My wife and daughter like shopping at thrift stores it's like a treasure hunt and you never know what you might find.
Today she had my 11 year old along with her. He wanted some new looking tennis shoes . They were Nike and 9 bucks and she got them for him.

She looked them up when she got home and ther were on lime for sale for 180 to 250$ depending on the listing

To me I can't believe people pay so much for poorly put together shoe's made in Asia. Blew me away.

Then I remember a few minutes of a special I saw in passing somewhere that had a TV on
It was about a woman that went to thrift stores and bought shoes cheap and did very very well selling them.

I can spend money like that on good boots or waders but on sneekers that won't last kids 3 to 6 months nope .

I Like Garage sales and Auctions
but not thrift stores

My wife shops at thrift stores about once a week. Amazing some of the high end quality clothes in near mint condition that she buys 5 cents on the dollar! She refuses to shop for clothes anywhere else.

Chris

Was in an antique store and a large trap was by the door. Look at it and it was a Newhouse #4..look at the tag and it was 25 dollars. Well I still have it..........

I'll give you $50

Had one that was well used ...that one was like new with a cast pan...so I sold the used one to an old friend for 75 dollars...

I have no personal interest in clothes or shoes at thrift stores, but I like tools, traps, cages, rocks and old silverware.

I love auctions. I especially like old axes, hatchets, cleavers and Native American stone tools. You could make a very good living flipping select items from thrift stores and auctions.

Keith

Good place to find grinders and blenders for messing with lure ingredients.

True. I also buy used toaster ovens for powder coating jigs and bullets. Plus I pick up pewter monogrammed mugs (very cheap as who wants a mug unless the monogram matches yours?!) for melting and adding to lead for improved casting with all my molds.

Chris

my youngest likes to go to the thrift stores

you know what you almost never find in a thrift shop

3X mens much of anything

it can't be a lack of people who wear 3X they buy the rack out at farm and fleet I just figure they wear out all their cloths I know I do. when I am done with a shirt pants anything it has holeZ not just a hole. that collar will look like swiss cheese

if you do find much for 3X expect it to be a polos shirts with a logo from someone's last job on it or maybe a 3x shirt with a 18 inch neck that got worn all of once chocking the poor guy out for a wedding or funeral.

many of ours went out of business or raised the prices too much because of the state taxes and licensing fees they put on them the last few yrs. 10....Use to be flea markets galore...not any more.

Years ago I had a girlfriend that loved thrift stores and the Salvation Army. At first I was embarrased to go to them with her. Well, one day she bought me a couple of really nice button up shirts so, I thought maybe I'd go with her once just to see what they might have. It was the start of trapping season and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw hundreds of long sleeve thermal tops, Eddie Baur and many other name brands for like three dollars each. Let's just say I never needed a coat for trapping, just layered up four or five thermals and was warm all day.

No wonder I had a hard time finding my toaster oven lol. I'm and estate sale and auction guy but if I need something for trapping, I'll hit Goodwill or St. Vinnie's for items, I like the small potpourri crock pots for heating lard, small blenders for castor, cereal Tupperware containers for DP bait, etc. I usually complete my Halloween Costume there also if need be.

Wow, I'd say no grief either!

My oldest twin worked at one while he went to college. He brought home tones of brand new clothes every month.

my powder coat / kydex convection oven is still wearing it's goodwill sticker

I used to be able to get good cast iron for 3 bucks , now they know what it is. I was in Stoughton a few weeks back they had vintage cooking stuff , well they had looked at Ebay to see what that stuff was going for so it was sitting there not moving at that price.

this spring they had a linen 50% of sale and had a lot of blankets
I went though looking for wool blankets without holes or only minor holes that could be sewn up easily left with 3 I think I was paying about 6 dollars each for them.

bread pans is another thing I keep an eye out for I use them for sorting and processing brass and storing hardware

I used to go dig through the knife bucket to see if there was any decent steel , still look once in a while but for several years nothing but china junk.

I quit going to thrift stores cause my mom would always have something negative about the neat things I found. For instance I found an oil painting of a pirate ship on a dark sea and she didn’t like it and wouldn’t let me get it because “it’s probably demonized, I don’t want it in my house”
But she got whatever she wanted and even things she didn’t want just because they were cheap and “pretty”. I guess “pretty” things can’t be “demonized”

The local Indian School in town has the old grocery store for a thrift store now they get all kinds of donations of new items as a write off for large corporations. Discontinued, overrun or returned items most likely. Worked with a guy that would buy shoes and jackets then sell them on EBay for a nice profit.

that is exactly what many of the shops around here are trying to prevent now in their pricing , sad but there was a group of "profesional" shoppers who were doing that around here they made the rounds to thrift stores every week.

What is sad about it? The store puts their price on it and someone buys it.

that is really Sad , wife and I were just talking about this type of thing yesterday

her almost exact words were names changed

quoting my wife "your family says your a Green you can do anything! and my mother said your a Smith your probably just going to f%^&* it up any way. " I bet you can guess who still talks with their family regular and who doesn't.

that is some hurtful attitude with a kid and it's no wonder that decades later she is still unpacking that stuff mentally.

