Sunday, August 27, 2006

Nifty Thrifting

Like I said the other day, I have been finding some awesome used treasures in my travels between Rutland and Burlington. Ooooohhh! Show and tell is so frickin' exciting!!!
These Brooks running shoes were only $5 at the Salvation Army in Burlington. They are mens size 9 and fit me perfectly. They looked to be worn once, if at all. I threw them in the washing machine and they were good to go. The only thing was that they gave me a killer blister between my two last toes on my left foot, but so do the sneakers I have now.
shoes
These green boxes came from the RetroWorks in Middlebury and Recycle North in Burlington and were 50 cents each.
greenboxes
These stacking dishes also came from RetroWorks and were $1.50. That seems like a little too much but most things there are overpriced. I bought them after I saw some plastic stacking trays in Domino Magazine which were shown as an example to store jewelry in.
stacking3
At the Open Door Mission in Rutland last week I found a bag of zippers for $2. There were also a few more in packages which I promptly cut up to make zipper pins out of.
missionzips
These zippers were given to me by a woman at the Middlebury Farmers' Market on Wednesday. Amy and I thought the fabric from her husbands old pants was pretty darn neat too.
zipperfrances
Some other finds in the past few weeks have been:
*Two huge bags of retro Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cook books for $8 which were immediately put to good use by making cards and pencil cans (more on that later).
*Two pairs of pants. One is L.L. Bean and one pair of jeans.
*A huge ziploc bag of assorted plastic beads for $3.
*A Samples CD for $1. I have been a fan of theirs since high school and have seen them in concert three times.
*A wicker basket with a latch and a handle.
*Two metal stands to display necklaces/bracelets on.
*A wire box with clear beads strung in between.
*A double Harry Chapin Record that my sister probably took with her to her apartment.
*A brand new colapsable luggage cart for $1 that I use to bring my bins from the car to the market.
*A pair of shutters for $12 found in Maine that I may end up using to display stuff on at my sales.
*An XL Northern Isle teal cardigan wool sweater new with the tag still on it for $6 for my sister. It is totally her style and may even have one like it in another color.

I want to say a few things about the thrift stores around here. The Open Door Mission in Rutland has the best selection of womens plus sized clothes. I almost always find something there. They must be getting ready for winter because they had some beautiful and good quality sweaters. Most of them wouldn't fit me, but someone would like them. They have scads of new stuff every week.
The Salvation Army in Rutland had gotten so ridiculously expensive that it is almost embarassing. They have a butt-load of crap that they have marked sky high and I don't think people are buying very much of it. For example, they have had some of those old two tier side tables marked $29.99. Now really! You can find those at yard sales for $3. And they are usually brown and crappy looking, unless you are crafty and paint one like ljc did.
The Salvation Army in Burlington is smaller but had plenty of junk to peruse. The prices were much more reasonable there. They have a sign there that says something like 'please do not shoplift, for HE is watching'. I think if you are going to shoplift, you probably aren't going to care if 'HE' is watching, just as long as the workers there aren't watching you.
RetroWorks in Middlebury is pretty neat. I have never found any clothes there but they have a nifty craft section. Things are often marked on the high side, especially if they are even the least bit 'retro' looking, even if they are crap. They have a room in the warehouse part which has 10 cent dumpster diver specials and a load of 8-tracks and vinyl albums.
Recycle North in Burlington is by far the coolest thrift store around. They have furniture, appliances, computers, house stuff, books, records, art and craft supplies, and tons of everything else you can think of at extremely reasonable prices. No clothes though. The place has been hopping the past two times I have been there. They also have a used building materials center nearby that I would like to check out.
Last week I was told about a thrift store in Brandon by one of my customers. This past Friday I took a walk down there. It is run by older women and the selection of clothes there reflects that. There was a small section of plus sized garments that were mostly polyester pants, Alfred Dunner or Sag Harbor. They looked like they had seen better days on the BonTon sale rack. There was a small selection of reasonably priced merchandise and a free bin. It was neat and clean and the staff was friendly. I didn't find anything there but may check back on that free bin in the future.
I went to two thrift shops in Middlebury which I haven't been too in a good long time, Neat Repeats and Round Robin. They have a good mix of clothes and other assorted household stuff. Both of them were overpriced and I didn't find anything worth buying. But you never know what you may find at some other time.
I haven't had any time to go yard sale-ing these days as I am always busy with the market on Saturday morning. I really miss it but that is something that will always be around. After moving twice in one year I know that I should be avoiding these tempting situations to buy other peoples discards at all costs, but I just can't help myself!!!

1 Comments:

Blogger Sales Rack Raider said...

Nice finds. The green boxes and stacking dishes are very nifty.

2:58 AM  

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