Good finds at thrift/second hand stores (AIB Things you always find in thrift stores thread)

[mendelman]

The "things you always find in thrift stores" thread and Cardinal's comment:

I spied an old dresser that had been painted many years earlier. I could tell that it was walnut. We stripped it, put some hardware on it, and have a nice piece for the spare bedroom.

I found some good/cool things at such stores.

• A cool non sequitur t-shirt from some local kid's theme birthday party. It said "I had a sporting good time at Philip's Bar Mitzvah". Funny thing was that I walked past a bunch of local kids (I was in college still) one day and one of them said he had the same shirt and had actually been to the party.
• My wife and I found a decent crystal glass punch bowl.

 

[natski]

I quite often take a walk through thrift, or as we call them here- second hand stores. I quite often will find great pre loved clothes, that are usually really well constructed and would cost a fortune to buy in the shops today.

I recently bought a telephone seat from a thrift store- needs a few repairs but should be a good as new when i do. I have always wanted one- i am not quite sure why. I bought a crockpot (slow cooker) the other week for $8- and yes it works great!!

When i finally do move out (hopefully next year) i will be heading to the second hand store to buy my furniture!

 

[kms]

Maternity clothes (way back when)
A classic red plaid Woolrich hunting coat that I use for field work. $10 used, $200 new.
My neighbor moved, and left a bunch of stuff on her back porch for a non-profit to pick up, but they didn't want to navigate the steps. I took a set of china from the rejected items. Does that count?

 

[Dan]

At a Salvation Army store in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, a practically never-worn tweed trad-style overcoat made in England. It probably dates back to the 1960s. Paid $20 for it (it was in a special vintage area of the store), but I've seen similar overcoats sell for $500 or so in men's stores. The thing is heavy.

Did some research based on the store label sewed in the interior; it was from a men's store in Erie, Pennsylvania that was founded in 1850 by one of the first Jews to settle in the city. The store is still there 160 years later.

I've got a friend who's found a lot of Kittinger furniture and Roycrofter pottery in a Buffalo Amvets. I'm always on the lookout for Western Electric telephones and IBM Model M keyboards.

There's always the "damn, so close" items. Heavy-duty industrial-strength made-in-the-US Carhartt jackets are common at one thrift in Buffalo, but they always have names stitched on the surface.

 

[Chet]

Found a few good hevy flannel shirts. Three washes and the grandpa smell was gone.

Found some antique pyrex nesting bowls for $5 and sold them on eBay for $65.

All of the dishes, pots n pans, and flatware for my camper came from a ST, Vinnies.

 

[mgk920]

Last year, I saw a decent, unrestored antique console radio (a Coronado model 807B from 1939, sold new at a Gamble's/Skogmo store, the kind of radio that was the centerpiece of the livingroom in the late 1930s) at a local thrift for about 25 or 30 dollars, but never pulled the trigger on buying it. I didn't know if I had room for another pre-WWII console radio in this space that I live in. They had it plugged in and it was playing 8-! but I could tell that it was not in 100% operating condition.

Unbeknownst to me, a local friend of mine did buy it and, knowing that I am competent to work on those old sets, the first thing that he did after he picked it up was he dropped it off at my place. Anyways, despite its strange musty 'atticky' smell, I cleaned the cobwebs out from inside it, took a peek under the chassis (it was in what I thought was remarkably good shape, visually, 'under the hood') and then set out to electronically restore it and bring it up to safe and reliable operating condition. A couple of months later, with the needed parts in hand, I changed out the usual slate of unreliable old parts along with several failed parts from under the chassis, replaced an incorrect tube (I am still VERY surprised that that set was playing AT ALL in the store!), updated the power supply end of the set - including replacing its BAD NEWS power cord - and overall got it into better-than-new operating condition.

With a new long antenna wire it is a fantastic performing radio and its cabinet, in its as-bought unrestored state, doesn't look bad at all. Sports play-by-play, old-time radio shows and so forth sound great on those sets, too!

:h:

Mike

 

[Veloise]

Throw pillow. Can't imagine why this classic design would have been in a donation pile.

Revereware silver bowls, sometimes with a colored enamel lining. These things go for big bucks on Ebay.

A 24" wheel girls Raleigh, with a five-speed derailleur. Something like $2.52. Older niece rode it for years, younger niece learned to ride a two-wheeler on it. It's now returned to me and awaits its next position.

Holiday and other special occasion sweaters. I find apparel with a bike design almost every visit.

My favorite thrift chain is Value World, found in larger cities, and all y'all are making me want to take a road trip.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

My two best thrift-store finds were both records.

