Well we finally did it.. we went out thrift store hopping this weekend. I am semi-disappointed that there seems to only be two with in a reasonable drive (one of which is a little far and one of which is just about RIGHT across the street.. a very busy street that I wouldn't dare walk across...)
Thrift Store # 1-The "far" one
I'll keep the name of the store to myself due to my feelings on it. It had a TERRIFIC rating online so I was super disappointed when it kind of fell into the stereotypical thrift store that makes the "general" public leery of thrift stores. It was FILTHY. Absolutely disgustingly filthy... Trash on the floor, general.. well filth everywhere, tons of people leaving their children unsupervised.. many of which had a serious sounding hacking cough that I personally would never even think to leave the house with (I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since a bunch of those kids came in with out their shoes on while wearing white socks that were filthy with in seconds... and it wasn't a lack of being able to afford shoes either with this particular family), badly beaten merchandise that was very picked over and more than a few of the customers were well overdue for a shower. About the only thing they weren't lacking in was stuffed animals... which seriously, I don't think I'd ever buy used... I just couldn't do it. I know they run off of donations so they have what they have... but seriously... a coat of paint or just a general mopping of the floor would do this place some serious favors. On the upside I don't see them throwing out donations if they're not perfect so I will be taking my boxes of donations there.
We picked through the store.. found a small fridge magnet puzzle for $.75 (not a fan of plastic toys but I felt like I should buy "something" after standing in the toy section for over an hour w/ DS) and two cute children's shirts for $0.75... one of which upon scrutinizing I put back realizing there was a big unfix-able hole in it. DS will be thrilled with his new train shirt once it's washed.
Thrift Store # 2- Newly Built Goodwill
TOTAL opposite of the first store.. if anything it was "almost" not thrift store-y at all. It was immaculate.. absolutely immaculate. The merchandise was marked much higher than what I'm used to but it was also very nice items (obviously donated from Mansionville next door to us.) I fell in love with a cute little lamp.. but when I saw $14 on it.... for a tiny little lamp.. I decided against it. Some other home decor...a 3 piece candle holder... iron work and glass.. two of my weaknesses... over $5 for each piece... making it about $16... no thanks. Cute little set of Lenox Christmas trees... well I couldn't reach it but I was quite sure it was at least $16..
We found a decent stack of children's books that were all in terrific shape for $1.50 each.. a little more than I'd normally pay.. but they were in nearly perfect condition. I didn't realize until after we were home that I was over charged for the softback books we purchased for DS...It may have had something to do with him being difficult at the register and me not paying attention to what they were ringing up.
The hubby got two really nice light weight sweaters for less than $5 each. I'm happy to say although we didn't find much in his size that we have hope of being able to do our clothing shopping at GW. That is something I've never been able to say about a thrift store. Normally it's either all beaten clothing or all dress clothes but this place had a nice selection. Wish we would have had a GW like this back in PA.. The GW near us closed because no one ever wanted to shop there! The only thing I wish would be done differently at this particular store is that they would organize by size and not color.. just a little pet peeve.. I don't have time to sort through every piece of clothing in a store. I organize by color in my own closet (well I used to.. haven't gotten that far here yet here... man I wish I had taken pictures of my old closet!)... but color doesn't help me much when I'm shopping.. though I can just pass by the entire orange section with ease!
Now, if only they'd get a good donation of something other than grandma acrylic yarn... They had a WHOLE shopping cart full and I dug through.. until I found packs of depends mixed in and took it as a sign. Darn! :-(
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