Just throwing a line in the water to see if others enjoy going to thrift stores to find useful items cheap or for hidden treasures.

I have had really good finds over the years and bought useful stuff for pennies on the dollar.

Over the years stores have opened up that support causes, be it pets, stopping hunger, you name it. These places make a real impact in the community and I am happy to help; it's the small things that can make a big difference.

What's your best find or how has your experience been?

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Rather be outdoors

all of the thrift stores around here have all the desirable items scooped up by employees + their friends - i have much better luck at estate + garage sales -

I enjoy them. Among my best finds, a cashmere sport coat for $7 and a slide rule with leather case in excellent condition for $5. Also, some of my best kitchen pots and pans, especially Revere Ware.

I have become a thrift store fanatic, quality items at a huge discount. At a Salvation Army I bought a pair of Dan Post boots, 50% off that day-$4.99.
The GE /made in Thailand A/C in my bedroom is in its 6th or 7th summer-$45 at a Goodwill.

Genie and I always enjoyed thrift stores and flea markets. They were generally a crapshoot on finding things, we wanted. Yet it was a way to enjoy an afternoon of affordable entertainment.

When my Dad died, Mom, who was an AVID reader (think 3-4 full length novels a week) needed to relocate to a “fully assisted living” room. One of my duties was to keep her in reading material, and the used book bins were a life and bank account saver.

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Always Stay Strong!

Way back when I was getting started in commercial real estate, I didn't
have much money, so I shopped the thrift stores for suits. I was pleased
and amazed to find suits by Armani, Aboud, Boss, and more. It inspired
me to write a little illustrated manual that I called "Dress Like a Millionaire
for Pennies on the Dollar". I never did try to market the manual, but I
practiced what I preached, and it helped me in business.

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In Omnia Paratus

When my job required a "professional" appearance, I bought dress shirts, ties, sport coats, and suits from Goodwill. My best score is probably a circa 1980s Diamondback mountain bike. $7.50. Ride it 3-4 times a week for the last five years.

I picked up a silver and gold belt buckle for $5.00 that was appraised for over $200.

I love thrift stores. You never know what you will find! I'm wearing Tommy Bahama jeans right now that I paid eight dollars for at a thrift store.

Years ago when we lived in Seattle I'd go to all the Goodwill stores and buy classic rock albums for a dollar apiece. Then I'd take them to the Fremont Sunday Market and sell them for anywhere between 5 and 10 bucks, depending on the album and its condition. It was loads of fun and I did pretty well at it.

Thrift shops are great fun and occasionally produce great stuff.

Crock pots, kitchen stuff and clothes for the granddaughter are the usual prizes I encounter.

I bought an old oak library desk back about 1995 for like $10. I refinished it and it came out nice. I am sitting at it as I type this post. I also bought an L L Bean parka for $12. I wore it for years.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I knew a young kid that worked in one. He made almost as much from the money he pulled out of pockets while sorting clothes and e-baying stuff he "bought" pre-sales as his salary.
I have bought some interesting kitchen knives I reground as outdoor knives.

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Front sight and squeeze

I have a month's worth of short sleeve Polo shirts, plus another month's worth of Polo long sleeve shirts that I have picked up at Goodwill for work. I got a Stack-on gun cabinet (that was locked w/no key) for $6. Another $10 for a new lock at Lowe's and I now have a storage cabinet for ammo.

Got a knife sharpener for $1.

Wife has gotten a bunch good of stuff for cheap.

Back in the pre-music streaming days, I used to haunt the Goodwill stores and flea markets purchasing 45 rpm rock and roll records. Luckily I had a pretty good memory for the hits of the 1950s and 1960s and I now still have a big collection of records. I used them on the radio and when I did oldies dances back in my misspent youth.

Now my brother and I have been scrounging Goodwill stores and other used goods stores for kitchen utensils that were made in the USA.

I hit the store when I drop off donations. One day I came back with more stuff than I took.

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Isaiah 41:10

When we spend the winter in McAllen Texas, I hit all the thrifts looking for books to read. Have picked up some real gems for pennies.

I like thrift stores but there is a problem with dragging stuff home that never gets used. The key is if you are not going to use it right away then do not buy it. I've cast most of my bullets in cast iron kettles from thrift stores and cast ingots in cup cake pans and iron pastry pans from thrift stores. My most recent find was two wood step ladders for $5 each. One's about chest high and the other about 6 ft.

