You know the cliché about real estate, right—that the number one indicator of value is location? The same, it seems, holds true for thrift stores. In our story on “Recessionista shopping,” we advised checking out thrift stores in tonier neighborhoods. Last week, I took our advice, and a whole new world of shopping opened up.
A friend had clued me in to a church thrift shop 15 miles away, in the upscale town of Garrison, N.Y. “It’s the church where all the rich people go,” he told me conspiratorially. “Those ladies clean out their closets, and honey, the bargains!”He wasn’t kidding. Three floors high, housed in its own building, the place was a treasure trove of name-brand goodies. Here’s a sampling of what I found:
Brown woven-leather Bruno Magli pumps, $6
Black Cole Haan mules, $6
Anne Klein stiletto evening sandals, $6
A cute ruched cotton beige blazer by Liz Claiborne, $8
A Talbot’s cream silk blouse in immaculate condition, $4
That wasn’t all. As I pawed a Jones New York navy pinstripe blazer with matching slacks, I thought back to the full-price suit I’d bought for several hundred bucks a few months earlier. I kicked myself even harder when I saw that the pants had their original $119 price tag still attached. The cost for the whole outfit here? $12.
To find thrift stores in fashionable neighborhoods, I recommend going to Superpages.com. In the “what” box, type “thrift store” and in the "where" box, type a ZIP code or the name of an upscale town near you. Although there are specialized search engines, such as one provided by the National Association of Resale Professionals, they’re not as comprehensive.
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galnoir
09:24:26 AM on Mon May 10 2010
I lost ~145 pounds between January 2008 and September 2009, and there's absolutely no way I could've afforded to stay dressed without being willing to shop Goodwill and other secondhand stores. Even now, I'm so used to the deals I can get at secondhand stores that I have a hard time bringing myself to pay full price for clothes—even though I've been maintaining my current weight for about 8 months.
For me, the challenge with secondhand shopping is not snobbery, or the skeeve factor of wearing someone else's clothes, but the patience it takes to sort through everything to find the right size, style, etc. Sometimes I'm willing to pay for the convenience of walking in and buying just what I want off a rack! Also, secondhand shopping takes luck and skill as well as patience, so it's not necessarily the way to go if you need a specific item right away—say, a dress or suit for tomorrow's job interview!