Thrift Store Shoppers Unite!
 

I love the thrift stores (Good Will, Salvation Army, etc etc). To me it's a practical gold mine of random shit that other people toss out because they believe it to be shit but to me.. To me, it's priceless. I always seem to go into there and find something nifty or a must have item. I remember one time I came across 4 pair of KickWear fat pants. They usually go for like $40+ even for the low end ones. I got them all for $10.

So I was wondering if there are any other thrift store shoppers on GFF. Anything nifty or ultra cool that you have found that otherwise you would've paid a shitload of money for? Stories?

I am a real sucker for thrift shops. Both my sofa and love seat are from Salvation Army. I paid less than $50 for the pair. They don't MATCH, but I really don't give a shit.

I buy whatever I can at thrift stores. You have to sort through a world of shit sometimes to find something worth paying a few bucks for, but I guess that more than makes up for the price.

I've found some awesome, awesome shit at the thrift stores. It's so much fun to go and see what treasures you can dig up.

At the meet this year, I had the opportunity of going thrift shopping hunting with Sass, Dope, and Pang. When we were at a Salvation Army in Portland, Sass was raving about thrift stores and I told her about this awesome dinner set that my dad picked up at a Salvation Army once that was only missing a side plate. No sooner had I said it, I looked down and found the lone, missing plate that completed our set.

I still need to find out where the thrift stores are in my area. I've always wanted to check it out and stuff.

I need to stop thrift shopping. It's gotten to the point where I need to put a sign above my door.

"Welcome to Thud's Frankenstein Thrift:
Built from the parts of lesser Thrifts!"

I'm sure most of this stuff still has the 25 cent price marks written on in crayon.

I am so green with envy for Thud's thrifting skills.

You find the best shit, lady. ;_;

I recently came across what has to be my most proud thrift store find as I was making my way out of one the better Goodwills around town.

It is a coconut - carved, quite intricately, in the manner of a monkey's head. There are strands of husks here and there to simulate hair. It was masterfully crafted, though it serves no purpose aside aesthetic. I was more than pleased to part with the few dollars it cost.

I was browsing through Value Village a few months back, and came across a full 3-piece suit. I tried it on, and it fit pretty well--the pants had been unhemmed so they were too long, but that was easily fixable. Pinstripe, black, and well-fit. And for $20, I couldn't go wrong.

I brought it to a friend of my grandmother who offered to hem the pants for me. She took one look at the suit and said "I don't think this has ever been worn." She pointed out that pants looked like they'd never been hemmed. At any rate, it's an awesome suit, and I'm damn happy with it, especially for the price I paid.

but I'll probably find out that some guy died in it or something

Oh, I doubt that. Sounds like you've got yourself a three-piece set of open-casket duds.

That skirt I found in a charity shop for a measly £2.50. The boots aren't thrift-store, but I was lucky enough to find a shoe store that was selling off its stock from as far back as 1999, so the boots were a fraction of their original mark-up. It may not be helping charity but if you can find a store that's doing it, buy that shit. My best charity shop find though was a rare B-side of Radiohead's which I thought I'd never find, and it cost me 50p. Recently I have taken to checking out the countless charity shops in town when I've got a bit of extra cash.

I always hit up whatever thrift stores I can find for CDs, as 90% of the time I find the best deals there. I rarely, if ever, go to a physical retail store and pay more than ten dollars for a sealed disc, when I can get it used (and in like new condition) for less than half of that price. Of course, I always check their condition and there may be the occasional one with the artwork damaged or the disc scratched to hell, but most of the time they're in immaculate shape.

Examples from two months ago, when I was on holidays in July:

Abbotsford, BC - My aunt had taken me and my dad to a Goodwill that had a fucking huge supply of music. In total, I had grabbed four soundtracks: A Kid in King Arthur's Court (still brand new in its factory shrinkwrap), Dick Tracy, Let Him Have It and Schindler's List. All four combined for $6.50.

Calgary, AB - The Value Village on 58th Avenue, by MacLeod Trail. Found the soundtracks for Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, both relatively rare and $3 each. A Nightmare on Elm Street I & II was there as well, which I would have picked up if not for the disc being damaged. :mad:

That's pretty fucking sick coat. I like your style

I don't know if this falls in the thrift store category, but I can't help myself when I come across a second hand bookstore. There's a little stretch of Mont-Royal avenue here in Montreal that's got a few used bookstores right next to each other, along with a few used cd/vinyl stores.

I most certainly go there at least once a month, and I've found some pretty nifty books there, my favorites so far being collections of articles / letters written by Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. Both books were pretty much in mint condition, so I considered this a golden find. I've also found a copy of The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok which was in great condition and good for a few chuckles.

2nd Hand book stores count.. There is one in Long Beach and that's where I found most of my books. <3 Kurt Vonnegut

The problem I have with thrift stores is unless I'm looking to fill an entire area or looking for furniture, which isn't an everyday occurrence, the thrift store never has what I'm looking for. Usually when I go shopping it's to get a specific item. My luck....they never have it, or they don't have anything worth buying.

I guess you could go book shopping. They never have much anything great, media-wise. Usually just a bunch of junk, honestly.

I have been to some good thrift shops, though. Some are better than others. Salvation Army is usually garbage compared to local youth branches.

I don't go to thrift stores because the clothing is always fashion from 1991, the furniture looks like it's been used as a breeding ground for large dogs, the music is nothing but lite-rock by people such as Kenny G and Michael Bolton, and I don't read romance novels.

There's nothing there that I want.

HAHAHAHA.... Not all the clothing is bad(I found some badass clothing) but agree with the couches.. And who knows what else they did on the couch.

I usually go there for shirts.. I found a few nerd tee's and I only paid like $1 for them so I like them. My favorite so far is "WWBD-- What would bond(James) do?" instead of WWJD.


And those kiks that I found forl ike $10 for all 4 pairs tha i mentioned in my 1st post.

http://www.bewild.com/kikwearclot.html

Each runs at $50+

I think it really depends on the area you're in; the poorer the surrounding community is, the more there is of useless clothes and knick-knacks. In a town like San Luis Obispo, Calif., the general population which donates to the Goodwill would be a) college kids moving out, b) established people from middle-class families who just have accumulated too much stuff, or c) retirees. The people from groups a) and b) in this area generally are middle-to-upper class, financially, so a lot of the stuff (electronics and home appliances like blenders and such) that makes its way to our local Goodwill are actually useful.

ACtually it's a family of 3... I tried it. hahaha.

If this is typical of thrift stores I really feel for you guys. I've found some excellent sci-fi and fantasy novels, not to mention a wealth of classical music (on vinyl, tape, CD and sheet music) and other random tidbits. I'll sympathise with the music in general though; you have to sift through a lot of crap before you find anything decent. As for the clothes, they mostly seem to be pretty modern styles. Unfortunately, I find a lot of modern styles very blah and it is harder for me to find something I like because they don't have cartoon character-esque (s'up Deni) clothing.

Yeah, here in Charleston, our thrift stores are kinda... full of junk. Some are better than others, but for the most part it's almost a wasted trip.

I still like to stop by every so often just to check, though. Ya never know what you'll find!