So today is National Thrift Store Day. I love thrift stores, in fact so much of what I own came from one. Most of Bug's clothes, toys, my collectibles, our comics, our clothes, even some furniture.... all from local thrift stores. So what are the Green sides to thrifting? Well for one... you are reusing old clothes rather than throwing them out. That is less clothing and waste in landfills. Also by buying second hand you are showing retail stores that you do not need so many new clothes which stops them from buying so much. Also older clothing is usually made from real materials (not always the 70's and 80's were a it on the scary side) but a lot of it is cotton, wool, flax, etc and so by buying more natural fibers you are also saying we want natural to retail manufacturers. On the money savings side, buying used just makes sense. Why spend 20$ an outfit at Walmart or 30$ an outfit at JCPenny's or Sears or 50$ an outfit at a high end store when you can find the high end store clothing for usually 10$ an outfit. This is doubley true for children's clothing. Kids outgrow thing sometimes before they even get to wear them once. Why not buy used? As for the fun part... thrift storing can be like a treasure hunt... why would you not love that. when you walk into a store you know that even if it is the last one on the rack, there will be more coming, or that you could get one from another store or online. At a thrift sore though.. if you don't snatch it up the minute you find it... well then next time.. it may not be there. That adds to the fun. The last benefit of thrifts stores is that so many of them are charities which use their profits to help a specific group or cause. Two of the ones in our town go to help the animal shelter and the poor and needy.
So what is your favorite thrift store? What have you found there?
My all time favorite Thrift Stores here in town are North Country Neighbors and Best Friends Thrift. The Kids Closet and CORC Store are also great ones and places to find all sorts of great things.
Yay for thrift stores, I'm heading to my own favorite one tomorrow as Monday's are $0.50 day on one of the four different colored tags they use, plus two of the other colors are 50% off every day and they rotate through so it is a super, duper treasure hunt for me. My store is located near several of the upper middle class cities in the area and so I make some great finds, from Ann Taylor, Express, Aeropostale, Gap, South Pole and even a nice selection of maternity from Motherhood and Two Peas in a Pod and like brands. Plus, they have some great sections, like tags on which are literally that, clothes people never wore that still have the store tags on them!! And a Petite's section. And the kids clothes are never more than $1-$2 and often less. Anyway, can you tell I love, love, love my store? I even worked there once upon a time for a whole two days until my dust allergies forced me to quit and was amazed by the amount of clothing that they move, on most days they place close to 10,000 items on the floor. That is a lot of happy customers and clothing given a second life!!
ReplyDeleteWow that sounds like an awesome thrift store! I am jealous :)
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