want them to think about the only way to live is **by keeping up with the Jones’ ** and that the reason their house is too small is because they have too much stuff so either they move ( but cannot afford because all the credit cards are maxed out at Marshall Feilds) , it is easier to throw the stuff out to the Salvation Army.) And so their ego’s are balmed by the thought that they are doing good by giving their stuff to charity and thus in a fit of self induced manical euphoria, drive off to the mall to start the whole process all over again. because as we all know, a recently vacated space on a shelf, closet or basement *must be filled up with some thing else of the same or greater size and equal non-usefullness * as soon as possible. It is the nature of the beast.

It is imperative this vicious cycle not be broken.

16

I love thrift stores, but the ones in Tallahassee are absolutely cutthroat. You should see the way that shoppers descend on the poor salespeople as they are wheeling out a rack of merchandise; it is horrifying to behold. I personally have been looking at these racks, moving down the line, and had people get in front of me in order to get to the new stuff before I did. It’s nerve-wracking for me, so I only go every once in a while, usually when I’m in other towns.

17

Shirley et al

Come now, my post was primarily aimed at people who would generally shop at Wal-Mart. You don’t really folks buying stuff at Wally World to donate their cheap crap to your favorite thrift-store owning charity after they’ve owned it a while and it’s one washing away from dissolving in the washing machine, now, do you? Do you really want to have to slog through Faded Glory and the made-for Wal-Mart lines of Wrangler and other brands (which, due to having to keep prices low for sale to Wal-Mart, is the same made-in-China cheap low quality as Wal-Mart’s private label brands), to find those designer clothes and other well-made goodies at a tenth of what you would pay at Nordstrom’s or L.S. Ayer’s?

Fie. Most of the upper income folks would be embarrassed to buy a snot-rag at a thrift store, so, let them wastefully spend their money and donate the items they have grown tired of after a few months, or, in many cases, just never got around to wearing, and the rest of us can re-purchase them at a bargain. I’d just as soon not have to dig through already starting to fall apart Wal-Mart cheapies to find the good stuff, thanks.

msmith537, at risk of repeating what has already been posted, there are plenty of threads on the boards citing pretty good evidence that Wal-Mart is, in fact, evil. You know how to search the forums, and there are links a-plenty. Also, I am a former Wal-Mart wage slave who refused to shop there even while I was still employed. Also, you are going to have to work pretty hard to convince me that buying a low-priced pair of jeans that will fall apart and have to be replaced in six months is a better deal than dropping the same amount of money at a thrift store and getting a well-made pair of used jeans, a sweater and maybe even a nice new purse. They are not the “same low prices”. The prices at thrift shops are generally about a fifth of what you’d pay for new clothes at Wal-Mart, and if you know how to shop, you can get far better quality. I have a pair of nice, slightly worn thrift shop jeans that cost me about six bucks and I’ve had them for three years, and they’re still going strong (granted, they’re a bit faded). The last pair of jeans I bought at Wal-Mart, for about twenty bucks, bit the dust in a bit less than a year.

18

I shop at Goodwill for my kids’ clothes fairly often, and also an “off-price” store we have locally called Gabriel Bros. At Gabe’s, there are a lot of slightly imperfects and factory seconds. You can buy a ladies’ Speedo swimsuit for about $15.00. Kid’s jeans are $4.00-$5.00. Adult sized jeans are often cheaper there than at the Goodwill. You have to check for imperfections and such, but if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, it’s well worth it! This is where I buy all my socks and underwear, usually about 30% less than Wally World. I don’t mind second-hand clothes, but I draw the line at underwear. That may not be logical, but it’s just the way I am.

19

Heh.

I guess I did miss the point all together, but I still want those richie rich people to keep on shopping at UberTrendy stores so I can wear their stuff the following season.

20

You can buy clothes at a thrift store? Geez, and I usually just buy electronic/computer stuff. You’d be amazed what some people throw out as “junk” (and don’t bother checking on eBay for).