Wednesday's Question of the Day: resale shops

Good morning, friends!

Do you like to shop at resale stores? What do you normally buy there?

I love resale stores because shopping is so limited here. Often you can find things there you would never find at the mall. I'm very hesitate to buy any furniture, though, because of bed bugs, and never buy used pillows and that type of thing. I once found two down throws, in original packaging, and they matched our sofas perfectly so that was a great buy. I've also found some dishes that I use to extend my set. Mostly, though, I just like to poke around and look at all the weird things. 

SwampWitch said:

 
Good morning, friends!

Do you like to shop at resale stores? What do you normally buy there?

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I do!  Some of my best kitchen finds are from used stores.

I used to shop at used clothing stores for my clothing when I was thinner and I bought and sold dresses at consignment stores back then too. Unfortunately there isn't a great deal of options for clothing for plus sized women at used clothing stores, so I don't typically go anymore.

I love retail stores. Goodwill stores have alot of  Holiday items real cheap. The last thing I bought were 2 belts which I got down from 5.00 to 1.50 each.  I have gotten a few nice t-shirts for 2.00 each too.

I love stores like that! I go to Goodwill often. Sometimes I'll go a few times and leave empty-handed because the selection might not be good that day, but sometimes I find great little treasures for the house or myself!

I will buy gently used clothing from there (I leave it in the bag and make sure that it immediately goes into the wash the minute I get it home though to prevent bed bugs/etc).

I've found quite a few little treasures there: old mason jars, china saucers, belts, cute purses, kitchen accessories, and great books/cd's.

The only things I usually avoid there are:cloth furniture (no way to really clean it well), shoes (I don't want anything someone else's foot has been in), and bedding...obvious reasons there!

I don't personally usually buy things from them because I have a hard time not thinking about what other people might have done with the stuff. Now things like picture frames or stuff I can refurbish like a dresser I'd be okay with but not clothes, bedding or furniture with fabric.

I buy my daughter quite a few toys at Goodwill. They range from $1-$3 usually so it's much cheaper than buying new. I recently got my daughter a toy for $3 that sells on Amazon for over $80. I also bought my maternity clothes there when I was pregnant because they were like $5-$7 each compared to $20-$60 buying brand new.

I don't go often, but I do like them. Usually I try to find nice cocktail dresses!

I do go there. I like to buy outside flags for my garden or pole on the porch and mailbox. I have bought kitchen stuff, They have a free basket of magazines that I choose from.
I don't buy shoes there. I have bought clothing. It gets a thorough inspection outside before I bring it in my house. Then it is washed and dried on as hot heat as it can stand or hung on the line in the sun. I have bought towels that were new. They were washed and dried on hot heat. I would never buy a mattress there, although the Salvation Army thrift store told me they are sent away somewhere for sanitizing. I think a person just needs to look everything over before bringing it inside. Furniture whether wooden or cloth would not make it inside my home,

I do go to shops like that occasionally, but not that often.

We go so often that the staff recognize us, lol.

I look for old Pyrex and other vintage kitchen stuff - I collect the Pyrex and use everything, I just find the old stuff lasts a lot longer. We also buy coffee makers from there, we seem to go through them quite a bit. We were spending $30-80 every 6-8 months on a new coffee maker, the last one we got from there just died last month, we bought it for $8 and it lasted almost a year. A friend just gave us her old one.

We buy my SO's shoes from there for the same reason. He can only wear a certain brand (Converse canvas) and goes through a pair every month or two because he walks so much, the way he walks also makes the side of the shoe scrape sometimes which just makes them wear out faster. We can usually get them anywhere from $5-20 depending on the store and condition, new they're around $45-70 depending on the store, colour and style.

We buy some of our clothes there, his more than mine and that's just because I'm so small that I have trouble finding things that fit me properly.

We also buy some things there to resell - usually speakers and we usually have to make some repairs to them. Also music equipment like keyboards and guitar pedals.

I buy some linens there - neat tea towels, napkins and tablecloths but I make sure to keep them sealed and wash them before I use them. I won't buy sheets from them, just a personal thing. We have bought fabric furniture from them before without any problems but that was a long time ago and I'm not sure I'd do it again with all the bed bug problems going around. There are a couple of the stores that I know use a steam cleaner on the furniture as it comes in. They steam, spray with a product for bugs and then steam clean again.

My only complaint with them now is that they seem to be getting more and more expensive. If something is on a hot streak of selling, they'll keep raising the price until it doesn't sell for awhile and then drop it down again. I noticed it more with the Pyrex - you could go and get pieces for $1-5 for the longest time, then they started raising it so that a tiny little bowl was $5 and the larger ones were $10. They were the same prices as antique shops but at least the antique stores take the time to clean them well and make them look nice. I stopped buying them for a bit and they've lowered some now but Goodwill is the worst for it. They're currently charging $8.99 for each bowl in a set, it has chips and scratches all over it and is very dishwasher damaged. Right next to that set is a set of Glasbake that's priced at $1.99/piece.

I'm actually going to Indiana at the end of next week and am compiling a list of second hand and antique stores to go to - if anyone knows of good ones in Michigan and Indiana let me know and I'll try to stop there!

No. I don't know why, but we don't.