Featured Thrift Store strategies

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by Joe2007, Feb 26, 2019.

  1. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    I am also seeing some high unwarranted prices at some of the thrifts. However, these same thrifts always miss good items and price them low. One local thrift had a boutique shop that was stocked with name brand newer items at high prices while the good antiques went to the main floor ……. LOL! Goodwill makes a conscious effort to train their employees to funnel good items to their shopgoodwill auction site. Consequently, you'll not find clearly marked sterling and the like there. You may find unmarked Steuben Aurene ;)

    Other thrifts try to get the most of items they think are good but still price somewhat reasonably. The item may be $10-15.00 instead of $3.00. I don't begrudge them this profit if they can get it since most are for benefit of charity. Also think this may keep the item on the shelf longer for me to find it, since the bottom-feeders won't pay the slightly higher price.
     
  2. clutteredcloset49

    clutteredcloset49 Well-Known Member

    Exactly.
     
    kyratango likes this.
  3. Joan

    Joan Well-Known Member

    I agree with verybrad -- the more often you go to thrift stores at any time of the day or week, the more you improve the odds of finding something worthwhile.
     
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  4. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    I went through the Ill Will today. They had a necklace I wanted for the beads with no price. Dumb me, I asked. $12. Uhmmm no. Not for a $4 necklace.(LOL)
     
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  5. Loved reading this thread..and about the greedy behaivour of some people! I'm from England and we don't really have many thrift stores, but do have a heck of a lot of charity shops these days. I go for a mooch around them hoping to get lucky, but it's all really just tat, the shopowners are far too astute to accidently put out anything of real value.
    However, car boot(trunk? rummage?) sales are really big here and where you probably find the best underpriced items, sold by ordinary people just having a clear out. You have to get there incredibly early on a Sunday morning, but I did pick up some good Limoges for pennies.
     
  6. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    American rummage = jumble sale. Those really can be gold mines. I do envy your boot sales - all of the "tag sales" in town, all in one place.
     
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  7. Houseful

    Houseful Well-Known Member

    I generally find interesting things at the Jumble for pennies. Get there early and chat for 40 minutes to people who get to become your friends and hope you get into the goodies first. The Charity shops here in U.K. are mostly on the ball for hallmarked silver and backstamped ceramics but often they don’t spot things that are unmarked ie Bakelite beads and studio pottery, glass with marks they don’t check up on. The car boots and garage sales are often pretty good but I hate getting up really early for the car boots.
     
  8. janettekay

    janettekay Well-Known Member

    Really enjoying this thread !! :D Not many thrift stores around here now and only a few church sales which are few and far between . So have not been thrifting for years. When I did...I would never wait in line..just stop in whenever passing by.
    I miss the hunt....:(
     
  9. popsycat

    popsycat Well-Known Member

    Here in France it is vide greniers (empty attic) we go to. Every sunday, about march to october, towns and villages hold them once a year. Every week a different place. People can turn up or sell stuff outside their houses one day a year. On a given sunday, sometime saturdays and public holidays, we have to choose which ones to go to. If there are a lot in a given area, we can go in a circle around the places. We have our favourites. They are not as good or as large nowadays as they were a few years ago. Hi light of the day is the refreshment area. Barbecued sausages and chips plus a beer and a sit down to watch the world go by. Lovely happy atmosphere. Some professional trader as well turn up to sell. Some people empty their attics, we fill ours up.
     
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  10. kyratango

    kyratango Bug jewellery addiction!

    In France too!
    In my area (Yvelines) I go to vide greniers less and less often... they are filled with baby stuff, avocado services, tires, not really interesting pieces to find...:arghh:
    Best I got last year was a Japanese bronze langoust complete with its long antenaes for 15€:)
    I agree for the refreshments/sausages area!:p
     
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  11. Wow those bbq sausages and chips sound a whole lot more appealing than the dodgy burger vans that turn up at our boot sales!
     
  12. popsycat

    popsycat Well-Known Member

    They have changed completely the past few years. We still occasionally pick something up, but we enjoy the day out. We used to go to Lille but not any more. You are right about the baby stuff and avocada services. Rusty things as well. My husband loves raking through rusty poles of junk.
     
  13. Shangas

    Shangas Underage Antiques Collector and Historian

    I have come here to chew bubble-gum, and find bargains.

    And I'm all out of bubble-gum...
     
  14. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    Some places here have town-wide tag sales too, once a year. Similar stuff - rusty junk, avocado-colored plastic, baby stuff, etc. Once in a while you find something good.
     
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  15. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    It's still possible to grab stuff in charity shops, even silver. Hallmarks get missed, and foreign ones aren't known at all. I get wryly amused when they want ten quid for a bit of common jasperware and totally miss the good glass. ;)
     
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  16. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    I found a copper clamper bracelet today for $5. Nothing to crow about, but it wasn't overpriced like everything generally is ... and I wear copper.
     
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  17. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    At present we have some active thrift store workers as members......
    I wonder if they read this thread..? :zombie::zombie::nailbiting::nailbiting::wideyed:
     
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  18. lvetterli

    lvetterli Well-Known Member

    Here there are village-wide or city-wide garage sales. Lots and lots of the usual but, if you are willing to really search and do a little dickering, there are decent finds out there. My friends and I try to hit a 40-mile sale in northern Illinois every year in the spring. We take my van and park their trailer in one of the villages, they both end up darned near full!
     
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  19. cxgirl

    cxgirl Well-Known Member

    that sounds like fun lvetterli:)
     
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