What I Saw in the Thrift Store Today

by cameo-d 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  cameo-d

  Well folks, I nearly fell over! I just could not believe my eyes! I walked into the thrift store and I swear! I was overwhelmed.

  What I saw was so very out of place for a thrift store. I saw expensive antiques and well made solid name brand furniture that was very well kept and many elegant pieces. Some were most unusual. Inlaid mother of pearl...mahoghany....I could just go on and on. I have never ever seen so much nice expensive well built furniture in a thrift store. This place had no junk.

  The thought that crossed my mind was that it looked as though an auction house had been seized, or maybe some antiques stores, and the merchandise had somehow filtered down to us poor folk on the other side of town. I saw pieces that would normally have sold for 700--900 were now priced at 200. Many of these beautiful pieces of furniture were ridiculously priced. I mean....it's gotta be the end of the world, folks. (haha)

  I also saw a lot of merchandise that was still new in the box and had never been used. Those things also were already marked down very low.....and when I got to the cash register I found they had been marked down another 50% off which I hadn't even realized. I felt like a thief.

  Little by little I will show you some of the things I saw and I hope you all will add any odd very underpriced treasures you are finding out there as well.

  Here is one thing I saw. In the store it was marked at 9 dollars. It was still in the box...even the box was mint condition. It had been kept as a collectors item. On ebay it says it's RARE and it's priced at 40.00

  http://www.ioffer.com/i/1997-Holiday-Barbie-Hallmark-Keepsake-Ornament-RARE--72890941
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  Mandette

  And you're in Michigan right?????

  HA!
• 

  Snoozy

  When I worked in the bank you wouldn't belive the things that went unclaimed in the safe deposit boxes.

  We had to inventory them annually(The unclaimed) and make a list of the contents and send it to the feds.

  Then we had to package it up and send it by armored truck to them.

  We would find out the person was deceased and the lawyer never even bothered to see what was in them. They didn't want to be bothered..they just wanted their commission and to be done with the probate case.

  I would send letters and try to locate the next of kin but many many times they had no remaining relatives.

  Some of the boxes had really large amounts of cash and some of the most beautiful diamonds I had ever seen..collectables, unique jewelry pieces..important documents, CD's etc. Just handed over to the state..

  And I bet they helped themselves to whatever they wanted first.

  In the case of the thrift shop..that really surprises me because they usually screen stuff like that. The employers buy it at a rediculous price and then resell it on their own. I saw them do that at a goodwill store ..some gal that worked there paid $5. for a georgous sectional couch..if it was sent to the main store first like it was supposed to have been they would have got $150. to $200. easy.

  It's a shame you are so far away..I would love to brouse around in there..

  Snoozy..
• 

  cameo-d

  And you're in Michigan right?????

  HA!

  What does that mean?
• 

  Mandette

  That I'd LOVE to find a thrift store like that and I'm in Michigan......
• 

  Tatiana

  I am a thrift store junkie. I just don't buy junk.

  I have found some amazing items in Chicago, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Florida. Some I sold on eBay, some I kept. I saw this beautiful hand-blown glass vase at a shop in Madison, WI. It was so heavy. I bought it for $2 and took it home. Later I started looking more closely and found the artist's name hand-etched into the base. I looked online and found the artist's site. I emailed him and inquired about his vase. He said he sold them in OR for $200. He was an amazing artist.

  I didn't have the heart to tell him someone donated it to St. Vincent DePaul...
• 

  StAnn

  My developmentally disabled cousin works at Goodwill, has for years. The Goodwill's in Ohio have a policy that employees and their families can't shop in the store in which they work. I can shop at other Goodwill's but not at the one where Ernie works.

  I usually don't find good deals at thrift stores because they tend to check eBay before putting things out on the floor. I find better bargains at auctions and yard sales.

  StAnn
• 

  Jim_TX

  *slowly raises hand*

  Hi. My name is Jim_TX... and I'm a thrift store addict...

  Thrift stores are where I find some most unusual and interesting things. I bought my 6-foot wall 'grandfather' clock that I paid about $80.00 for. I got it home and let it sit (or stand) while I tried to figure out what made it 'tick' (or tock).

  After a few weeks, I took it apart - oiled it - put it back together, and wound it up. It needed the pendulum bob adjusted, but it has been running accurately for over a year now - chiming both the hour and half-hour.

  After thinking about it, I figured that someone either bought it - or received it - new - and it had never been set up - and was finally donated to the thrift store. It has a good home here.

  Regards,

  Jim TX
• 

  cameo-d

  The odd thing is.....there is too much of this stuff and it doesn't seem like it was donated. It just struck me that this was purchased in lots.

  Somebody is going broke and the goods are filtering down.

  There wasn't one piece of "junk" in the place! And they had about sales people with vests everywhere you looked. Probably about 8 to 10 on the floor....and two kiosks with cashiers.... I think there were 4 cash registers.

  I have never seen "sales people" in a thrift store wandering around. Hell, I have never seen that many sales people "available" in Home Depot!
• 

  Robdar

  Lot's of money to be made when an empire crumbles. Russia, I understand, was looted by the American capitalist pigs. I know one of them personally, it's amazing some of the things he brought back from there.