The Accidental Thrift Store Haul
you need to quickly update your wardrobe, or love a good sale, you’ll find both at a thrift store.
This past weekend, I puppysat for the world’s cutest Chihuahua. Ziggy has perfected the side-eye and is a floofy, longhaired pupper whose hobbies are sleeping, looking adorable, and burrowing under blankets. Fortunately, or unfortunately for me, my friend’s house is around the corner from a Salvation Army thrift store. The horror!
After arriving at the apartment, unpacking, and giving Ziggy many pets and kisses, I headed off to the market. My mind was thinking about food shopping, while my feet were determined to visit the Salvation Army store.
What can you find in a thrift store?
If you’ve never shopped at a Salvation Army store or any thrift store, it’s a fabulous experience. You could find anything from a men’s Prada windbreaker to a pair of unworn Roger Vivier pumps, to a vintage YSL bag, to books. The condition of the clothing, shoes, accessories, and housewares donated can range from brand new with tags still on them, to gently used, antiques, to “Good lord, why was this donated?” It’s a good idea to take your time and carefully go through the racks.
How the Salvation Army prices its goods
When it comes to pricing, Salvation Army uses colored paper tags stapled to clothing, each color representing a specific week. Every week, three tag colors go on sale: two are 50% off, and one is marked down to 99 cents. For example, if blue and green tags are 50% off and yellow tags are 99 cents, a $30.99 designer item with a yellow tag would cost just 99 cents.
Trying to stick to a shopping plan
I’m taking a quick trip soon, and a morning hike is planned. Not wanting to spend much on something I’ll rarely wear, I looked for shorts at the thrift store. I’ve found it’s smarter to shop with a list of needs rather than wants—half the things I fall for end up unworn, and since I work from home, I have to be practical.
After digging through the racks, I found five pairs and bought two chino-style shorts: one khaki and one stone-colored, both from J. Crew. Both were $9.99 with 50% off, so I spent $5.98 total. Similar shorts retail for $34.50 on J. Crew’s website. That’s $69.00 new versus $5.98 thrifted. Folks, this is why I shop thrift stores!
The big sale --- 50% off everything!
On my way out, one of the workers asked if I was planning to shop their massive storewide 50% off sale the next day. Remembering how insane past 50% off sale days were, I laughed and said, “No way.” Before every holiday, major and minor, the Salvation Army stores throw this sale. People line up before the stores open for this event. It’s a madhouse. Customers throw anything and everything in their carts, clothing is trampled on, tossed everywhere, and there have been cases of shoppers attempting to hip check, snatch clothing out of other shoppers’ hands, and the like. Once, I got physically trapped between two women who lunged at each other. I had to scream and wiggle my way out between them.
The accidental haul
Saturday arrives not with sunshine and warm weather, but with heavy rain, wind, and a steep drop in temperature. Having only packed T-shirts, I am freezing. Forgetting about the sale, I walk around the corner to Sally Ann (Salvation Army’s nickname) to pick up a cardigan. While it’s only 10:30 in the morning, the store is packed with shoppers. It’s like a shark feeding frenzy. I immediately hit the sweater racks and found nothing suitable. I’m compelled to look at other things. In a daze, I end up with armloads of clothing. This was my haul:
Rowing Blazers cropped knit Rugby Shirt $9.99
EPNY Golf Skort (I don’t golf, but I love a good skort) $8.99Missoni short-sleeved sweater, brand new with tags still on it $9.99
Tommy Hilfiger shorts with embroidered doxies $6.99
A New Day (Target brand) shorts $5.99
Talbots paisley print pants (love paisley) $7.99And on my up to the register, I found a Hollister sweatshirt for $6.99.
The total price pre-sale was $56.93, and with the 50% storewide deal applied, I paid $28.46. That's not bad, not bad at all.
However, if you want to know how much I would have paid for this haul in the stores, here ya go:
EPNY golf skirt (similar style) $102.00
Missoni short sleeve sweater (closest I could find) originally $920, on sale for $552
Hollister zip up hoodie (similar style) $44.95
A New Day shorts (similar style) $22.00
Tommy Hilfiger shorts with embroidered dachshunds (found a pair with embroidery) $89.50
Rowing Blazer knit Ruby shirt, mine is past season, the closest I found was this one, was $158, now $138
Talbots once again, similar style was $109.99, now $79.99
Toting up the prices of the similar styles, I would have paid $938.94.
Let that amount sink in for a minute. If I had not shopped at a thrift store and paid retail, the grand total would have been almost ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
I paid $28.46, that’s a minute fraction of the original price.
Thrifting is, as far as I’m concerned, the only way to shop.
If you’ve ever thrifted, what was your best score?
I’m so impressed by that Missoni sweater find! My best finds are a pair of Louis Vuitton sunglasses for $6.99 and a Dior nightgown for $3.
I do 70% of my shopping at consignment shop. 20% at thrift and 10% new.
I had my book launch party last Sunday and I was stressed that I could not find anything I would ever wear where I live (Berkeley CA is a fashion wasteland).
I wanted to feel pretty and confident. Luckily, I discovered a luxury consignment shop two towns over and got a beautiful Emporio Armani silk top with hand sewn glass beads. It still had the tags and was obviously new. Tag said $935. It is a very small size (I'm a 4) and it had been there since December. I got it for $67 😀
I also got some beautiful BA&SH flowy cargo pants for $70 that are still available on their site at full price of $325.
When I lived in a more fashion forward area, I could find great steals at actual thrift stores. That's rarely the case in Berkeley, so I'm mostly trolling luxury consignment shops in other towns.