I've done better at garage sales. The places I really love to scrounge are a couple of gun stores that sell used reloading tools that I think they get along with gun collections. The most memorable find from them was a like new Bonanza Co-Ax reloading press in the $20 to $40 range. The owner and his employees did not know it was a reloading press.

We love thrift stores - it's where we've purchased most of what we use in our travel trailer. No use paying "new" prices when you might only use it a few times a year and it may end up getting ruined, given away or broken.

I've given a lot of pretty nice things to thrift stores I hope some people got some decent deals and the charity end users got most of the benefit. As far a Goodwill, I believe it's a "for profit" organization that does little to help charities.

I've been a few times never seen anything I wanted , donated dishes clothes and box of DVD's last year .

I've bought many treasures at thrift stores in the past. With all of the sickness happening now I'm staying far away from them. Garage sale are unique too but not anymore. I just can't drag unknown stuff into my house without wondering who had what, when it was last used.

From reading some of these stories, I need to get started!

Safety from COVID-19 deserves mention. From what I've read the virus can not remain viable longer than 1 hour on paper, 3 days on plastic and 4 days on metal. The exception is when it is frozen. There was a report of it remaining viable for 2 months in a freezer. If you can maintain 6 ft. social distancing while shopping then you only need to disinfect your hands after leaving the thrift store and let the purchase sit out in you car, garage or shed longer than the virus can survive.

I have not been in a thrift store since I've been aware of the virus and I seldom go in gun stores. That's to avoid people, not because I can not safely handle a purchase. That's a shame. We all know Hover's RM #1 and the .22LR RM are waiting for us in a thrift store or garge sale.

I've bought a few clothes from them over the years. My wife goes to them as well as garage and estate sales. I'm more of a find it on the curb kind of a guy...people throw away really good and interesting things. I found these earlier this week while making my rounds. It's true what they say about "one mans' junk".

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I enjoy the thrift stores. I kind of "cut my teeth" on them back in the 70's. Some guy in town borrowed a pick up truck and drove off to the big city to buy some suitcases that were left over from the airlines. He brought them back and opened up a store on Friday and Saturdays and sold stuff really cheap. It was fun browsing the selection and he had a lot of different stuff. It turned into a big deal and now that it has passed on down to the children, it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in northeast Alabama. I bought some really great stuff, cloths and other stuff and ridiculous prices back before it became a tourist trap. I was in one in south Florida several years ago and the lady I was with just kept looking so I kept looking at the cloths, found an almost unused goose down LL Bean vest for two bucks. I sure have gotten my two bucks worth over the past many winters. It is a fun thing to do in my retirement, but I love the pawn shops better, I have some great guns that I picked up at low prices over the years. Never make them a low ball offer, they just may be hungry and want to see some folding money.

I’ve recently started checking estate sales. One of the few positive things (at least for me) that’s come out of this pandemic is all the estate sales have moved online. Got a nice bike that needed a saddle for $23.

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Reg. Magnum wants/Rossi wallet

I do not like thrift stores at all but I’m glad others here have found good deals there.
But my wife and myself love going to antique stores. We rarely buy anything but for us it’s like a low budget museum. Plenty of history and the “OH MY GOODNESS, we had one of these exactly” moments. Which happens to often these days.

My wife drags me to all the above mentioned sites including garage and estate sales. Last week I scored a great buy too. Ping-eye-2 irons in a Ping stand bag with a new sleeve of Callaway balls. $10

WR (the bargain hunter)

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God, Country, Family

I find it hard to fall asleep, so I read in bed - it works.

I like going to Goodwill for books.

When we do road trips, we like to hit thrift stores along the way. Lots of nice things to see, some to buy.

I belong to the local community theater company in Chambersburg, PA. A few years ago, at a meeting about the upcoming play schedule for the season, the director of the show remarked that she was going to need a boatload of metal tankards for a tavern scene. She didn't want ceramic mugs because the scene required a lot of swinging tankards and clanking tankards together.

Fast forward to one of my surgeries, and my brother was staying with me as I began my recovery. My brother wanted to keep me moving around and not just sit around, so we went to about every Goodwill store and thrift shop in 3 counties looking for metal tankards. From what I remember we scrounged at least a dozen tankards and a metal serving tray. The director was ecstatic. My brother and I received thanks in the play program for what we did.

I used to scoop up old gm v8 parts at flea markets all the time, and still grab any silver i happen to spot at garage sales and thrift shops.

