I’ve shopped at thrift stores for the last 10 years and I’m getting tired of it. The stores always have a faint whiff of fecies and the clothes are usually either stretched out or shrunken. On occasion you can get something nice, if you look for like an hour or so, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a nice pair of pants from them. Part of it may be my body type. I’m perfectly average. Average height, weight and shoe size. My sizes are usually picked clean. It is very frustrating to go to a rack of clothes and see a void where your size should be. Just the opposite of new clothing stores.
I’m going upscale to the Sears consignment outlet.
Number me among the thrift store fans. I’m fresh out of grad school and trying to assemble a professional wardrobe… I don’t think I could have done it without Goodwill, the Council of Jewish Women, and Out Of The Closet*. On occasion, my mother has asked me where I bought this article of clothing or that one; I usually respond with something like “a little boutique in Santa Monica”. Only my sister knows that that’s code for “thrift store find”.
Benefits AIDS research. Now, I know that 1) AIDS is not limited to gay folk; 2) being gay does not ipso facto confer good fashion sense, and 3) straight people (like myself) also donate clothes; but I still think that their clothing selection is fabulous.
My wife is queen of the thrift store. She scours them for big-named clothes in new or very good condition then sells them on eBay. She usually finds stuff with the store tags still on them. NASCAR and pro sports stuff sells very well also. She once got over $50 for a rugby shirt she paid a dollar for! The kid wears thrift stuff, always new with tags. Buying new kids clothes doesn’t make much sense to us, especially when the terrorist monkey is seen crawling through the compost heap in the back yard. She not only saves money, but makes money!
I can never find shit for myself. I am always looking for Levi’s and they never have my size. What scares me is how many pairs of pants they have that are “over-square” (waist bigger than length)! 40 x 32? :eek: I think we should all eat a little less and get out more often!
If you know what’s what you really can make some money on Thrift Stores. I could easily make $ 25 - 100 + everytime I walk into one (and have) but he PITA factor is listing the stuff on eBay and taking the time to write an enticing ad for each item. Even if you make 100 on the flip for say 2-4 items , if you’ve sent an hour shopping and driving to and back, 1 hour researching pricing and listing all the stuff, and 1 hour packing, driving and shipping it’s less of a good deal effort-wise even if you flip it for mutliples of what you paid.
I should have added to the previous post, that this is not to say you shouldn’t Thrift Shore shop. I got a pair of Infinity ss 2005 speakers last Friday in excellent shape witha black walnut finish for 20.00 for the pair, and these units normally sell used for 150 - $ 200 a pair . It sounds petty (and possibly unbalanced) but there are few things that can compete with the joy and warm glow of snagging a superb deal.
I love thrift. When I started dieting last March, I swore I would not buy any new clothing until I was DONE and down to a size 10 or 12. Well, as I’m pregnant (I did get to size 14 first!) now, I have to break that rule, but in the meantime I have bought an entire new wardrobe at the various thrifts in the city.
I have a wardrobe full of Liz Claiborne, Talbots, Gap, etc, and many of them were new with the tags. I’m going to love shopping for Maternity clothes!
Unfortunately, it can be pretty dang hard to find a good one.
Most of my boots are from thrift stores: I have a pair of knee-high, black suede, high quality boots from Italy that I got from a thrift store. eyes bottom of boot For $5.99.
Beyond boots, I also find jeans and skirts at thrift stores fairly often. I don’t wear skirts very often, so I can’t see myself paying full price for something I’ll wear two, maybe three times a year.
It’s very rare that I find shirts at a thrift store, but then again, it’s hard for me to find shirts to begin with.
Beyond thrift stores though, I hit outlet malls when I get the chance. If I hit them when they’re trying to clear out their clearance stuff, I can get items for less than the local thrift stores!
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I like thrift shops but they’re so much work. So much plowing through crap to find the gems …
I quite like clothes swap parties, where all your friends get together and bring everything they haven’t worn in a year. You devise some mechanism for equitable distribution, everyone takes home what they like, and the leftovers go to charity. It’s neat to see your friends wearing the clothes you outgrew (or outshrunk) last year …
Nope. I enjoy low prices and I do not agree that Wal Mart is good. I have in my life bought three items there, spending a total of $20. I do not intend to go back. (Although I will grant that the plants I bought there are doing extremely well.)
I’ve never shopped at either one, but I’d rather my money went to Wal-Mart than The Salvation Army. “The Salvation Army is a truly international movement, sharing in the mission of Christ for the salvation and transformation of the world,” indeed! Good luck with that, folks, but not with my money.
There’s a thrift store in Montreal called “Sally Ann”? OK, now I understand the reference in (Montreal-based band) The Local Rabbits’ “Sally Ann’s Style Denial.”
My SO is a frequent thrift-store shopper, but I’ve only done it looking for books or old computer games or other frivolous stuff. Then again, I so rarely go shopping for clothes, so I also save by not shopping.
Unless yer whooshin’ me, no you don’t quite understand the reference. Sally Ann = SA = Salvation Army.
I’m not exactly an expert on the SA, but I always thought that the thrift stores were associated with the Adult Rehabilitation Centers. Substance abuse help, family counseling, workforce training, general help for those on Skid Row, that sort of thing. I’d be unsurprised if that’s mixed with religion (after all, the SA is a religious denomination), but my understanding is that the Thrift Store profits support rehabilitation primarily. But still, as you say, it’s your money, and I understand reluctance to support religious organizations.
I love the many local thrift stores.Look at myjewlery boxes. I buy orphaned boxes that need fixing up. I replace the ugly painted glass with stained glass, clean them up, & put new velvet inside.
BiblioCat, there are tons of them. Two of my favourites are in Brooklyn Park (on Richie Highway, a Value Village) and the Goodwill on B’lair Road, the one you mentioned. There’s also a Goodwill on Merritt and Holabird that I quite like.
I was reminded yesterday that it is a great and terrible thing to work in a consignment shop. Many pairs of lovely corduroys, all in my size. Must… resist… temptation…
Where in Michigan? Do you get a discount? If the second question is a Yes, I will drive 200 miles ( $87 in gas) to save $1 because you will be my new personal best friend.