One was Dennis Wilson's 1977 record "Pacific Ocean Blue" which even had a little newspaper clipping about his drowning death stuffed into the record sleeve. I think I paid about $5 for that LP and later saw it on eBay for about $80. The value has probably plummeted since then though since the album had finally been reissued in all formats in 2008.

I also found a Dave Brubeck 45rpm record from about 1956, "History of a Boy Scout." I think that the 45 was only released in the U.K. but haven't really been able to find out for sure. I think I paid $3 for that one.

 

[danthonyjr]

Ties. Lots of ties. Sometimes unused. They usually go for $2 each at Goodwill.

 

[Suburb Repairman]

I picked up an Olympus camera in high school at a thrift store that was supposedly "broken" and not working. I messed with it in the store, and realized it was just the lens that was shot. Bought the camera for about $3, tossed the lens, and bought another nice lens for about $20 at a second-hand photography store. Used it for about 7 years before it had an unfortunate encounter with a rock and a pond.

 

[Otis]

Genuine Harris Tweed sport coat for $9.99 at Goodwill.

 

[The One]

Oh Yeah.....

Old wood head drivers and golf clubs The kind I can wrap around a tree or throw for distance or toss into a nearby lake without so much as waisting one second of my life worrying about the cost of replacement:lmao: If I ever found a club with a wood shaft that I could break over my leg, that would be fun and provide some comic relief to those forced to watch me play

Hey Brocktoon, this reminds me we still need to hit the links, maybe a poorly maintained public course? Bring your helmet ok.

 

[Planit]

Old wood head drivers and golf clubs The kind I can wrap around a tree or throw for distance or toss into a nearby lake without so much as waisting one second of my life worrying about the cost of replacement:lmao: If I ever found a club with a wood shaft that I could break over my leg, that would be fun and provide some comic relief to those forced to watch me play

Hey Brocktoon, this reminds me we still need to hit the links, maybe a poorly maintained public course? Bring your helmet ok.

A buddy of mine actually had a "Damnit Club" in his bag for this exact reason!



As for my finds, I used to work in a very affluent city and would go to Salvation Army or Goodwill and routinely find brand name high quality shirts, slacks, sport coats for $2 to $5. Polo, Lauren, Jos. A. Banks, Brooks Bros., etc.
Last winter I found a pair of ski bibs for Wee P for $3.50
It a great time killer during lunch too.

 

[otterpop]

As I mentioned in another thread, I have found two slightly-used wool overcoats at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Paid about $8 for each and wear them a lot. Bought a nice pair of khaki pants at a Salvation Army Thrift Store by an air force base.

Most of my sports coats come from the thrift store - pay $3-$7 for each one.

My family makes an annual trip to Great Falls to hit the Old Navy Store, some lunch and then the thrift stores.

 

[The One]

Yup.....

A buddy of mine actually had a "Damnit Club" in his bag for this exact reason!

My bag is full of pawn shop/thrift store clubs for this very reason.....:lmao:

You ever drill a club into the soft earth then just walk away to leave it standing as a beacon of your failure to get the ball across a pond???

 

[Coragus]

It's not a thrift shop exactly, but my wife once found a cookie jar in a garage sale for 25 cents that she turned around and sold in her antique booth for $20.

 

[jsk1983]

Nothing too exciting for myself but I'll look in the local thrifts for books I can sell for a profit every few weeks. One of the more interesting finds was an original copy of the Nasby Papers a civil war era satire. The local thrift had a credit card minimum so I ended up finding this when I went looking for items to meet the $10 requirement. Probably paid a dollar for it and sold it for $77.

Nasby Papers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ross_Locke#His_work

 

[Maister]

Thrift stores have been good to us over the years, particularly where small kitchen appliances are concerned. We're still using the slow cooker we picked up for $4 twelve years ago and have a knife block, electric can opener, and toaster oven that were purchased around the same time for cheap that have gotten daily use. On the other hand we bought a cane chair against my better judgement that lasted only a year or so before self-destructing.

 

[michaelskis]

In college I found a very nice suit for $25... I later found out that it was $500 brand new.

 

[DVD]

In college I found a very nice suit for $25... I later found out that it was $500 brand new.

I've found a couple nice suits at Goodwill. Buy the suit for $10 and tailor it for $80 and I have one of the best suits ever.
I also find good Haloween costumes - want to be a zombie, buy some clothes from the thrift shop and rip them up. Need a mummy outfit, buy all the white sheets you can find. Cheap and you don't mind destroying it.
I never seem to find the "good deals" though. No Revere bowls or antiques.

