...waning...

[Big Daddy Audio]

I haven't been to a thrift store in more than a week.  This is out of character for me.  I've really started looking at them more as a waste of time - the chances of me finding something special have become so slim - so remote - that I'm driving right past them.

I still can't figure it out.  Is there any backing to the idea that people are not buying quality anymore, and that many of the items that we (collectively) look for have now come and gone?  Has the "Great American Thrift Ship" sailed?

What do you think?

[Good Buddy]

Compared to 20 years ago, yes I agree.

I think that in 20 more years charity resale will be an ever more different animal than now.

Quality used items will be harder and harder to find.

I'll still pop into thrifts always as with two little kids they can always use clothes. Plus just in case that 1978 Wilton Cake Decorating Encyclopedia that Cookie would drool over just might be inside..

Or..Maybe a pair if Carver Amazings....

[mccoysnina]

I think it is because we live in such a throw away society.  Microwave not working?  It's cheaper to pitch it and buy another than fix it.  Cheapo clothes can be bought everywhere so why buy quality, especially if you follow the fashions.  So when someone gets tired of  all this cheap carp and it ends up in a TS, it's not really anything you want to buy. 
But I keep looking.  In part because what I look for in ts isn't clothes or shoes or regular household stuff.  I'm looking for the undiscovered gems hidden in the carp.  It's always been a scavenger hunt for me anyway, so that hasn't changed, just gotten a bit harder.
Jeannie

[Jay2TheRescue]

Yeah, I often pass by thrifts with the "its all crap there" attitude.  I find that the type of thrift, and type of neighborhood will yield better results.  My best luck is at hospice thrift shops in older middle class neighborhoods. 

[Good Buddy]

My best luck is at hospice thrift shops in older middle class neighborhoods.

The Hospice Shop here is my favorite and the Hospice shop you and my and Cookie and Rob went to in Daytona was great too.

[valleythriftshopper]

Some weeks I wonder the same thing, but fortunately there are still enough finds around here to keep me motivated.  This week I found a Roseville Pottery Snowberry jardinerre with no chips for 4 bucks and a box of assorted Salem China Northstar dinnerware for 3 bucks.  A few weeks ago I found a 1960's Olivetti teal colored typewriter.  I think the managers of the stores have alot to do with what goes out on the floor, so it is worth checking in as managers come and go.   I find this correlates with the quality of the donations. 

[Sir Thrift-A-Lot]

Competition has just gotten to fierce. Everyone wants to hit it big by selling it & everything wants something vintage, especially in Toronto. Population is growing, it's hipper than ever to thrift. Everyone wants something different.

There is less of everything that yields the treasures we desire. There are less people clearing out what we consider treasures every year because they've all done it before. Newer households aren't going to have these treasures. Mothers have cleaned out their kids closets & storage & donated their childs items years ago. Old people are buying newer furniture & pitching the old, so when they pass their vintage stuff has already been trashed.

Other collectors are not our friends. They clear out the thrifts before we get there. When they purge their collections they sell them online, they don't donate them.

[Tammy]

There are several stores I will pass by because they have become so outragously high priced anymore that I can buy
brand new to what they are selling it for.  I'm picking on
Goodwill here.  Now the Salvation Army stores are still
very reasonably priced and seem to always have a great selection so I do stop there once (maybe twice if I can get away with it) a week. 

[Javalita]

I still feel the "pull of potential" when I drive by and usually hit all of them in my town 1 x per week or at least every other week.  However, one (and they are a chain of four stores!) here is so overpriced that I can't help but feel cheated and hate supporting them.  But I still go there…and secretly hate myself for it!

[azia88]

So true. All the thrift shops are going online and just put junk or stuff they should just throw out in the stores..It is sad people that need to shop there can't find nice toys or good clothing..I do look for my kids for toys and shorts for summer.  Now they jam in so many clothes. It is very hard to look. SO I pass and look at Savers very easy to look for clothes there..I think people go on ebay or craigslist..We found new site to list on called yardsellr.com..We just sold something today from the site.. :-)

[Frchgrl]

I still find gems. More than I can handle. But it depends what we're looking for too I guess. I know going to TS when they first open is THE way to go. All their new donations come out to the floor in the AM.

[Punk Glam Queen]

It's all a game. Sometimes you find great vintage/ antique items in thrift stores because the new crop of employees have no clue what it is as it's not been seen in so long (around here the market dried up about 20 years ago as we're in the NY metropolitan area where vintage has been popular for at least that long). Often you'll find what they think is "designer" with a crazy price, and it's just high street fast fashion trash. There are so many deciding factors that you can't say anything for certain. My daughter and I went to our local GW, which we haven't hit in some time due to high prices & rude employees. I'd written several letters to corporate about the mistreatment we'd gotten and observed and I guess word must've finally gotten through as the new employees were very pleasant, pricing came down a little (still had things marked "designer" that clearly weren't, and were marked higher than they originally cost new) and we found some great true vintage as well as real designer items for a song! So yeah, it's all a game and if you're like me it's the thrill of the hunt that truly gets my blood pumping so I keep at it!