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Thrift Stores … Not Just Your Granddad’s Clothes Anymore
I’ve had this song in my head for awhile, and it was giving me the urge to go thrift store shopping.
So on one of Value Village’s sale days at the end of February, my husband and I had a date night of sorts at the thrift store. It was surprisingly fun to score some great deals on nice clothes together. And the changerooms are big enough for two …
Rolf had actually never been thrift store shopping before, but I love thrift stores. I get it from my mom. You can point her to a Salvation Army or a Goodwill and she will come out with an armload of fabulous outfits. I usually prefer Value Village myself. Their prices are higher, but they have lots of 50% off days, and it’s hard to beat the size and selection of a big, bright Value Village.
On this trip Rolf wanted to see if he could find shirts and sweaters for work. I, as usual, wanted to look at everything, but I decided to make a short list and focus my efforts on skirts, jeans, hoodies, and long-sleeved shirts. And some drinking glasses. And serving dishes.
By the way, for the nicest stuff, go to a thrift store in an upper-class neighbourhood … the clothing at the new Stittsville Value Village in Ottawa is full of name brands that I can’t even afford to buy new, thanks to getting their donations from the rich surrounding Kanata and Stittsville neighbourhoods!
How did we do? Check out the awesome buys we got!
Found the serving dishes and four tall drinking glasses! The dishes came with a great wooden tray, too. My sister-in-law has beautiful white serving dishes from Pampered Chef that I’ve been coveting (and borrowing), and I’ve been looking for something similar the last three or four times I’ve been in a thrift store. When I saw these on the shelf I pretty much got a thrift store boner.
Drinking glasses are 4 for $2.99 at Value Village, and I’ve decided to become a mixed glasses person. It has taken me years to get over my clenched fist desire to have sets! matching sets of glasses! all uniform! fitting perfectly in the cupboard in shiny rows! But you know what? Now I never have to worry about a glass breaking and ruining a set. Any time I need more glasses, I just go to the thrift store and pick up four more. And I’m developing a set in a way, a set of unique glassware.
Rolf found two great zip-up sweaters for work. He also got a collared t-shirt for work, it’s from Bluenotes and it still had the store tags on it. Brand new shirt score! The cool two-tone brown hoodie is for hanging out at home.
As you can see I didn’t do so well on jeans and hoodies. I never have much luck finding hoodies at thrift stores for some reason. And I would have spent more time looking for jeans at Value Village if they hadn’t started hanging their pants sideways. I find that actually makes it harder to check the sizes, not easier as promised. Frustrating! But, I got four skirts to wear with tights and got two sweaters, too. The green sweater is from Jacob and was $4. The Mickey Mouse sweater is flattering and sequined and AWESOME.
I can’t wait for the next 50% off sale at Value Village … it will be time to get summer stuff!
Lisa Higgs
Saving the planet is a nice side benefit to going green, but I have to admit I'm in it for the money. Why pay more for new when used is better?
Betty
Out here in BC and in small towns, I find church and charity thrift stores more interesting and affordable. Most noteably, in Abbotsford, the MCC… a Mennonite church have three stores and raise over a million bucks a year to return to world good. The workers are all happy volunteers. The last saturday of every month is half price day… so I make a wish list and save the shopping until then. There is everything you could imagine from wedding dresses to refurbished computers to tools and furniture. Kids books and toys are incredible buys. Thank you MCC…. and….if you are in the lower Pacific mainland…well worth a few visits.
Lisa Higgs
Those Mennonite-run thrift stores fantastic, Betty! Thanks for the tip. Wish we had them here in Ottawa so I could give them a visit or three.