Do You Shop At Thrift Stores?
By villageanne
@villageanne (8553)
United States
November 30, 2007 8:49pm CST
I know people who would never be seen in a thrift store. They think that if they don’t go to the department store and purchase something new, it is not nice. I beg to differ. I do shop at thrift stores. In fact, I love thrift stores. I love looking through the racks for treasures.
We stopped at a place in South Carolina on our way home from our daughters. There we found a great Goodwill store. It was the nicest Goodwill I have ever been it. It smelled nice and was well organized so it did not look junky or cheap. I found two Woolrich Sweaters that still have the original tags on them. Anyone who knows Woolrich, knows that it is very expensive and so very well made. I love wool rich clothes. I cant afford it new but I could afford the price at the goodwill. The really strange thing is that I had been looking at a sweater just like one of these at Pebbles. It cost $98.oo so you can imagine my delight when I found it for $5.00. I was thrilled to say the least.
I think that shopping at thrift stores is a great way to save the environment. You are keeping the items from being sent to a landfill as well as saving trees, gas and so many other things. I love shopping at thrift stores.
Do you consider shopping at thrift stores a way to save the environment? Do you shop at thrift stores?Do you find wonderful bargains?Are you one of those people who would never be caught dead in a thrift store?What are some of the bargains that you have found?
5 people like this
28 responses
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
2 Dec 07
I love treasure hunting, thats what I consider it. I used to have a store that I called the "Salvage Store", they had stuff that had the boxes damaged or where out dated. I kept stocked up on everything. I miss that store so much, I knew when the trucks would come in. I could spend hours down there going thru the bins.
1 person likes this
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I miss that store so much, it was so much fun. It was a store for a local grocery store and a pharmacy. The stores decided to take care of their own salvage stuff. They also sold day old baked goods. Some of the stuff you had to watch the dates, most of the stuff was fine. I bought everything down there. The store was just around the corner, I would go 2 times a week.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Polly,
You and I have alot in common. Wow I bet that was great. Why did they close it?
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
There used to be a day old bread store about an hour away from home. We would go and purchase my husbands lunch cakes there. They were 12 for a dollar. That was the snow balls and such. Nice big lunch cakes. I could not make them that cheap.
@Bev1986 (1425)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I do shop at Goodwill. There is one in my town and I try to go every other month or so to find clothes for work. Last winter, I was looking for a nice dress to wear at our Christmas party and found two black party dresses that still had the tags on them. One was $95 the other was $120! And like you wrote, I got them for $5!!!!
No one knows you got them at the thrift store unless you tell them. I love a good bargain!
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Wow! That is sure a good deal. I bet you will look nice at the Christmas party. I love bargains.
@lizzyt2007 (1312)
• Craig, Alaska
4 Dec 07
I do. They are a good way to shop when you have little to spend. Sometimes you can find things that are almost brand new. and other times you do find things brand new. you just have to get there when the open and see what new stuff they get in. Thats what my mom does, she shops at the stores more than me. I would personal go shop at walmart but sometimes I will go to a thrift store.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I have a problem with walmarts clothes. The colors dont stay as nice as other brands.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
LOL I heard that! Why pay more than you have too for items. I love looking for treasures in the thrift stores
@silvermoonmyst (943)
• United States
3 Dec 07
I shop as often as i can at second hand stores. I really love getting great deals on things that i need and want for cheap! Most of the time i can get some awesome childrens clothes for really cheap. especially seeing children outgrow clothes so fast, especially my little baby. At 5 months old he is needing 12 month sized clothes and he goes through them so fast. A second hand store has really saved my life.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Gotta love a good deal. Wow he is sure big. I bet he is ourgrowning clothes fast.
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
3 Dec 07
Oh my gosh, me and my oldest daughter love shopping at thrift stores, there were several when we lived in Austin, now she lives in Virginia and I live in PA. There doesn't seem to be as many up here as there was in the South. But when we happen to be together for a visit and we are out running around, if we find one we always stop, we've found some wonderful things at thrift stores. But I have known some that wouldn't be caught stepping in a thrift store.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
We must all live fairly close. I am in West Virginia. There is not a lot of them here but I do go to the ones that are here. Bargains is my talent. LOL
@nancygibson (3736)
• France
1 Dec 07
I'm a great believer in charity shops, anything that helps get items reused and out of landifill has to be a good thing. Most of my household stuff like kitchen equipment was bought at charity shops, car boot sales and jumble sales, and whilst I don't buy a huge amount of clothes, I have had some great finds in charity shops.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Gotta love those deals. Just think what would happen to all that wonderful stuff if nobody shopped at Thrift or Charity Shops
@breezie (1246)
• Canada
3 Dec 07
I love shopping at thrift stores. I often travel out of town to go to Value Villages near us. They always have tons of stuff and the prices are great. I remember as a kid my mom would shop in thrift store and I was always so embarrassed, but things seem different now. My kids are quite happy to tag along to the thrift stores and look around for new ( to them) stuff. Sometimes we even find brand new clothing with tags still on.
I have found lots of cool clothes for my daughter and son there. I often have people ask where I bought certain items they wear and I have no problem telling them where they are from.
My daughter and I also collect My Little Ponies and we have found tons of them at thrift stores. We find at least one bag each time we go.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
My daughters used to just love My Little Ponies when they were kids. I had forgotten about them.
1 person likes this
@acuityplague (763)
• United States
1 Dec 07
I love thrift stores! I have gotten so many good deals over the years by shopping at thrift stores and consignment shops, it's just crazy.
I've gotten Vera Bradley purses for less than five bucks and just recently got our daughter a full length wool coat with tags (originally 249.00) for only 15 dollars! You really can't beat the great deals. We even got a queen size sleeper sofa with the plastic still factory sealed for $20.00, it makes me giggle just thinking about it.
