The thrill of the hunt, the chaos, the crazy people, the bargains, the sweet success at finding that amazing outfit, it all was sweet heaven to my shopping tastes. I have learned that not everyone shares this affinity. I have tried to introduce people to thrift store shopping and sometimes they just stand there not sure of what to do, bored by the lack of displays showing you what to buy. This confused me because when I enter a thrift store I am scanning the area constantly on high alert for that perfect item. It is a very active thing for me, much different than the window shopping that most people do. You have to really dig and have an eye for finding good items amidst all of the junk. It involves a lot of sifting and digging. You can't go with a specific item in mind because you never know what you are going to find. I just walk in, open to the endless possibilities that people might have had hiding in their closets, ready to enter mine.After I had developed this love, I discovered it is in my blood. My Grandma was apparently a big thrift store shopper. She loved finding the bargains and was good at it. Several of my siblings have also discovered thrift store shopping, and we go together on occasion.
Going with others is a tricky thing though. Either they want to treat it like a casual shopping experience and talk and stick together the whole time, or they are experienced and hunting for the same items and you have to get to them first. So finding a thrift store companion is not always easy, and most of the time I prefer to go alone. Less competition, more ability to focus.I have had the opportunity to volunteer at a thrift store twice now. The latter of which was this morning. We went to Deseret Industries (DI).
I have to say that it doesn't feel much like service it is so fun. I get to see the items before they are put on display and picked over, and halfway shop at the same time. It has always been a dream to work at a thrift store, so this has fulfilled that ambition in large part. Today I was helping to tag items with the price. The first time I was putting items out on the racks. It was quite comical because within 15 minutes of me walking in the store for the first time, people were asking me questions. I have never been in this particular thrift store, but I know how they work in general so I was able to answer their questions quite well. It was amusing to me. I was also able to witness the 'hoverer's.' They are the people that would wait for us to bring out a new rack of clothes so they could pick through them before anyone else got to them. Pretty intense shopping, don't know if I am there yet myself. But I have fun, and get good deals at the same time!
5 comments:
Poor me. I will never have you talent. Though I do okay if I'm shopping for the kiddos. It's shopping for me that's impossible. We get almost all of our kid shoes at the thrift store cause they're so dang expensive, they grow out of them so fast, and I can get name brand for 1/3 the price of Wal-mart brand... yep.
I'm so glad that you and I got to visit the thrift store while you were here visiting! That rainbow sweater rocked. :o)
you talk about thrift stores the way i think about garage saling...i get so excited at the sight of a garage sale, but i prefer to go alone...thrifts stores are hard for me, i don't have patience with sifting through racks of things...i did back in the day, but not now, with 3 kids in tow
That is such an old picture! I looooove it though!
nice pictures :) where did you dig all those ones up from. I haven't seen them before. You are so funny when you talk about your thrift stores. I have to say, it is so much fun to go thrift store shopping with such an expert as yourself :)
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