We spent the weekend in Asheville, NC and hit the thrifts.* I have never thrifted in Asheville before but overall, I felt that the thrifting experience was sub par. It could have been because it was during the Christmas holiday (after it, though) but I''m not entirely sure. If you have thrifted in Asheville, please let me know what I did wrong or where I should have gone. I need your help!
* I should note that downtown Asheville has some good boutique-y type thrifts such as Ragtime on 20 Walnut (near Mellow Mushroom) and down Lexington. We hit these too but I thought it would be more interested to report on the big thrifts.
Goodwill
86 Tunnel Rd
This place had a lot of clothes for women, at least, and they were pretty good. The housewares section was small and crappy and there were hardly any electronics. I would return here though.
Abccm Thrift
217 Coxe (park on street)
I liked the layout of this thrift a lot because it was somewhat cavernous and has different rooms. It needed to have about three times as much stuff in it, though. Furniture is in back.
Next To New Junior Leauge
29 Biltmore Ave (downtown)
This is a consignment shop for the weathy old lady in you. Definitely miss it otherwise.
Goodwill
1011 Patton (in shopping center with K-mart with entrance on Louisiana Ave)
This was pretty sucky overall. Cleanliness was good but there was nothing interesting in there.
Salvation Army
1076 Patton (in strip shopping center)
This store was not bad at all. They had a good amount of furniture and some interesting housewares. Clothing was organized and clean. I''d go here again.
Goodwill
1616 Patton (freestanding and HUGE)
I''m sorry if I sound negative but I''ve never seen so many crappy housewares. Furniture was all pressboard. I checked coats and sweaters and then gave up. I was overwhelmed with this thrift''s size. Usually size impresses me but it was daunting after I went through the housewares and found nothing. Please let me know if I just hit an off day.
Western Carolina Rescue Ministries
80 Westgate Parkway (only accessible from a service road on the west side of the French Broad river - this is technically Patton so just stay on Patton but watch as it seems to come up quickly)
My driver (the BF) was so tired at the end of the day that we didn''t stop here. Following Murphy''s law and all, it was probably the best thrift in Asheville but I don''t know.
Also, we could not find the West Asheville Thrift Store - it was supposed to be at 3 Louisiana Ave but I could not find it.
Over and out.
Thrift Shopper Forum
