h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Buying in Thrift Stores or Second-Hand Shops - A2032570
Author: Yuvi - U249631

A helpful guide to shopping in thrift stores

Once you get the 'charity shop mentality' you can start to discriminate. There is a shop in my town that takes catalogue returns - unused, label clothes at cheap prices. There is another which must have an upmarket connection, because the ladies clothes are all quality 'country clothes' Laura Ashley and the like.

And books ----- well don't start me.

You could mention that second hand/charity stores are particularly good for people of a large/small size, as the 'normal' medium-sized items tend to go quick, there is often a good selection of larger/petite cloths Its worth being careful with electrical items though, asides from teh 'does it work' questions, I've seen some second electrical stuff on sale in a 'cash converters' store, that was more expensive (not by much), than comparible new electrical items

Actually there are so many discount stores in my city that i think it is inevitable to categorize them. The first shops you mention I would call "outlets". They carry brandname items in a much less stylish shopping environment and lower their prices that way. The second class of stores I am familiar with but never shopped in. Really, i don't include them in my article because usually their prices are much higher than those of regular hard-core thrift stores such as the Salvation Army stores or the more local and capitalistic Village Discount chain.

And as for books, well i understand. I actually buy a lot of books in the small, crowded, dusty independent used book stores you must be reffering to. But if you look at the selection of any thrift store for books (and believe me I have) they are mostly cheap romance novels or marked-up copies of such school staples as Hamlet or some other book no one wanted to finish.


You have very valid points, but they are beyond the scope of my little how-to guide. I might take the time to create more entries, though, so thanks!

Also something worth bearing in mind is to pick your area for charity shopping - in London, you'll get much better pickings in Hampstead than Hackney, for example... the relative wealth of the area usually corresponds to the relative quality of what people throw out.

I've bought some wonderful books in charity shops - often stuff I wouldn't normally have considered buying, and as a very fast reader it suits me to pay £2 for a book and read it in an evening...

Oh good point! I'm gonna add that right now.

Hi, I take it you mean thrift shops in the US? Are they different to the UK. Here chairty shops sell second hand clothes donated by the public and give the profits to chairty, they are staffed by volenteers though the larger ones may have a paid manager or area manager if there is a chain of them.

I've always shopped in charity shops - and I've never found that they smell.. an army of volenteers always washes the clothes before they go on sale. In fact I usually bring the clothes home and wear them without washing them.

Also in the UK the shops do have changing rooms, though the wouldn't mind if you tried on a coat in the middle of the store.

I think people who will look down on you for where you shop are just shallow pathetic snobs who I have no time for, you can get some great clothes there, well actually I buy all my clothes their with the exception of a few shirts. Some of them are indivudual some of them are just clothes that I need but couldn't afford to buy new, for instance my big winter coat, or my leather jacket.

I have 2 best buys from charity shops. A pair of black shiny PVC trousers for £5 and a 'Next' lined velvet wine coloured 'special occasions' frock for £10.

My parents live in a small market town that has about 8 of them. Very high proportion compared to the population. Mind you it also has the most pubs per population in England too!

I know that the area of the shop is relative - posher areas are likely to have a better 'quality' of clothes. But a friend's father died and she gave his clothes to a charity shop and had concerns about seeing someone in her fathers clothes. She was assured that they don't tend to sell clothes in the shop they were donated in, they are moved to another branch for that very reason. Of course it may just have been that particular charity that does this.

But I donated alot of my old clothes to a shop and never saw them in the branch I left them. So there may be something in that. It certainly makes sense.

Charity shops may have been seen in the past as dirty second hand rubbish, but in actual fact the quality control is incredible, and alot of my clothes are bought there, to the astonishment of my work colleagues who cannot believe that I could get such good stuff from them. Although you often have to have a good rummage!

Recycling at it's best!

It might be worth saying that in Victorian times, when clothing was relatively expensive, secondhand clothes were a desirable item - think of the women going through Scrooge's clothing where the Ghost of Things Yet to Come took him to the future. In fact, people used to pawn (or 'pop') their Sunday best and redeem it again when they got paid.

You could connect it to the fact that it's only fairly recently that buying from charity shops or thift stores has become relatively commonplace again.

The American spellings will need to be changed to British, eg 'neighborhood' > 'neighbourhood'.

Also in some of the sentences, there are stray capital letters, which will need to be made lower case.

Hi Yuvi

You might want to amend the title to reflect that this entry concerns only buying clothing in second-hand shops. The Goodwill and Salvation Army shops in my area also sell housewares, appliances and furniture. Also, I'm not sure that I've seen a thrift shop where you can get several items for a dollar, Goodwill usually charges $2 for shirts, $3 for slacks, $4 for jeans and $5 for coats. Consignment shops can also be a good place to find the same bargains.

Second-hand shops are also great for people with children since kids grow so fast and are prone to tear up or ruin clothes. At least when they get pizza sauce on their shirt at dinner you'll only have paid $2 for the shirt instead of $15.

Z, charity shops in the US are run the same way, volunteer staff and proceeds going to the charity, everything is laundered before being offered for sale. Some of the shops still have a distinct odor, maybe it's the detergent they use but more likely it's because most of the shops are housed in old buildings. It's not significant enough to warrant mention though, I don't think.

Great idea for an entry, Yuvi

There are loads of furniture projects toom eg: http://www.reuze.co.uk/frn_reg7.shtml,http://www.b-link.co.uk/fm/refurbproject.php etc.

I'm taking all your comments to heart and moving the entry to the workshop, so i can make all these changes. Thanks for the info, guys! when the entry re-emerges in peer review it's gonna be ten times better!

Good luck with it! Let us know when it's back