I loved all type of second-hand stores much in the way @Pat Baker does; for the pleasure to find treasures, above all. However since a couple of years I thought to adopt a frugal life and started to get rid of superfluous things in a convenient manner; giving them to my sister in case I want to recover them later, although I know she will surrender them for a price LOL But the fact is that knowing that loads of temptations are laying in thrift stores, I prefer to avoid them now. Even though, one of these days I have to organize a trip for stores selling old furniture; I want a narrow studio coach like those that were popular in the 1970s, that I'm sure will look great into my home decor based on improved visual space. No bulky furniture allowed
I love thrift shops and almost all of my clothing and that of my daughter and her son comes from thrift shops. I am on a very small social security income and my daughter is unemployed at this time due to her health and she and her son live with me. When I was growing up back in the 50's my Mom shopped thrift shops for dresses with the big, full skirts on them. She would bring them home, take them apart and then use the yards and yards of material to make dresses for me and my three sisters. It was amazing what she could make with all of that materiel. My sisters and I had dresses unlike anyone else's. And I was proud to say that my mother made them for me.
What a great idea your mom had, and really what a satisfaction for you wearing your clothes I remember myself being a teenager and having my mother buying clothes from thrift shops in a moment when money was scarce due to the 1973–75 recession, but my mother had a different attitude doing this. For her, it was shamming buying second-hand clothes, despite how beautiful many of them were. In fact many were probably used once and then discarded, and among these clothes there were designer and imported clothing. Nonetheless, my mother was very careful to avoid someone could see us shopping from there, and discovering what was our secret dressing great-looking clothes in hard times.
I like shopping at thrift stores. Locally on Oahu there's Savers, Goodwill, Salvation Army & the church and school bazaars. We found out about them through our neighbor who called them Sally Anne stores. We went with our neighbor one day and enjoyed the shopping. Sometimes you could find items that are brand new and sewed just a little incorrectly and get them for a bargain! Thrift stores are great to find things like paintings and bags. No one knows where you bought your things. There is nothing to be ashamed of buying things from church thrift shops or other thrift shops too for you are buying like antique collectors buy old stuff.
Welcome Krissttina! I love church sales, because they always have rock bottom prices! LOL Sometimes I'll wander into a Good Will, or another locally run thrift store, and find a real treasure. I enjoy looking for unusual plates, and pieces made of crystal or silver. My very favorite find is any kind of patent medicine bottle or tin from the 1940's and back. That's a rare find indeed!
It's great that we can find treasures and have fun looking for it. Get a bargain and some people resell it on e-bay and make a big profit too! I like shopping and when you can find things you like at the thrift shops or church thrift shops you know you're also helping your community. Have fun shopping!
I drove to the next county over and hit a thrift store that I like (I also had lunch at the nearby Chinese buffet.) It is is one of those old stores with crap all over the place. I found a pair UnCandles new-in-box for only 50¢. Welcome to the 70s.
When I was working in Winston/Salem, there were a couple of thrift stores right next to each other: One of them was a nice, orderly and well kept mission store whilst the other was owned by an old guy who basically got stuff and put it wherever it would fit. Even though I worked for the mission, much of my off time was spent at the “junky” looking store either rummaging around or just sitting and talking with the old guy. Come to think about it, I’m probably as old now as he was back then. Anyway, sometimes I’d bring him leftovers from the mission so he’d have something hot to eat and we’d both just sit and talk. He was one of those guys who had a personal story for nearly every topic imaginable and after finishing a story he’d top it off by taking a little nip just to ease the pain of his arthritis, or so he said. His thrift shop was really just a junk shop and I even had thoughts of doing something similar some day. A place with a sign that says “look at your own risk” and if someone found some kind of treasure, perhaps instead of getting a few dollars and stuffing the cash in my pocket, maybe just give it to them for the price of listening to a good story just the way he used to do.
I used to like thrift shops but it seems that most of them save all their good stuff for eBay these days. I have read that Goodwill sells more stuff on eBay than in their stores, and I've noticed that there isn't much worth looking at. I used to be able to find used computers, functional appliances, books, and even antiques from time to time. If you're into used clothes, maybe they still have that, but I don't generally look at their clothing.
There used to be a side-street with maybe 6 old houses on it in Arlington VA (it's now high rises.) Each home housed a different-themed second hand shop (books, clothes, etc.) At least once a month, I would hit the one that sold estate sale stuff. The owner and I got to know each other so well that he would call me when he got something he knew I'd be interested in. I once got a box of over 200 sci-fi books for under $20. I used them to set up a book exchange at work.
Goodwill has their own online auction site: ShopGoodwill.com The issue with the Goodwill around here is that the ones in the poor rural counties charge nearly double what the ones near Charlottesville and the University charge (where the richer folks live.) By coincidence, I went to the Goodwill next to the Chinese buffet today. All they had were clothes and crap glassware. There were no decent electronics to be found. I went there specifically looking for a mug warmer before ordering one from Amazon, and they had nuthin'.
They also sell on eBay, unless their own auction site is very new, because I've bought stuff on eBay that was drop-shipped from Goodwill fairly recently.
Yeh, I was gonna say that maybe they have some higher value stuff on EBay where more bidders will see it. A search for "Goodwill" brought up this: The stuff on their own auction site is listed by individual stores across the country. There are listings on the Goodwill site from 5 of the 223 stores in Virginia. Those stores list 175 new items per day and have about 500 open auctions at any given time. A rough count shows listings on the Goodwill site right now from 170 stores out of about 4,200 nationwide. That's a pretty low participation rate (2%-4%). I also just discovered that they have several live auctions in Richmond every month. I don't know if those are bulk sales (like Abandoned Storage Locker auctions) or if they really auction off bicycles and computers one at a time.
Yeah, that makes sense. I read an article that said they sold more items on eBay than in all of their stores combined, and I have noticed that there's not much worth looking at in their stores anymore.