<p>I have been shopping at thrift shops my whole adult life. When we were first married, we needed to economize where we could and I recall getting bread packed in with my clothing purchases. I was so embarrassed - and told the clerk I didn’t need it! She assumed I did, otherwise why would I be there? On that trip I found the most gorgeous Eddie Bauer sweater with leather elbow patches. I wore holes in that sweater and reluctantly had to let it go. How many owners did that sweater have? </p>
<p>I came from the west coast, and we shopped in those stores because it was the 80’s and we got great finds. I still have a leather bag from college I found in a Goodwill store. </p>
<p>When my kids were little, we loved the resale consignment shop. </p>
<p>I see thrift store shopping as the ultimate recycling initiative. I give away a ton of stuff that is cool, but I do not need. Someone else gets it. Win win. </p>
<p>My local Goodwill store is just a bookstore but also a donation drop off location. This is dangerous for me, because I am trying to avoid buying a bunch of great books as I am purging my possessions fir a big move. </p>
<p>When I went with my daughter to her college orientation last year and had lots of free time, I discovered a gigantic Salvation Army just up the street. It always has good things.i came home with a J Crew sweater on that first trip, and will likely wear that one out, too. </p>
<p>I do not feel guilty about buying items at these stores. They need the sales to fund their programs. It also saves me money. :)</p>
<p>Last time I went to one locally, I found a brand new Cephalon ice cream scoop in the packaging for 2.00. Target had same one - in same package - for 9.00. It is beautiful and functional and just what I needed. Whoever donated it, didn’t want it. Maybe they hate ice cream?!</p>
<p>I guess districts differ on their policies. Between the two GW’s in our town, I’ve only seen one employee who is disabled. All the others just seem to be regular folks who needed a job. Noticed there was a “Now Hiring” sign in my GW last week. </p>
<p>My GW’s sell bread…all good brand names/not generic… so much cheaper than the grocery store ($1.39 Nature’s Own 100% whole wheat). I’ve literally seen the bread truck leave the grocery store next door and pull into GW. When they put the new bread on the gro. shelf they bring what’s left to GW. The date on the bread is never expired. They bring donuts and snack cakes too. I avoid those:)</p>
<p>Our stores also have senior citizen day. Every Tues. anyone 55 or over gets a 25% discount on entire purchase.</p>
<p>Thrift stores ENCOURAGE everyone to shop there. </p>
<p>My mother was the same way as the OP–she said she felt she would be taking away from “poor people.” I have to roll my eyes because we were on a very tight budget growing up and I could have used some nice clothes from Goodwill. I often wore my cousins’ hand-me-downs, as well as things my mother made that were frankly, not fashionable. :D</p>
<p>For years I was the volunteer in charge of costumes for my son’s elementary, and later high school, theater casts. I became a regular at our local thrift stores; without them, there is no way I could have dressed entire casts on our tiny arts budget. </p>
<p>These days it seems as though many people in our area who frequent the thrifts are resellers, looking for hidden gems to sell on eBay. There have been a few articles in the local paper about this trend. There are people who hang out at GW or SA all day – every day! – looking for designer labels, snatching them as soon as the racks are brought out. Then they list their finds for sale online, at a profit, of course. The result has been a rise in prices for clothing, especially the “best” pieces.</p>
<p>A large number of our local Goodwill trainees and workers are immigrants. The education portion of the training program for them also includes English and basic math. There are separate programs for retail jobs, computer skills, GED prep, community college prep, reentry for non-violent offenders, dropouts and more. They partner with our city for several of these, including work on greenspace and retail training for youth.</p>
<p>Ours do not sell groceries, but they do get Target and sometimes Walmart remainders. </p>
<p>When my D was little I used to get her some nice things at a kids consignment shop until I saw the owner at Goodwill on $1.29 Monday with an overflowing cart of kids clothes. I stopped shopping at her store-I just went straight to Goodwill and cut out the middleman.</p>
<p>Is the success of the song <em>Thriftshop</em> helping to expand the customer base? Cuz you know, it is now a <em>cool</em> thing to do . . .</p>
<p>sseamom – I wondered about that – I have always had a feeling that there are a lot of thrift store shoppers who make a business out of buying bargains and then reselling them elsewhere.</p>
<p>I never said there was anything <em>wrong</em> with going to thrift stores. There is just something about Goodwill that has historically made me feel that I shouldn’t be taking bargains out of the hands of people who really need that $2 pair of black pants to go on a job interview.</p>
<p>But I go to a Pepperidge Farm bakery outlet, so how’s that for (in)consistency?</p>
<p>I think the other part is that I’m a minimalist. I don’t like dollar stores for the same reason. My best friend is a major aficionado of dollar stores - she goes and exclaims about all the bargains she got. She’s happy – I see it as “now you’ve got a bunch more junk in your home to deal with.” To each her own, though!</p>
<p>mstee–some Thrift stores are savvy about prices. I saw a Vera Bradley purse priced at $24.99 the other day! Good luck with that, I thought to myself.</p>