moving to NYC-hellllp!

[jessie_philly]

Hello fellow thrifters,

I need your help!  After 10 years in Philly,  where I learned how to thrift, and where the good stuff is cheap and plentiful, I am moving to NYC.  I am moving to take a new job there,  and I am extremely excited about the job, the city, etc.  But, I am apprehensive about the thrifting!!

I have grown accustomed to going thrifting at my favorite places more than once a week and slowly building a huge, designer wardrobe (exaggerating a little but not much).

I am under the impression (hopefully wrongly) that NYC thrifting is overpriced and picked over.

If you thrift in NYC, can you tell me if my fears are warranted? Do you have any advice regarding good places/neighborhoods to go for thrifting?

Soon to be jessie_nyc,
jessie_philly

[Zed Simon]

I've thrifted NYC exactly once. The stores' inventory looked like leftovers from a church rummage sale. Maybe up near Central Park, or even in the clothes sections downtown, it's different - I'll have to try uptown some time because I know there's at least a Goody store up that way, but I'm not getting my hopes up that it's that much better than downtown. I sure hope someone can prove me wrong.

[tropicanahana]

Congratulations on getting a job in NYC! I can say you are never going to find any designer clothes at low prices, where you might find designer floating around incognito in suburban thrift stores. In new york anything with a designer label will almost always be more than 100$ and I've never found anything at goodwills/salvation armies.

For good will and bargain thrifting you could fare well taking a day trip to queens. I've found great clothes at thrift shops in Astoria. The stores there are bigger and less pretentious than Manhattan stores.

I can recommend good neighborhood and my favorite NYC shops for vintage thifiting if you like vintage.

[lydiatetz]

Hi there fellow new yorker. I too was a bit underwhelmed when I first moved here from lands of thrift mecca down south. However, I am a huge vintage nut, and have found some great spots in the East village for that sort of thing. There are also three or four shops uptown on 3rd avenue in the 80's, where when they have sales, they are affordable for some pretty great stuff. You have to go up there and check in and see if you can get one of the nice lady or gentleman volunteers to talk with you and they will let you know when the sales are coming up. They vary from 50-75% off, and when one of them has a sale, often the others do too. A couple of them are Cancer Care and Hospice shop. You can find some pretty great, sometimes pretty crazy funky designer things there. One note, you will have to adjust your previous thinking about what constitutes a bargain up here vs. where you are coming from!!!

The East village has a couple good ones, like I said. One is on Avenue A just above Tompkins Square park, around 8th or 9th street, and I think is called Monk, and is small. Another, mainly for funky vintage ( I found my wedding dress there for $20) is on 7th street between Avenue A and 1st avenue, on the north side of the block. I think it's called East Village vintage or something like that, but I'm not positive. ANd in typical East village fashion, they don't open early, particularly on weekends. I've been by at noon and they are still snoozing away.

I've also had good luck at the Salvation Army on 8th avenue at around 21st or 22nd street, and the one down on 4th avenue at around 11th or 12th streets.

Have fun!

[ThirsteeThrifter]

Hey, I am a resident of NYC and have found that the thrift shops in the outerboroughs of Manhattan are much better. I usually stay in the Bronx for my thrifting. I have a blog in my sig with the address of a recently opened thrift shop in the Bronx. I will also post addresses of good ones. It's very new and right now I am in Las Vegas so in time I will have a lot of addresses  and reviews up.

[valleythriftshopper]

Great blog!