Posted by A few days ago, after a coffee date with a new friend 12 miles away, I decided to do a bit of thrifting on the way home…naturally! That’s what I do now. Whenever I’m out and about, whether two miles from home (or 100 or half way around the world), I stop in at thrift stores, charity shops and antique stores. I love finding the undervalued, overlooked items. And I have found some amazing things while further afield. I found a sweet mother-of-pearl horse fob for $5 (upstate New York) that I’m keeping for myself, and a not-in perfect condition Waterman pen for $1.50 (Gilroy, CA) that I sold for $75 and a small $8 Spanish tapestry (New York City) that I sold for $32. So I was happy to be stopping at some thrift stores that I don’t get to very often.
At the first thrift store I didn’t find anything to buy. Not one thing. Okay. That happens. No problem. The second store will be better I’m sure.
Second store…nada. Good grief this is odd. Neither of these stores was big, but still I spent at least 20 minutes in each. Picking up many (many) things, and putting them back down…dubious artwork, rusted cookie cutters, too-wide vintage ties, a no-name leather purse for $15 and a chipped ceramic Christmas decoration. Things that just weren’t good enough. Oddly enough a woman walked passed me pushing a cart filled to the brim with stuff. She even had clothes hanging off the sides. Obviously she was finding things!
As I was nearing the third store I thought, should I stop or just keep driving? Well, I had to stop. I just had to. This was going to be the one that would have some good stuff!
Entering the store I optimistically grabbed a basket, but it was more of the same. Nothing for me. Plus it was past noon, annoyingly crowded and my stomach was rumbling with hunger. Then towards the very end of my “store sweep” I finally found one thing worth buying. ONE.
Hallelujah!
I wasn’t looking to buy any more women’s clothes but this vintage German boiled wool jacket (size 42, a U.S. 12) was too nice to pass up…a quality piece that makes me long for a convivial beer garden at Oktoberfest. Yeah!! Here’s my quickie pic of it…
Some shopping trips are like this…looking and looking and coming home empty handed, or nearly so. Don’t you find that true? Like the time you just wanted to find a little black dress or a pair of shoes and five stores later still you still hadn’t whipped out your credit card.
Coincidentally, all the thrift stores were Goodwills, but this is not a slam on them or on any thrift store. I have done very well reselling thrift store finds, particularly ones from my little local Goodwill. It’s just the nature of the biz. A minor frustration.
But I am glad I found one thing. 🙂
Happy hunting!
Hunting for Vintage 