Resale shops vs Sales at Department Stores

[medpedspouse]

I keep seeing that several of you shop at resale shops. The few times I have been, I do not see any great deals. I can get better deals for new clothes at the department stores when things are 65 to 75% off....or online. Do I just not know how to shop at resale shops OR do I live in a place where they suck?

[corn poffi]

I'm with you...I never find anything good when I go! (Unless I'm looking for clothes for costumes)

[MrsK]

I love thrift shopping. Actually, I love shopping in general. I shop the clearance racks at department stores but I really do find my best deals when I shop consignment/resale/thrift stores. At this point, I'd say that most of my favorite clothes were purchased second-hand. The other day, DrK told me that he likes the way I dress now better than how I dressed when he met me. (When I was thinner, single, and had a big income that I could spend on dressing myself.)

There are a couple tricks to shopping resale.

First, know where you are shopping. There is a big difference between consignment, resale, and thrift stores. Thrift stores (i.e. Goodwill, Salvation Army, DAV) will have everything thrown together. These are the warehouse style stores where tags may be hand-written and stapled to clothes. (I cringe when they staple tags to clothes; most don't do this.) You'll have like new department store and designer clothes mixed in with tattered clothes that were sold at Wal-Mart eight years ago and all the "vintage" stuff that was purged from grandma's closet after her funeral. Think of it as a warehouse yardsale. At thrift stores, you can find real bargains but you have to be willing to dig. Some of the shops have gotten smart and they now seperate designer and new items from the rest, put them behind a counter, and mark them up. No bargains to be found there; you are better off if they don't know designer from dirt -- which is the case at most thrift shops. A couple days ago, I bought a new with tags designer silk blouse for $15 at a thrift store. The department store tags on the blouse showed the original retail price as $164. I consider that to be a score. (BTW, $15 is a lot of money to spend on a thrift store blouse. I usually spend $3-$7 but I really loved this blouse. I've never seen anything marked more than $30.)

At resale stores, the shop owner typically purchases clothes that are maybe 1-3 seasons old from their customers (for as little as possible). The advantage is that the clothes are closely examined for damage before the shop owner purchases them, they'll be steamed/pressed, and likely recent fashions. Some resale shops will also sell clothes or accessories that they purchase wholesale. So, while you will find better quality at a resale store, the prices will be higher. You can also sell your old clothes to a resale shop for cash or a store credit. (Try bringing in some of your cast-offs. If the shop owner rejects them/finds stains or snags you didn't know were there, it's a good sign that her shop will have quality items.) Store credits are usually a little more than cashing out and when you combine that with the lower price, you can get some really good deals. I think the best resale store deal I got was a new with tags Brahman bag for $35 after applying my store credits. The retail cost of the bag was over $350.

Consignment shops fall somewhere in between thrift and resale. Usually the people bringing their clothes to a consignment shop will only get paid once their item sells, and in that case will be paid a percentage of the sale price. Usually about 30-40%. When I sell my clothes, I make more at the high-end consignment shops (those that carry designer labels and are a little bit expensive) but it's nice to be paid right away when I sell to a resale shop. Depending on the shop, some are very expensive, some carry nicer clothes than others. Since the shop owner hasn't ventured anything but time and rack space for the clothes, they may be less discriminating than a resale shop owner.

It helps if you are acquainted with the brands carried by high-end department stores when you shop thrift/resale/consignment. Find out which zip code in your city has the highest income and go to the thrift store in that zip code. That's where the wealthiest people in your city donate their clothes (clothes that were likely purchased at places where I cannot afford to shop, clothes that were carefully dry cleaned and gently worn, clothes that the original purchaser became bored with after one season). At a thrift shop it is sometimes hard to tell what is quality or not. In general, look for quality fabrics -- silk, not rayon. Cashmere, not acrylic and inspect everything carefully for rips and stains. . . Find out the store's schedule. Some shops put out inventory on Wednesdays. Some have special mark downs on Mondays. . . Some have deals where one day each month everything you can stuff in a bag is 49 cents. Goodwill even has a preferred shopper card that you show the cashier for an additional 10% off. Go when you have time and your kids have full bellies. I bring diaper wipes even if the kids aren't with me so I can see if that mystery smudge will wash out of that skirt. Some thrift shops don't have dressing rooms or have very few dressing rooms so it helps to dress in layers so you can try on a shirt over your tank top or a skirt over leggings.

Most importantly, go with an open mind. At thrift shops, I am a lot more likely to try something that I wouldn't otherwise consider (either because I couldn't afford it or wouldn't want to venture much money on something that might not work out). I cannot tell you how many times MILK, who only shops at The Most Chic boutiques, complements my clothes only to be gobsmacked when I tell her I purchased them resale.

