# Thrift store smell **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308 "2004-12-23T08:24:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/1 "2004-12-23T08:24:14Z")
All thrift stores that I have entered have this smell that I know of. You probably know what I’m talking about; what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/2 "2004-12-23T08:35:26Z")
The bones of whales ground into a paste, and whipped into a facsimile of hollondaise sauce, which is then rubbed into the garments and flooring. ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/3 "2004-12-23T08:36:01Z")
> [@Joe K](#): > > All thrift stores that I have entered have this smell that I know of. You probably know what I’m talking about; what is it? I know what you mean…I have come to the conclusion that it is a combination of all the old things that are there such as clothes and furniture that have probably spent months in someone’s closet or storage before the owner finally decided to donate it. In the really nice thrift stores I don’t notice the smell as much. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/4 "2004-12-23T08:38:49Z")
> [@START](#): > > I know what you mean…I have come to the conclusion that it is a combination of all the old things that are there such as clothes and furniture that have probably spent months in someone’s closet or storage before the owner finally decided to donate it. > In the really nice thrift stores I don’t notice the smell as much. That’s only what _he_ wants you to think. Save the whales! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/5 "2004-12-23T08:40:49Z")
It’s just a general mustiness. You notice the same smell in … well-lived-in houses, for lack of a better phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/6 "2004-12-23T09:28:28Z")
You don’t think the people they get the clothes from died of natural causes, do you? That smell is the bodies buried in the cellar slowly decomposing. Now, THERE’S an idea for a horror movie. {In a Trailerman voice: Thrift Shop: Where life’s not the only thing that’s cheap…} ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/7 "2004-12-23T22:28:46Z")
Some stores just have a universal smell. Dry and musty for old bookstores, sticky and tart for K-Mart-type places, heavy disinfectant for adult bookstores… What? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/8 "2004-12-23T22:42:31Z")
clothes you buy there lose the smell after being washed, but good luck ever getting it out of furniture. plenty of dorms smell like little thriftstore colonies because of that one musty, discolored couch in the corner. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/9 "2004-12-24T05:24:52Z")
Feet. Even if they don’t sell shoes, they smell like feet. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/10 "2004-12-24T05:33:12Z")
I always notice the smells of mildew and Tide. ---
**Author:** ![SoozieQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@SoozieQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoozieQ)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/11 "2004-12-24T05:36:34Z")
> [@hillbilly queen](#): > > Feet. Even if they don’t sell shoes, they smell like feet. I always thought the same thing… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/12 "2004-12-24T05:59:07Z")
> [@Gadfly](#): > > Save the whales! Nuke the whales. Save the snakeheads. [http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/09/24/critters.maryland.snakehead/](http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/09/24/critters.maryland.snakehead/) ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/13 "2004-12-24T17:07:44Z")
When I read the post, I thought of it from another angle. That is, thrift stores don’t smell like regular retail stores (Wal-Mart, Sears, etc). For the same reason that older cars don’t smell like new cars. New cars are made form brand-new materials that still are off-gassing some of the residue left behind during the manufacture process. Regardless, have the item cleaned once you get it home; regardless of where you buy it. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/14 "2004-12-25T04:02:44Z")
There’s also a distinctive smell for drugstores that were built before 1980, compared to those built after that. Compare a new Walgreens with an old Osco or independent drugstore, and you’ll see – or rather, smell – what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/15 "2004-12-27T02:49:01Z")
Elmwood- I know what you mean. I’ve noticed that convenience stores have “that convenience store smell”. I got a leather jacket infected with it, and had to have it professionally cleaned. It did get out the funk though. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/16 "2004-12-27T07:18:50Z")
I know what you mean. I’m guessing it’s the smell of mildew from being socked away in basements and attics for too long. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/17 "2004-12-27T08:13:21Z")
Well, I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same smells… I’m from NB, Canada, and I used to go into several thrift stores regularly - two called Frenchy’s, one unknown name, and Value Village. In each of those stores, they had the same oddly sweet smell… almost pleasant, but somehow kind of… sterile. I don’t know how to describe it. I used to tell my ex it smelled vaguely of pineapple shampoo (I used to have some brand of pineapple scented shampoo, and that was the closest I could guess). Well, just recently, I made a little grocery trip here in Seattle to a nearby QFC and picked me up some Glade spray - that stuff you use for deodorising your home in a spray can. The scent is “Hawaiian Breeze”. I thought that sounded pleasant, so I bought it. You can’t really smell it in the can… I suppose I could have sprayed it, but I was in a hurry and didn’t think to - how bad could a “Hawaiian Breeze” be? I often love Glade scents, anyway. Let me tell you, the moment I sprayed that around the living room to give it a nice fresh scent, I recoiled in horror. _Thrift Store smell_! It’s a pineapple-y coconutty smell. Now, mind you, I love Pina Coladas and the smell of pineapples and coconuts together, but this was _the_ smell, the _Thrift Store Smell_. Does anyone else know what I’m talking about? Do they spray these stores down with that stuff or what? I’ve only ever ben to one thrift store here in Seattle, and it wasn’t terrible smelling, but it was rather like an old person’s attic - a little must-y, but a little potpourri-y, too. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/18 "2004-12-27T14:27:35Z")
Thrift store smell isn’t that bad. Army/Navy Store smell, though… blech. It’s Thrift Store but headily redolent of mothballs and oil. If you buy any wearables there you have to wash them twice before you can wear them without passing out from the mothballs, and even then you can still smell it, just not as strong. ---
**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/19 "2004-12-28T02:35:19Z")
_I will not hijack, I will not hijack_, but I just posted a similar thread after a combo of a thought that crossed my mind today and this thread. > **[What is that smell in the Hollister stores?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293918)** > > I was in a Hollister today\*, and I noticed that I cannot pinpoint the smell, but it is definitely distinct… it isn’t cologne or any fragrance. any ideas? \*For the record, I do not like hollister. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308/20 "2004-12-28T15:16:09Z")
I used to spend _a lot_ of time in thrift shops, looking for records, so I know exactly what smell you’re talking about. They all have it. I liked the ones that were in old, old buildings from the early 1900s, and had been the Goodwill or Salvation Army headquarters for decades. They often had hardwood floors and discarded department store display furniture, also made of old wood. This contributed to the unique smell of a thrift store. There were some in Toronto that were in run-down storefronts on Queen Street, where you walk in and there are thousands of books and records and all manner of cast-off clothing and kitsch and broken items - it all smells like Other Peoples’ Stuff. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrift-store-smell/281308.md?page=2)