Shopping Thrift Stores

Discussion in 'Shopping & Sales' started by Hannah Davis, May 14, 2015.

  1. Hannah Davis

    Hannah Davis Veteran Member
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    I admit it I have a love for thrift stores. This started thanks to my parents who while we were growing up didn't have a whole lot of money so they would shop thrift stores all the time and take their kids with them. I found there was some great stuff to be found here. Yes, I know these stores deal with second hand merchandise but some great finds can be found in them. Over the years I found great clothes, quilts and other items. When I would mention to people who complemented me on a certain top I was wearing at the time that I got it from a Thrift Store some would have a less then favorable reaction, but I would just say hey it was new at one point and it still looks great. The only issue I have now there are no longer any Thrift Stores in my area, and we had three of them at one time. Now if I want such a bargain I got to yard sales, but I guess that would be another post wouldn't it.
     
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  2. Val White

    Val White Veteran Member
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    I help run a Charity shop which funds a cafe for the mentally challenged. The local support we receive is truly wonderful and we never know what will be donated for us to sell.

    Often items of value are included in boxes and bags of clothes and if you are not aware of this they can be sold for pennies. We now sell a lot of these on E bay where we are guaranteed a profit. Time consuming but worth it.

    The sadness is that many big charities have lost sight of what these shops started of as, and are now asking silly prices for what are donated clothing etc.

    On the flip side are those that drop of bags of rubbish that they are too lazy to bin themselves.
     
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  3. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    I love to go into second hand stores to hunt for treasures. Often I see prices that are so unreal for the item being sold. The store has put a price on the item that is not inline with the value of the item and maybe missing sales. I understand cost have gone up but I have a price that I am willing to pay and not any more than that. I was in a store recently that priced their books at $3 each.

    I have found some good bargains also, a $125 London Fog brand new tag still on it for $15.
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I think that the not knowing what we might find there, is part of the thrill of going to a thrift shop. When you go shopping at Walmart; you pretty much know what is going to be on the shelves there, and priced accordingly.
    In a thrift shop; you just never know what you might find. Some things will be terribly overpriced because someone had no idea of the value of the item, and assumed it was expensive. I have seen horse bridles and halters there priced for more than they cost new; simply because the person pricing them thought they must be valuable.
    Other times, you may find a treasure priced for a pittance because (again) the pricer did not know what it was actually worth.
    My mother took me shopping at thrift shops from the time that I was little; so I also grew up loving to browse through a thrift store looking for those rare treasures..
     
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  5. Ina I. Wonder

    Ina I. Wonder Supreme Member
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    Around Houston the thrift store can be as expensive as new. What a friend of mine has introduced me to are flea markets. You will find old, gently used, new, handmade, and quite often you will come across a pile of overstocked items. I found my comfy rocking chair at one. A man had collected as many downed cedar trees as he could find from recent storms in the last few years, and he made all kinds of furniture from it. By selling at a flea market he saved himself considerable amounts of money by not having to pay someone to sell his product.

    image.jpg
     
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  6. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    My wife is a little modest about her tales of shopping at thrift shops, or yard sales for that matter.
    If I sent her out with a 20 dollar bill she could come home with a car full of stuff and mostly things that are very nice. She once went to a 7th day Adventist thrift store in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She came back with a couple of boxes of dishes that she bought for about 10 bucks. Come to find out, she knew what she bought and the seller did not for each dish was worth a lot of money. She did question the seller however, just to stay within the graces of God, I do believe.
    Once, we had a new next door neighbor who had a small S-10 pickup truck for sale. After looking at the truck my wife went to get some money at our home and while she was gone I told the seller he was only going to get half of what he asked for. He said the price was solid. She got back, she talked, he talked, she gave him less than half of the money he initially asked for. He walked away without his truck, shaking his head and licking his wounds.

    The moral of the story is..........The reason most thrift shops do not barter any longer is because of my wife. One day we were looking for an open thrift shop and found three with closed signs on the door somehow knowing she was on the prowl. One shop in particular closed down permanently just minutes after we left! Oh the humanity!
     
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  7. Val White

    Val White Veteran Member
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    When you work in a charity shop you certainly see different sides to people. We can spot the traders who come in for cheap deals to sell on at inflated prices. The antique collector who knows his stuff but hopes you don't so that he can find that 50p Faberge Egg bargain or 20p.Cartier watch. (and Yes we have had these donated)

    There is the haggler that no matter how low the price you put on an item, it's a challenge to get that article at less than half price no matter how long it takes. Then there is the hard luck stories that should wring your very heart and would, if you had not heard them all before. Must remember also to mention the thieves and those that try to pass counterfeit money, who depend on the slower responses of the pensioners that volunteer

    Charity shopping has become a shopping art form with all the tricks of the trade used, but at the end of the day however the money comes in, it is still all for charity, and that is what matters the most :)
     
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  8. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    More and more, people are becoming aware of the value of older things. Although it still happens, there seems to be fewer real gems to be found at amazingly low prices in thrift stores. More often, I find things to be priced ridiculously high, given that this is stuff that has been donated. Certainly, there is an overhead that they have to carry in the building itself, salaries, etc. but some of them are unreasonable in their pricing. We still find things in thrift stores that can be resold on eBay at a profit but, these days, if the the people running the stores have not themselves realized it, there are others, like us, perusing these stores. We do better in yard sales.
     
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  9. Tom Locke

    Tom Locke Veteran Member
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    It dawned on me the other day that almost all of the books I've bought in the last year have come from charity shops. There is one that sells all of its books for 50p (around 75 cents in US?). I go there about once a month and have always found something worth buying. I've bought some 19th-century classics from there, a number of which are 700-800 pages. That's not bad value.
     
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  10. Von Jones

    Von Jones Supreme Member
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    I love to thrift shop. Sometimes I have something that I'm looking for and other times I just browse. I'm looking for smaller charity stores now as Ken noted stores like Goodwill have begun to increase their prices.
     
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  11. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I have shopped thrift store for years, first, it was books, then music and occasional stick of furniture. I love finding something special i've been shopping for. If you enjoy thrifts they are fun places.I have also over the years, donated a lot of merchandise to Thrift Stores. I still do.
     
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  12. John Donovan

    John Donovan Veteran Member
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    Damn, it must be really exciting to work at a thrift store! I never thought that a normal thrift store job could imply knowing so many types of people!
     
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  13. Helene Lawson

    Helene Lawson Veteran Member
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    I enjoy going to thrift shops, you can find some awesome stuff in such stores, and what is the most exciting you won't pay a fortune for them.
    It's worth going to a thrift shop if you have some spare time during the day, I never regret my visits and come back to my house with
    a big pack of stuff bought there. :)
     
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  14. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    I wonder why we have no thrift stores here. When we go to the mall, my husband drops by the Used Book Sale where old books and magazines are sold at low prices. That's my idea of a thrift store where items are cheap although not brand new. Especially for furnitures (the photo above gave me this thought) which are so expensive here, it would be great for those with no budget if there would be thrift stores selling such items.
     
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  15. Allison Schuck

    Allison Schuck Veteran Member
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    I love thrift store, consignment shops, and yard sales. I always find something I love. It is fun. You can meet people and talk, exchange ideas. It is great.....
     
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