My grandpa came out of a bad home situation , depression era Chicago joining the Navy in WWII when he turned 18 was probably the best decision he could have made to set his life in the right direction. he always took a very positive attitude about everything always an analytical look at why to do or not do. after the navy he worked as a driver for a few places before starting his own small beverage delivery businesses . he would drive his routes, fix his trucks , re-side the house, fix anything in his apartment buildings , everything was just something to be learned and done. Because even working the engine room of the most complex ships in the US Navy was just a set of procedures , checklists and maintenance routines. that could be taught to a bunch of 18-19 year olds and the chief told you what to to and when to do it.
so the real knowledge was when to use what procedure.
that passed down to my dad and uncle , my uncle. always very positive affirmations in your a green you can do anything. if it's with doing it's worth doing right . hustle hustle hustle no complaining(uncle was my youth baseball coach so every kid on the team got that one)


my kids now adults tell me I "broke" them jokingly , yeah Broke them good! they run into where ever they go for work or school they tend to be the hardest working. anything can be done , high expectations of themselves and people around them , disappointed in the attitudes of co-workers and their complacency and laziness. their teachers , coaches and employers seem to agree with them having a very strong work ethic.

I hope you can unpack that baggage your mother left you with and realize everything is just a procedure you can learn then learn when to use what procedure.

also way too much of the mystic , spiritual , religion . is people using it as a way to manipulate others. that is why many people turn away from religions because they see that happening repeatedly and they think everything is just more manipulation of man. unfortunately not enough people are actually asking themselves WWJD. and instead find a verse to justify their motive.


that is a lot and sorry to hijack the thrifting thread.

Frugal is the new Green. Thrift stores are great.

Dollartree has those pans for 1$ each. That is for the steel pans not foil. Some stores you may have to order them though.

A guy I knew was a manager at one back in the 90s.Needless to say he has a nice collection of high end pottery among other things in his collection. Lots of insider trading goes on also. I dont even look there much anymore.

Good to know I need a few cheap pans to process bees wax.

You never know what people toss out , seems like the gals can find a lot of deals in these stores especially clothing but grown men tend to wear stuff til they toss it in a rag box

I like garage sales and some thrift stores. We have two thrift stores in my area that donate to veteran organizations and another is a pregnancy resource center. I shop at those two and donate to them. The resource center gives me empty boxes to use at our food shelf.

I like a good garage sale also , but so so many are just a bunch of baby &kids cloths or women's cloths or half broken cheap plastic housewares and home decor

did get 4 of the red metal car ramps at 2 different garage sales across the street from each other this year.

4 ramps position them at each wheel and pull up and now you have some room to work , can almost sit up under the truck

I got a rem 700 in 30-06 for 250 once. But I have to go to 300 to find one that has anything good.

Ask Rally what happens when he finds a whole bin of pewter plates. that was going into their dumpster

Odd that this story just popped up in my feed. My computer must be spying on me again. Anyway, here is some food for thought for those that believe that thrift stores should be only for the poor.


url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/thrifters-spark-controversy-over-who-is-allowed-to-benefit-from-secondhand-shopping-we-are-not-about-to-run-out/ar-AA1b696D?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=1af5eca4c0704af1863ede3e0c0d5fcd&ei=55]https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...f5eca4c0704af1863ede3e0c0d5fcd&ei=55[/url]

I too shop at Thrift stores. One of the more interesting things I look at are kitchen knives. Sometimes when someone dies the family just donates every kitchen utensil and in there there can be treasure. I have found two five pin Indian trade knives while searching. ADC has a big knife collection and I have a few too. Some of that good American steel from the 1930s - 1960s.

Brian

Got that righter about the knives Green Bay, there was 2 slaughter plants close by from the 20's to 80's and every so often some of the nice English de-boning knives show up. The union had it so they could not search their lunch pails when they came or left.
So guys check out the brass and buy and sell for scrap and make good money

Show us a picture of your Indian trade knives...please

Thanks for the picture gren bay now I know what to look for.

Green bay, could you please elaborate on those. I have to be honest. If I saw those I would have thought "junk". I guess thats how they got there. I sure dont know my knives. What are the values of those?

I am no expert but will share some thoughts. A lot of old knives have a patina look to both the wood and the blade. They also feel different when you pick them up. Some have really seen a lot of use and have been sharpened, cut down and reused. Here is a good explanation: Read down to the fifth entry which has five different knives: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/winchester-trade-knife.124723/

As to the value - they really fluctuate based on condition. I just like having a piece of history laying on my bench.

Best wishes.

Brian

Many times they were given as wedding presents in the 1920 + 30's
daily function and then there was the sterling carving knife sets that came out on Sunday dinners
( those handles have a ounce of silver once you smash them and pour the sand out)

those I would have grabbed I am looking for carbon steel and all I find CCC cheap china crap

I like to get Bibles @ the thrift store because they're free.

I used to buy a ton of knives from thrift stores seems like last few years prices are so high it’s not worth stopping

unless your giving them away how many does a person really need ?
my mom got hers downloaded to her phone , makes pulling up any verse very fast.

My wife LOVES thrift stores. My boys grew up wearing Polos and Tommy’s and whatever shoes were in style…all from thrift stores. Many times she’s come home with clothes that still had the tags on them, bought and never worn. What does she do when they’ve outgrown them? Takes them back to consignment shops, lol. She’s got this thrift shopping thing down to an art. They have some huge consignment thing every year and she does all of CJ’s and Ellie Jane’s shopping there. What they can’t wear or never get around to wearing she turns around and sells on FB or another consignment shop. One year she came out like $75 ahead after buying clothes for a year then reselling, lol. I priced the stuff she brought home one time based on Google and new prices and it was over $3k. She spent $350. That year she missed breaking even after reselling by $5. Apparently there’s an art to it. If I want something I just buy it, this woman will spend hours or days shopping for the cheapest around. With that said, I don’t buy much.

Just curious, what state taxes and licensing fees would be so great as to close a business.

I only go to a thrift store once or twice a year. But thank you for taking the time to comment. I prefer an actual copy of the Bible versus an app. Just my worthless 2 cents. But if other people like using Bible apps more power to them. Maybe I am one of the few to actually read a hard copy of the Bible.