Thrifting Tips (Part 1 of 3)

 Shopping at a thrift store isn’t easy like going to a department store—it’s work.

It may seem obvious, but not all thrift stores are created equal. A place that sells upscale secondhand clothing is NOT a thrift store. They sell name-brand, imperceptibly used clothing. A dress will probably run you $14-$35.

A vintage store is an expensive resell store of items carefully cleaned & repaired – things you can do yourself.

A real thrift store sells clothing that comes directly from the bags that people have dropped off for donation. The clothes aren’t checked for rips, holes, missing buttons, or stains and sold as-is.

A real thrift store is often large and only loosely organized. It sells clothing with hand-written tags stapled onto it. Sometimes those tags are color-coded, because the thrift store has days where, say, all the orange (or pink, white, blue, etc.) tags are half off. Often, real thrift stores are dirty, with clothes strewn everywhere. Don’t be alarmed. Be thankful for the mess—it scares away the shoppers who aren’t as adventurous as you are.

The truly brave are always rewarded with the most outrageous finds. (Part 2 coming Wednesday)