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$20 Thrift Store Challenge
by Jan Falling around number five on the craftygal list of fun things to do (after trying our hands at a craft and finding a delicious new restaurant, but before dissecting Lil’ Kim’s latest fashions and reading a YA novel) is finding a bargain. We still get misty-eyed when Christy tells the tale of her visit to the second-hand Prada shop in New York City, Taryn’s shoe bargains are legendary, and I still haven’t listened to half of the 50 CDs my hubby purchased for $30 from a friend en route to see how much he could make selling them back to the record store. Before
leaving the car at our first stop, we pinky swore to spend no more
than $20 apiece…
So it was that we set out on a sunny Saturday morning for a tour of some of Rochester’s finest thrift and consignment shops. Before leaving the car at our first stop, we pinky swore to spend no more than $20 apiece over the course of visits to three stores, no matter how tempting the bargains were. Time would tell, however, that some of us had the fingers on our other hands crossed. The sign in front of Goodwill Fashions etc. proclaimed the shop "Rochester’s #1 Thrift Store." A second sign (or omen) took the form of a fashionable young mom walking through the parking lot sporting a vintage 3/4-length hound’s-tooth coat with a Peter Pan collar. Combined, these harbingers soon gave us to know our wallets had much to dread. Upon entering, we took note that yellow-tagged items were 50% off while green-tagged goodies would run us a mere .99. Plunging into the racks, our arms were soon weighed down with prospective items, including three of seven matched waitress uniforms that made us nostalgic for the days when a good portion of our school clothes budget was spent at the Salvation Army. Taryn admired a cute spring dress, but upon inspection of the tag, she began to have doubts. "Oh! It’s Kathy Lee," she exclaimed with an upturned lip. "There’s a big, greasy stain on the back," cautioned Christy. "Kathy Lee is a big enough stain," explained Taryn, turning her attention to a rack of t-shirts. Eying a pink-checked shirt, Christy confessed, "I’m a fool for gingham." I tried to endorse a pair of matching bed-jackets–an investment in our Aunt Bea futures, I thought. But, seeing as there were three of us and only two of them, and so as not to leave one of us wanting, we slipped them back on the rack.
Our arms aching from our many selections, and the circulation in our fingers beginning to be cut off, we headed for the dressing rooms with Taryn wondering, ‘Is our limit $20 at each store?" We all piled into one of the sizable dressing rooms, mentally re-writing the "Limit 3 Items per Room" sign to read "Limit 3 Occupants per Room." In a frenzy of trying on, scrutinizing, and posing, we quickly laid waste to piles of garments. Ruling out some for being the wrong size, and others for looking plain bizarre, we still had a healthy stash of keepers. Sadly, while the waitress uniforms with their white piping and roomy pockets looked so cute on Christy and Taryn, I couldn’t quite squeeze into mine. In the end, they were ruled out as garments that would have been staples in our youthful lives, but didn’t really have places in our current closets. We paused to try on some matching Power Puff girls hats that
left us with an unpleasant Gilliganesque look…
Holding tight to our finds, we re-hung the rejects and took a stroll over to house wares. Fun drinking glasses and odd appliances caught our eyes, and we did pause try on some matching Power Puff girls hats that left us with an unpleasant Gilliganesque look, but nothing jumped up and screamed to be taken home. So, it was off to books and music. I considered buying the demo tape of some long-forgotten local band, but the battery acid encrusting its case turned me away. Christy found a copy of The Moosewood Cookbook, and I tried to keep myself from tearing it out of her hands, seeing as I had just added it to my "must buy" list after borrowing a recipe from my sister-in-law’s copy. Christy eventually decided against adding this tome to her haul, and it had barely left her hands when I snatched it back up. Finished with our tour of the store, we headed for the cash register. The grand tally? Taryn walked with a cute, casual gray skirt that still had its tags on and a stylish, dressy blue Banana Republic blouse for a mere $13.50. Christy took advantage of the yellow tag 50% off with a creamy yellow vintage spring jacket, scored a pair of pink Izod pants, and a fun nylon shirt from the Gap with swirls of green and blue for only $10.37. And I scored a gray cardigan sweater, a red wool cardigan sweater, and the coveted cookbook for only $8.05.
After a quick stop for lunch, it was off to the suburbs, where consignment shops thrive. Our first stop was Lu’s Backdoor, one of the area’s oldest consignment shops, and certainly a favorite of ours. Christy and Taryn quickly found armloads of fun things to try on -- cute spring frocks, comfy summer tops, and formal dresses that they’d probably never wear, but who could resist the trying? In the end, Taryn was the only one to take the plunge with her purchase of a long, cool linen dress for $26. She was also the first to break the $20 limit, but we couldn't hold it against her. While the other girls were in the dressing rooms, I lugged a big bag of my own cast-offs over to the service desk to see if Lu might allow me to sell some of the items in her store. With any luck I might make back some of my thrift challenge expenditures and come out on top. Much to my chagrin, it turned out I had nothing she could use. And, after re-considering the items I had brought, I realized that the spring heat wave probably wouldn't inspire anyone to purchase the chunky sweaters and heavy denim I was hoping to unload. But, at least this rejection left me with an excuse to head back to Goodwill under the guise of dropping off a donation….
Our last stop was Anything Goes, a shop with an abundance of fashionable items and a friendly, scarf-happy staff. The other gals were about shopped-out be now, but I gathered a few odd items and headed for the dressing room. My first selection was somehow at once too big and too small, leaving me to think that if I gained a foot in height and several pounds, I might have been able to pull it off. My keeper was an odd plum-colored skirt set that won the ringing endorsement of "It looks better on you than on anyone else who’s tried it on," from one of the clerks. At $26.50, it bumped me quite a bit over our limit as well, but that leaves Christy the winner in our little thrift contest, and that’s just the way she likes it!
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Our
Thrift Stops:
Goodwill
Fashions, etc. Lu's Backdoor Anything
Goes
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