[MrsK]

BTW, notwithstanding having just written five paragraphs about thrift shopping, I'd love tips if anybody has anything to add. There is always more to learn and I'm still kind of new to resale shopping.

[SoonerTexan]

If I were about 3 sizes smaller, I might have more luck

[spotty_dog]

If I were about 3 sizes smaller, I might have more luck

Ditto. I was totally fine with my size until I went resale shopping today. There's this super sweet store in town that has a nice collection of what I presume to be curated thrift finds. They have designer jeans for like $20 and nice tops for like $10. But most of the jeans today were size 4-6, and I found myself thinking, "I fit in a size six for like 3 months in 2005 when I was riding my bike for 200 miles per week...I should just *be* a size six again, somehow, and then I'll buy these jeans." Genius plan, me!

I have never had the knack of separating the wheat from the chaff in a big thrift shop type environment. I envy those who can do it without getting overwhelmed. But I do hope to do more resale and consignment shopping in the near future, along with shopping the sale racks at the little boutiques.

[Momo]

Don't forget about hitting up estate sales, synagogue/church yard sales, as well as regular yard sales, in affluent areas, especially in bigger cities. When I lived in Seattle, a friend of mine was the "queen" of finding designer clothing& decor, at these type of sales! It was redonkulous the prices she paid when she scored St. John, Channel or something Armani. She had a back for finding La Lique pieces for her curio collection. It always surprised me how so many people either didn't care much about what was being sold or just didn't know the value!?!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I will third the part about rich areas. I've never seen such nice stuff in my life as a thrift stores near Wellesley, MA. Also, tons of stuff that fit since I'm small. In Cleveland, it was all just crap but I wasn't in a nice area - I bet out near the 'burbs I could have found nice stuff.

I'm better with kids thrift/consignment. I hate digging through clothes and trying clothes on (regardless of super nice store or thrift store). And I often have trouble finding my size either and am lazy about wanting to get things tailored.

[Sheherezade]

You know, this is one database we could probably get up and running. We "rich attending wives" could tell the area in training peeps where the good consignment and thrift is. Here in Cleveland, I'm def in the area that throws out good stuff. Hipsters and Plato's Closet for kid/teen stuff and Piece Unique and the adult shop next to Plato's for mom. Unique Thrift for the dirt cheap stuff ---1/2 on Mondays.

Angie


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[Thirteen]

I'll see your resale, and raise you a Goodwill. *gasp*

Seriously though, I find brand name children's clothing with tags still on it for cheap cheap cheap. It's not always there, but more often than not, it is.

I have also scored some fantastic toys (large and small) that would have been exceedingly pricey when new.


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[Sheherezade]

We go to Unique Thrift here a few times a year. What I've found there that is TRULY awesome is shoes. SHOES. I never would have guessed. Still, I have picked up 3-4 pairs of the years for $5 that have lasted for years and years and ended up being my favorite boots, heels and such. They are also immediately comfortable. I usually pick them up on a whim because I'm never in there looking for shoes. Maybe in the future, I will be though....

[houseelf]

"...Popping tags..."

[MsSassyBaskets]

I once worked on a feasibility study for a nonprofit's new thrift store, and they had an awesome strategy for picking out the right neighborhood on the border between upper middle class and lower middle class neighborhoods so they had strong donor and shopper populations. So I definitely look at the neighborhood when I go to any resale store... the ones closest to better neighborhoods always have the best stuff. I don't mind shopping at straight-up thrift stores, as opposed to consignment or boutique style shops, but I've never had much luck with the lower-end ones like Goodwill or Salvation Army. And tiny church thrift shops run by old ladies always mark their prices up too high. My best finds have probably been a wide variety of business casual Banana Republic and J. Crew clothes, especially nicer wool pants, back when I worked in an office and hated spending too much money on work clothes, and a couple pairs of Joe's Jeans, pretty much all for under $10. A couple decent cashmere sweaters too. Of course, those were back in MN where people actually donated nice clothes. Here, the best thing I've found was a pair of tag-on Gap jeans in my size for $6. Actually though, my favorite things to find at thrift stores are books. I don't know the last time I paid full-price for a book.

[Pollyanna]

"...Popping tags..."

[MsSassyBaskets]

I would also mention... those department stores that have such deep-discount sales that they could compete with thrift store prices? (I'm talking about you, Kohls and JC Penney...) So not worth it. I wouldn't pay any price for cheap cotton and synthetics in bad cuts. Higher-end jeans, cashmere sweaters, silk tops, and other classics that fit well and are made from better fabrics? Totally worth it, even used. That's the difference to me - resale shopping makes my preferred clothing more accessible.