Bonjour! Salut! Bienvenue!
“Where did you get that?” is a query we hear almost every
day, like when we wear our gorgeous, butter-soft, turquoise, vintage leather jacket. Our standard answer is boring by now. “Thrift store.” We’ve been
thrifting for years.
“But I never find anything,” people often moan. “Thrift
stores are too crowded. There's never anything in my size. I don’t know where to
start.”
We're here to help with ten tricks for shopping at a thrift
store:
• Know what you like. We're all about the cashmere. You will
see us head directly to the rack of sweaters and run our hands over each one.
Maybe you like animal print shirts, or vintage 501s, or Doc Martens. Oh, wait.
That’s us, too. Whatever you fancy, head straight to that section and do a
quick once over.
• Ignore size labels. Are you an S? Did you spy an XL? If
the piece looks as if it will fit you, try it on. Often items wind up at a
thrift store because of some sad laundry mishap. (We speak from experience. Bye,
bye, vintage sailor shirt. Sniff.)
• Grab first, think later. If an item catches your eye, snag
it. You don’t have to buy the piece, but sometimes something sparkly or unusual
will call out to you. Check it out. You may have spotted a once in a lifetime
find.
• Don’t hesitate. The thrift store is not a place to wait
and see. We’ve lost out (blue suede coat, we hardly knew thee) by not closing the
deal right away. Someone else will definitely swoop in if you wait too long.
• Think outside the box. Yes, we just said to “know what you
like” — but it’s also important not to go in with a rigid mind. Maybe you were
in the mood for a rainbow-striped bowling shirt with Max stitched over the
pocket. Just because they’re all out of Maxes doesn’t mean you won’t find a
treasure one aisle over.
• Forget the labels. If you like something, who cares
whether it originally came from Nordstrom or Walmart? Labels are unimportant
(except for the one in the coat our friend just bought which read “Wear it in good
health”—which we love).
• Know your friends’ likes and dislikes. You may not
discover a piece for yourself, but you might find the perfect fill-in-the-blank
for your buddy. This happens to us all the time. Thrifting friends often return
the favor! Several of our favorite shirts were bought at the Goodwill in
Maryland by our friend Alison and sent to us. She’s paid more in postage than
the shirts originally cost.
• Be flexible. Too busy? Come back in an hour. Our local
thrift store gets a lot of traffic. If you go in and the place is swamped, grab
a coffee and come back later. You’ll be surprised at the constant ebb and flow.
• Shop, Rinse, Repeat. Our local thrift store moves 6,000
items a month. You may come out empty handed on Monday, but score on Friday.
Look and look again.
• Pat yourself on the back. By shopping at thrift stores,
you are shopping “green” by giving items a second
life.
Once you slip
into a thrifting state of mind, you’ll find treasures everywhere!
Au revoir!