Correct! Their idea was to get people to give them free items and they would turn around and then sell them, making a profit. I make sure any items I donate go the Salvation Army where the CEO doesn't make millions of dollar a year.

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Bill

Goodwill was started to hire and train handicapped people so they could get work experience and confidence needed to go out and get better jobs.
Employers are more likely to hire someone that has some work history showing they are dependable and able to preform some kind of work.

If you google them you will see that is still their mission.

At the thrift shop in my town I found a pair of Allen Edmonds loafers, in the box with papers. I paid $10, they retail for $190. At another I found Lord and Taylor and Land's End wool slacks-still with the store tags on them-$8 apiece. Five years ago when I needed a new mattress I visited an antiques and used furniture store I go to regularly. A nice clean,firm, used very little one, with a cover-$21.60 out the door.

My wife and I enjoy thrift stores and flea markets. I am a tightwad so I buy almost all of my clothes at thrift stores; it doesn't bother me a bit. When we go thrift shopping I call it a "junket." I have found some really good stuff at really cheap prices on these junkets.

I collect old wind up phonographs, binoculars, pocket knives, and antique pendulum clocks as well as old rusty guns, so junk stores are my friends.

My wife and I have been under house arrest due to the Corona Virus, and it has been Feb. since we have had an outing. We are both suffering from withdrawal.

Can't say I have ever shopped at one but do donate a fair amount. I am in the disposing of items rather than accumulating at this point, afraid if I entered a thrift shop I would find some wonderful bargain to buy that I would be donating in a few months.

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John. SWCA #1586

My father is a collector of many things, so weekends and vacations during childhood were spent scouring thrift stores, antique stores, yard sales, flea markets, and swap meets.

I enjoy the hunting and sifting but pretty much stick to estate/yard sales with my kids. Generally pick up sporting goods, books, American-made tools, games, and the like.

We have one nearby and I go in once in a while to pick up ball caps, t-shirts, or cargo shorts, just one summer wear that I don't have to worry about keeping nice.
A while back I bought a nice pair of cargo shorts and wore them to a family gathering. Before leaving, I grab a handful of hard candy for the little nieces/nephews and put in cargo pocket. At the gathering younger kids (know I have candy) gather around. I reach into the pocket and pull out a handful or candy and a couple of condoms (not used, still in the package, ha). Of course the kids go for the biggest and most colorful package. Embarrassed the heck out of me!! I hope I got them all back.
"hey Uncle Ronnie, this bubble gum tastes like rubber"

Thrift stores are where I get my pans for pan lubing.
SWMBO finds much clothing there for grandchildren (who grow out of things in weeks).

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and what his trumpet saith

A local Salvation Army had a poster showing a school age girl with the caption:
"Send them back to school without emptying the bank account"
At Chrismastime my church has an Angel Tree with requests from the local social service agencies. One woman took a toy request for a Peppa Pig play set-she found it costs $90.00! We put a $25 limit on toy requests, last Christmas I took the one for a tricycle to Trenton Bike Exchange, found a nice solid steel red one-$15.
At a local garage sale I paid $30 for a beautiful 1974 Raleigh Sports 3-speed, got it home and....realized it was too big for me. Gave it to a friend who is the minister of a church in North Jersey, he gave it to a fellow with "developmental " problems who uses it to get to work.

I found the pictured "objet d'art" at Goodwill. I have absolutely no idea who sculpted it, or the intention of it's creator. What I saw was a "something" that someone had put a lot of quality effort and talent in creating. It appears to be made from cherry wood. As a "handcrafter" myself, I felt it needed to be rescued and placed in a home where it's craftsmanship would be appreciated. So for $15 I took it home. Each view is very different when turned ! OK..Yes ..it is one weird ugly looking thing. But it is mine.... heh heh heh...all MINE I say !!

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Y. B. Ord & A. Ree

The wife and I both enjoy thrift stores. Has been a hobby for a few years and we have bought and re-donated plenty over the years. My reloading room is pretty much out of room from stuff I have collected. We have not done much since the China virus though.

Funny you should ask. I stopped in a thrift store today and bought a slim little USB DVD ROM player/burner for use with a computer - $3.80

Two weeks ago I bought an Android-based streaming device (like an Apple TV or Roku box) for TV for $10.89 at another thrift store.

Not sure what my "best" buy was, but there have been a bunch of pennies on the dollar bargains over the years.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...