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grerp: the PERSONAL side of AAR Rachel
Thrift store madness
posted Tuesday, 16 August 2005
Today J. and I took Max for a sushi lunch. Because I was on the far side of town (I don't get there too often when gas is $2.79/gallon) I stopped at two thrift stores. The second one was a newly-built Goodwill, complete with a coffee shop and a goodly amount of new merchandise. As I was hauling Max inside a man came up to me and said angrily, "That's not a thrift store anymore! No way. Not at those prices. See this shirt? I could get a whole bag of shirts like this down at St. Vincent De Paul's for five bucks. But in there? One'd cost me $3.99, $4.99 or more! That's not a thrift store anymore!" Then he looked at me like I should just turn right around and join in his boycott, but I just said, "Maybe I'll just take a peek inside anyway." I mean, I already got Max out of the carseat and up to the door. No way I was going to just leave.
But in a way he was right. The new store isn't as good as the old one. There isn't enough merchandise, too much of it is cheap but new stuff, and the prices are higher. Maybe not on shirts, but the donated stuff at this store lots of times comes still in the Target box and is priced only slightly discounted from what it sold at originally. I'm not sure how Goodwill works, but each store is like a francise, individually owned and run. Maybe this store gets dibs on the really good donations? I don't know.
Now, Goodwill isn't in business to give me great deals. Part of the reason I love shopping the thrifts is that I know my money, even if ill spent, goes for community service and assistance to those who need help getting their lives together. And I like it that the stuff comes without all the packaging crap you have to pay to thrown away. But back to the point, Goodwill is open to make money to fund its programs. If it yuppy-s up its image to attract a broad clientele, it will probably make more money. On the other hand it may wind up alienating a small percentage of thrift diehards like me who won't pay more than $.50 for a paperback book or $3.50 for a piece of clothing. It's an experiment of sorts, and I wish them well. But I probably won't be haunting that particular Goodwill's door in the near future.
So while I was ruminating on thrift stores, I mentally tallied all the ones I'd visited lately. There are a lot on the list:
8 Goodwills (Jenison, Wyoming, 29th St., Plainfield, Alpine, Downtown, Fremont, Newaygo)
2 Salvation Army stores (Good deals on bedding and household goods, but they've just raised their paperback price to $1.99 including old category romance. There's a price I won't pay.)
Mel Trotter Mission Store
St. Vincent De Paul
3 Church-sponsored thrifts
1 independently-owned shop down the street
Most of these are within a 5-10 mile radius of my house or were visited during vacations or other errands. I've also gone to probably 50 garage sales in the past couple of months. That's a lot of shopping.
What I love about thrift/garage sale-ing most is the serendipity experience of it. You never know what you will find, but if you do happen to run into something you've been looking for or would want, it's bound to be wonderfully priced. You can make a lot of mistakes in clothing, for instance, if you're paying a quarter per item. And it's resaleable. I've started saving stuff up now for my own garage sale. Then my mistakes won't really cost me anything.
I shop a lot for books. I sort of have to in order to get my fix. I can't just raid donations like I used to when I worked at a library. The thrifts are good for books, but the selection tends to be limited. Garage sales are great for clothes, but crap for books. (Although I did find a copy of Jennifer Crusie's The Cinderella Deal in mint condition the other day as well as an old Janet Evanovich category and a ton of Georgette Heyer romances. Library booksales are really best for books. Great prices and good selection make them worth planning around and it's always worth checking out the permanent booksale in the library building. I pick up books regularly, more than I can really read, but my addiction to book finding continues to rage unchecked.
Well, J. wants to get online. So I'll cut it short there. This thrift/garage sale thing has been my summer hobby. I don't know what I'll do for the same kind of rush when the snow flies again.
But in a way he was right. The new store isn't as good as the old one. There isn't enough merchandise, too much of it is cheap but new stuff, and the prices are higher. Maybe not on shirts, but the donated stuff at this store lots of times comes still in the Target box and is priced only slightly discounted from what it sold at originally. I'm not sure how Goodwill works, but each store is like a francise, individually owned and run. Maybe this store gets dibs on the really good donations? I don't know.
Now, Goodwill isn't in business to give me great deals. Part of the reason I love shopping the thrifts is that I know my money, even if ill spent, goes for community service and assistance to those who need help getting their lives together. And I like it that the stuff comes without all the packaging crap you have to pay to thrown away. But back to the point, Goodwill is open to make money to fund its programs. If it yuppy-s up its image to attract a broad clientele, it will probably make more money. On the other hand it may wind up alienating a small percentage of thrift diehards like me who won't pay more than $.50 for a paperback book or $3.50 for a piece of clothing. It's an experiment of sorts, and I wish them well. But I probably won't be haunting that particular Goodwill's door in the near future.
So while I was ruminating on thrift stores, I mentally tallied all the ones I'd visited lately. There are a lot on the list:
8 Goodwills (Jenison, Wyoming, 29th St., Plainfield, Alpine, Downtown, Fremont, Newaygo)
2 Salvation Army stores (Good deals on bedding and household goods, but they've just raised their paperback price to $1.99 including old category romance. There's a price I won't pay.)
Mel Trotter Mission Store
St. Vincent De Paul
3 Church-sponsored thrifts
1 independently-owned shop down the street
Most of these are within a 5-10 mile radius of my house or were visited during vacations or other errands. I've also gone to probably 50 garage sales in the past couple of months. That's a lot of shopping.
What I love about thrift/garage sale-ing most is the serendipity experience of it. You never know what you will find, but if you do happen to run into something you've been looking for or would want, it's bound to be wonderfully priced. You can make a lot of mistakes in clothing, for instance, if you're paying a quarter per item. And it's resaleable. I've started saving stuff up now for my own garage sale. Then my mistakes won't really cost me anything.
I shop a lot for books. I sort of have to in order to get my fix. I can't just raid donations like I used to when I worked at a library. The thrifts are good for books, but the selection tends to be limited. Garage sales are great for clothes, but crap for books. (Although I did find a copy of Jennifer Crusie's The Cinderella Deal in mint condition the other day as well as an old Janet Evanovich category and a ton of Georgette Heyer romances. Library booksales are really best for books. Great prices and good selection make them worth planning around and it's always worth checking out the permanent booksale in the library building. I pick up books regularly, more than I can really read, but my addiction to book finding continues to rage unchecked.
Well, J. wants to get online. So I'll cut it short there. This thrift/garage sale thing has been my summer hobby. I don't know what I'll do for the same kind of rush when the snow flies again.
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