2/12/10

thrifting adventures

My local thrift store is not a good thrift store. They have no idea what is good and what is bad. Right now there is a sofa in there- yellow, floral, from the 70's. It might be the ugliest , dirtiest thing I have seen outside of an alley-ever.  I wouldn't even sell it in my garage sale- I would put a free sign on it and hope to God that someone took it so I wouldn't have to dumpster it. They have it out for 54.99.  Sad to say, that sort of thing happens weekly there.

That said, I have gotten some nice stuff out of there. Herman Milller shell chairs for 7 bucks each. A  wonderful-real-Perlina handbag for 2.29-but they have fake Dooney and Vuitton ones for 45.99 all the time if you prefer that. I got some wonderful original Native American etchings for only 1.99 each- but you can also buy NASCAR posters for 8.99 if that's what you are into.

Today I got these...

For 4.99. Never been worn. What is funny about this, is that right next to them was a horrid pair of well abused Merrill shoes for 9.99 that weren't worth .50 anymore. They still sell these flats here.  Now, they are on sale now down from 95.00 to 56.00.  What's even funnier, is that the staff is doing what they call  "quality" checks on their merchandise. Supposedly pulling out the crap and leaving the better stuff. But their idea of good stuff is from Kohls or JC Penny instead of Walmart. And I still can't figure out their pricing structure. Which, I suppose is good for me in the long run.

3 comments:

unmitigated me said...

It's kind of what eBay was like in the mid 90s. A bunch of clueless people selling "junk." Then it caught on. Now the thrift stores around me are mostly pre-scoured. Hard to find the awesome anymore. My best find ever was a mint-condition Kentucky Derby glass from 1961. I paid 89 cents for it, and sold it for 132.00 on eBay! Although the box of Russel Wright melmac dinnerware I got for 20 bucks and sold for 400.00 wasn't bad, either!

thefarmersdaughter said...

because of where I live, thrift stores are my only outlet in the winter. I only find the awesome at garage sales!

The problem I find is that employees THINK they know what is good and price it in a crazy way. They don't know much though, and I can still pull out great deals. Less is coming in though- and I blame antique roadshow for letting people think their crap is worth something....

The Queen of Fifty Cents said...

As long as they miss something this good and put a decent price on it, you'll be okay. I rarely do thrift stores, b/c I think they're just too expensive!