As times change thrifting changes

[Emmapeel]

20 years ago you could go into most any thrift store and find great vintage. I''m talking 1940''s-1960''s perfect condition anything. I''d get my boyfriends the greatest super cool 50''s suits for $6! Now you can hardly find an ugly 80''s suit for under $20.
The looking takes longer and the pickings are slimmer. I do get to Palm Springs sometimes, they have great stuff but sometimes it''s a little pricey.
Luckily I''ve built up quite a wardrobe, against my husbands wishes (sort of), but I thrifted most of it, except for some ties I bought him at a vintage shop a friend owns.
I see tons of 70''s and 80''s clothes now but still do run into the odd great vintage piece from time to time.
I guess I''ll just have to keep on thrifting and be extra happy when I find something great.

[alexandra]

Things have changed, and I guess we are showing our age!  I never expect the era of stock to go back any more than 20 years.  It is funny, though, that where we are, there are two specific weekends when you can expect hordes of the uninitiated to be clumsily stumbling through thrift stores -- either being totally disappointed or totally clueless as to whether they can find whatever vintage item they are looking for.

Our city hosts "The World''s Largest Disco" every Thanksgiving weekend. That Saturday, you see tons of people in the Army or Goodwill looking for cool vintage 70''s or 80''s outfits.  What they don''t realize, is that collectors or other anachronistic individuals snap that stuff up when it''s first put out.  I really want to pull these people aside and say -- if you have something you want to find, you have to shop these stores regularly so you know how to find what you''re looking for, or so that you can snap the rare item up as soon as you see it.

The other group, are those who shop at Thrift stores only for Halloween.  I find that they tend to be a dissatisfied lot too.  To be a really successful thrift shopper, IMO, you have to visit these stores religiously. 

I think it''s really rare to find legitimate "vintage" finds -- for those, I tend to rely on flea markets or antique marts, which are always a lot pricier than thrift stores.

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

I''m seeing the same thing in terms of clothing. Bad 70s and 80s fashion abounds. I keep looking for 50s and 60s dresses at the thrift store, and really haven''t discovered anything decent. We do have a lot of vintage clothing stores in the area, so I believe people are selling the items there, instead of donating.

Oddly, though, I can find decorative objects at the thrift store that are almost 100 years old. I just bought this great 18 inch tall Victorian art nouveau pottery vase two weekends ago. That, no one seemed to want.

Interesting.

-Jenn
www.thriftshopromantic.com

[ChrisMiss]

I agree that you need to go often to the thrift stores to find items that you''re looking for.  Many times I''ve gone to the thrift stores and not found a thing that I''m interested in and then a week later I find bags of stuff that I want.  New stuff keeps coming in all the time to the stores. 

Sometimes it''s kind of sad to see the stuff, like one time I went and there were many owls on the shelves, another time it was a large collection of cats.  You just knew that someone had passed away and the family was getting rid of all the "junk" the person had collected.

I don''t look much for vintage clothes but I do enjoy stumbling across a vintage kitchen towel or dresser scarf.  The towels, especially the hand embroidered ones take me back to watching my grandmother make the ordinary things like a kitchen towel, extra nice by embroidering a design on it.