 | Maddie
Vintage/Thrift Expert
Vintage and Thrift Stores are often a hidden paradise of fashion potential. Our Vintage Fashion Expert Maddie guides our expeditions into the fashion past... and future! |
Spend Some of That Holiday Cash: Lessons in Thrift Shopping
1/04/00
Eager to begin burning holiday money (but not too
quickly!), I decided to
forgo the expensive new year trends in the mall, and opted
for my
neighborhood Goodwill.
I was rather overwhelmed by the
amount of stuff there
was in that tiny building. I suppose I was unprepared for
the difficulty that
was to ensue in finding clothes in the proper size, since I
am a mere five
feet tall. Which comes to lesson number one in this
anecdote: Check tags
carefully; and sometimes there are no tags, just a number
written in Sharpie
pen on the inside of the waistband. Goodwill had what
appeared to be store
tags attached to all the items, bearing a price and a large
number; but I do
not believe that they just happened to be able to amass such
a large
collection of size one clothing purely through donation.
Thumbing through the racks, I was surprised to catch
brands such as
Calvin Klein, Gap, The North Face, Liz Claiborne and Ben
Davis. Most of the
clothes were in surprisingly excellent condition. Many of
the whites,
however, had turned into "interesting" shades of beige and
off-white. I kept
my distance from those. Lesson two: Is this supposed to be
this color? Ask
yourself that before purchasing.
Although the majority of the items there were clothes, I
also found a
great deal of other treasures, all of which were neatly
arranged on shelves.
In one corner were CD's and computer games. Remember the
band Presidents of
the United States of America? There was also a $2 SAT and
ACT prep CD-ROM and
a two disk "Jesus Christ Superstar" recording!
Other shelves
displayed toys
(Troll doll!), cookware, glassware, small appliances, books,
and even LP's.
One series of shelves bore a similar appearance to the
stuffed animal aisle
of Toys "R" Us. Many of the customers were families who were
able to purchase
yards and yards of bedding for under $20... ah, the beauty
of Goodwill!
Most
of the clothing that was $4 or less. Lesson three: Yes, you
CAN afford to buy
a whole outfit (and then some) with that lunch money!
Among other items of interest, I discovered Wilson
tennis rackets... the
ones with wooden frames--antiques!, a very slightly cracked
X-Men lunch pail,
a brand new set of note cards, and $.35 claw clips. I decide
to conclude my
adventure with a black screen print Guess baby tee. As I was
in line, I
spotted a girl with a Rugrats game and a boy with a set of
Blue's Clues
figurines in a torn package, but still in mint condition.
And how much damage
did I do to my budget, you ask? $2.50... flat... no tax...
:)
Love eternally,
-Maddie
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