 

[btrage]

I've found a couple nice suits at Goodwill. Buy the suit for $10 and tailor it for $80 and I have one of the best suits ever.
I also find good Haloween costumes - want to be a zombie, buy some clothes from the thrift shop and rip them up. Need a mummy outfit, buy all the white sheets you can find. Cheap and you don't mind destroying it.
I never seem to find the "good deals" though. No Revere bowls or antiques.

We typically go to thrift stores where we are looking for clothes for costumes. That's about it. I don't have time to weed through the thousands and thousands of items of crap to find one deal.

 

[AG74683]

Not so much a good find, but I guess a good idea...

I buy all my blankets, beds/pillows, and stuffed toys for my dog at thrift shops. Just make sure the stuffed toys have fabric eyes, not something plastic they can swallow. 5 bucks for 5 stuffed animals is a lot better deal than 10 for a "dog toy" at a pet shop. Plus, it seems like the marketed dog toys tear up much easier than a regular stuffed animal.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

Not so much a good find, but I guess a good idea...

I buy all my blankets, beds/pillows, and stuffed toys for my dog at thrift shops. Just make sure the stuffed toys have fabric eyes, not something plastic they can swallow. 5 bucks for 5 stuffed animals is a lot better deal than 10 for a "dog toy" at a pet shop. Plus, it seems like the marketed dog toys tear up much easier than a regular stuffed animal.

We have something in common! That's where I get all my daughter's blankets, pillows, and stuffed toys too!

 

[kjel]

I got a Talbots black and white tweed blazer from the Goodwill "Boutique" in downtown Portland. I paid $24.99 for it and it still had it's original store price tag on it-$229 :-c

I will not purchase any kind of bedding or stuffed toy at a thrift shop because bed bugs are prevalent in our area.

 

[ofos]

Inspired by this thread and the fact that Wednesday is half-price day at the local thrift, I picked up two very nice golf shirts yesterday. Total cost $5.

 

[btrage]

It was 99 cents...

 

[beach_bum]

I find a lot of nice work clothes at my local Goodwill. Sure I have to be picky, but I usually only buy better brands like Ann Taylor or Talbots and its a good source of clothes if I don't like that season's particular color. This summer I barely bought anything except workout clothes because of all the fluorecents that were in style.

 

[terraplnr]

I've found a lot of good clothes for my son over the years, nice brands for all kinds of clothes (Patagonia and Columbia jackets, Gymboree clothes, etc.). And I don't feel bad when the thrift store clothes get stains, holes, etc. I love that thrift store shopper's high. <

 

[Gedunker]

We gave $35 for a nice Barrister's bookcase at a thrift store. It had been in the lab at a local Colgate plant according to a metal label affixed to it. We debated whether to strip and refinish it, but decided against it for the provenance.

 

[Brocktoon]

It was 99 cents...

Did it smell like R. Kelly's sheets?

 

[btrage]

Did it smell like R. Kelly's sheets?

I don't know man. He's still trapped in the closet.

 

[RandomPlanner]

I love thrift stores but I'm now located in a historic community where everyone thinks they're a dealer (plus all those news articles titled "Always buy THIS at a thrift store") and it's slim picking for good stuff here. I do, however, hit one local shop on occasion and have had decent luck there. I recently found a great plaid wool blanket that I'm sending to the cleaners (there were actually 2 great plaid wool blankets and I'm still mad that I didn't buy the other one). I've also found 2-3 good Pyrex pieces that I didn't have (I'm a collector) that were reasonably priced.

I'm looking forward to a fall road trip out to the middle of nowhere where we can hit more thrift stores soon.

 

[Maister]

We have both Goodwill and Salvation Army stores nearby, plus a couple of church-run thrift stores in the area. As noted up-thread, they've proven good locations for small appliances in the past. Recently, we've purchased shoes for Junior ($15 for a pair of Nikes that looked almost new that would retail for over $100), $5 for a multi-brightness setting floor lamp, a copy of the classic Parker Brothers game from the 70's, 'Masterpiece' for a buck, a big Christmas tree topper Santa for $2.

Kids clothes are probably what thrift stores are best for. You figure they end up outgrowing them usually in a year or thereabouts, so I tend to view the $2-$5 you pay for kids pants or shirts as a sort of 'rental fee' for a year and as soon as they've been outgrown will either try to sell them back to the second hand place or just donate them to Goodwill.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

Kids clothes are probably what thrift stores are best for. You figure they end up outgrowing them usually in a year or thereabouts, so I tend to view the $2-$5 you pay for kids pants or shirts as a sort of 'rental fee' for a year and as soon as they've been outgrown will either try to sell them back to the second hand place or just donate them to Goodwill.