My kids used to hate thrift stores but now that they are older and know the value of a dollar, they can't seem to pass a thrift store or yard sale without stopping. I tease them about it all the time:)
You got a great deal on the sweaters, gotta love a good find like that.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I love Wool Coats. That was one heck of a deal. I smiled when I read about your deal too.
@cindyspassions (510)
• Lampe, Missouri
1 Dec 07
I do we have one here local that i like to go to it is called new to you love it. i just went in and got 2 dresses and 3 pair of showes the other day and love them. and for all that it was less then $20.00. i also love shopping at places like this so that i can get the kids new clothes. we don't have lots of money and why spend lots of money on clothes that they will be not wearing in 5 or 6 months any way.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Kids just outgrow their clothes so fast. I see not need to pay full price when you can get it for less.
@miltonyoung (29)
• United States
1 Dec 07
It's kind of like saying "I'm poor." which is not what kinda image people want to give off when they buy Lexuses, BMWs, Benzes, etc.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I dont feel like I am saying "I am Poor" I just love the bargains. I can understand why those kind of people dont shop at thrift stores though
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
3 Dec 07
I shop at the thrift store all the time. Our Goodwill store is only two blocks away. So I can stop in a few times every week to scour for new bargains. This year before school started I bought my daughter jeans and sweaters from there. I just wash them p and put them in her clean clothes basket. She never even asks where they came from. I also go to a neighborhood church who gives clothes away once a month.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Wow! You are lucky to have a Goodwill store that close. I dont blame you for going a few times a week.
@williamjisir (22819)
• China
2 Dec 07
Hello dear anne. I also like to go shopping at some thrift stores. Here we have some one-or-two RMB shops in the town. Sometimes I would go in and check if there is something that I would be able to use in my daily life.
Also I would like to go to shops where things are on sale and I can always find something useful to me.
I think that it is a way to help save the environment if we do more shopping at a thrift store as the cost is low and they would not be sent to landfill. lol
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I too love to go to shops when they are having a clearance sale. I am a bargain shopper. I just love a good bargain.
@fortunebee (509)
• Philippines
1 Dec 07
Yes! I shop at thrift shops and when I lived in Japan, I would say that it was always like treasure hunting. You just can't imagine that you will really find new items like your sweaters that are still new or items that have been slightly used. It's practical. I usually have good finds with things for the house like tea sets, but I am not always lucky with the clothes department because they don't sell my size. You will find me in thrift stores as much as I have the chance to drop by because I also go back to check if there are new arrivals. I even invite friends to see if they will find something they will fancy. You should not judge the name of it being a thrift shop, but experience the joy of finding treasures that you may have been looking for!
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I have never been to Japan. So they have better thrift stores than most in the US?
I would love to go look through them. LOL
@GardenGerty (160952)
• United States
1 Dec 07
I have shopped at thrift stores especially on vacation. Going to another part of the country exposes you to even more bargains. I have bought designer clothes even at the local thrift shops. I have seen and purchased Pendleton and LL Bean items in New Hampshire. I bought a winter coat in July one year in New Hampshire. When my daughter was a young teen she loved for me to get her jeans at a thrift store because they would already be broke in and comfortable.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I love going in the ones when we are on vacation too. Seems I always find better deals then.
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
1 Dec 07
I certainly do shop thrift shops my daughters get the nicest dresses mostly worn only once before, sometimes new with tags on for just a few dollars. my girls only wear dresses and most girls wear britches so they might wear the dress for a special occasion and are done with it. great for us!
once at a thrift shop for the blind I got a brand new german terra cotta casserole with lid for only 97 cents...this would normally cost around $40
1 person likes this
@kurtbiewald (2625)
• United States
1 Dec 07
yeah, I shop there
pants for $6
nice shirts for like $5
t shirts for $2
i got a very good Cashmere coat for $25 midsummer, fits perfectly and has some mink in it too, would have been like $500 in a regular store I think
@mommy20212004 (350)
• United States
1 Dec 07
Being the mother of 5 kids, I can truthfully say I definitley shop at thrift stores. Not that we do it all the time, but when you can get something used and in perfectly good condition for half the price of what you would pay for it new, I say go for it. There's nothing wrong with shopping in a thrift store as long as it suits your purpose and budget.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I know how hard it can be to keep clothes on 5 kids. There was 6 of us kids. I love the bargains I find at thrift stores.
@creationsbyrobin (3071)
• United States
1 Dec 07
I don't shop at the thrift store near my house. There's no way you could possible find anything worth a lot of money there, because the place is always packed with bargain hunters!! We bring about 3 garbage bags full of close that no longer fit to the thrift shop every year. If they don't sell in the yard sales we have at various family members homes each spring and summer, they all go to the thrift shop.
We did stop in a thrift shop in another state, while on vacation, and found a trendy overcoat for my hubby that would probably cost well over $100 in a store (and it didn't look like it was every worn) and he said he would never spend the $$ on it if he had to buy it brand new.
Yes, we feel we are helping both the enviroment and folks, like us, that try to make ends meet by saving money on quality used clothing or items. And we're very glad to see that quite often some easily identifiable items we've brought there are often sold when we stop by with more bags.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Some thrift stores are better than others. I love to go in the stores that are located in "rich" looking places.
@zipper811 (4)
•
1 Dec 07
I used to shop in thrift stores several times a week. I owned an antique store, and thrift stores are one of the sources antique dealers use. Anyone who's embarrassed to be seen in a thrift store is a horse's patootie. I'd buy a lamp for two or three dollars and sell it in my store for ninety dollars or more. Thrift stores can make one rich.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Do you still own an antique store?
I love to browse antique stores.