My wife buys winter jackets and snowpants and snow boots for our daughters at thrift stores and consignment stores. They are almost always in like-new condition and cost pennies on the dollar compared to what we would pay for them brand new... and then our daughters promptly destroy them.

 

[DVD]

All my recent finds tend to relate to Hawaiian shirts. Occasionally I'll find something respectable like an Arizona State polo. The kids like to get some of the junk there and paint it or "upcycle" it. That usually goes away after a year or so.

 

[RandomPlanner]

I am so impressed with our 20 year old who we barely get to go into a Macy's to look for new clothes. On Sunday, he came out of his room buttoning his dress shirt and was so proud when he told me he bought it for $3 at a thrift store at college. "It's like brand new!"

Yeah, that's what I've been telling you all along, kid! Glad you're finally figuring it out.

 

[ChairmanMeow]

A real Ralph Lauren bag (from his more expensive collection) for $7.

 

[Veloise]

How did I miss this thread for almost ten years?

--Throw pillows: one with a New Orleans tapestry print, including a brass band
Another one with the Mackinac Bridge postage stamp
Another one shaped like a colorful tropical fish. (I took a selfie composed like one of those dockside trophy photos, proudly holding it aloft out front of a SA store. Our local paper had an outdoors editor who published deer hunting pics, so I made sure to send it to him.)

--Framed prints that depict: dancers, a town band in a gazebo (in blue uniforms!), Godey's Lady's Book fashion plates, bicycles, tubas, and/or the Eiffel Tower

--Special-purpose clothing. All my concert blacks, formalwear, and professional attire comes from thrifts. Also the bandana cowgirl square dance caller garb I wear for gigs.

 

[ChairmanMeow]

Do people have opinions on ThredUp vs. Poshmark vs. eBay?

 

[Veloise]

Do people have opinions on ThredUp vs. Poshmark vs. eBay?

Depends on what you're looking for.

Poshmark seems to have incredibly low prices and not enough shoppers, so it's a buyers' market. Ebay has just about everything, and if you miss getting an item, another will be along in a while.

Not familiar with Thredup.

Another good one is Mercari, similar to Poshmark.

 

[Salmissra]

Do people have opinions on ThredUp vs. Poshmark vs. eBay?

I find ebay has some of what I'm looking for, in the ballpark of what I'm willing to pay. Over the years I've scored 3 designer purses, 2 speciality tees, and one picture.

ThredUP is fun, but takes way too long. They have lots of options on clothes, and some really good deals, but they seemed to take forever to process. Items vary from new with tags to needs some repair work, and there is a difference in price based on the item's condition. They also have a luxury section - but I'm not that label conscience. I've picked up a coat, two pairs of pants, and two tops.

I haven't tried Poshmark or Mercari - may have to give them a try.

 

[terraplnr]

I got 2/3 of the pieces I needed for a "Columbia" costume (the tap dancer) for a Rocky Horror Picture Show sing-along next week, in one thrift store visit.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

Made some good money picking up thrift store items and reselling on ebay. Can't tell you what specifically lest some of you start moving in on my turf.

 

[Veloise]

How did I miss this thread for almost ten years?

--Throw pillows: one with a New Orleans tapestry print, including a brass band
Another one with the Mackinac Bridge postage stamp
Another one shaped like a colorful tropical fish. (I took a selfie composed like one of those dockside trophy photos, proudly holding it aloft out front of a SA store. Our local paper had an outdoors editor who published deer hunting pics, so I made sure to send it to him.)

--Framed prints that depict: dancers, a town band in a gazebo (in blue uniforms!), Godey's Lady's Book fashion plates, bicycles, tubas, and/or the Eiffel Tower

--Special-purpose clothing. All my concert blacks, formalwear, and professional attire comes from thrifts. Also the bandana cowgirl square dance caller garb I wear for gigs.

 

[ChairmanMeow]

Another good one is Mercari, similar to Poshmark.

Mercari is one I keep forgetting about. The name is... not intuitive? What do you find it works best for?

 

[Veloise]

Mercari is one I keep forgetting about. The name is... not intuitive? What do you find it works best for?

Comparison shopping. Looks like I've never made a purchase there.

 

[Veloise]

"Another one shaped like a colorful tropical fish. (I took a selfie composed like one of those dockside trophy photos, proudly holding it aloft out front of a SA store. Our local paper had an outdoors editor who published deer hunting pics, so I made sure to send it to him.)"

Turns out I scored two such pillows. My brother loved them.