Thrift stores are not cheap!!

Why should you support them when the prices that they are charging is like two or five dollars less. I remember growing up with $1 stores but there are more like expensive stores now. I think it is best if you can buy things as wholesale (i.e. three and more) because you are able to save more this way. Or if there is not this facilities you buy when things are on sale.

I go to places like goodwill and the salvation army. One of the ones I go to has bins of baby clothes for 50 cents each and most of the adult clothes is $2.00. I usually stay away from consignment stores. Alot of them are over priced in my opinion. I'm not paying 4.00 for a used sleeper when I can go somewhere like Walmart and get a new one for $5.00. Thirty bucks is wayyyyy too much to pay at a used clothing store. I would have said, thanks but no thanks. Same thing with the games. I have seen that kind of trend though of people selling used items for outrageous prices. I understand they are trying to make some money, but I would rather sell an item for a lower price and have it actually sell then mark up an item and have to lug it back in the house because no one was willing to pay that much for it.

i hardly go to a thrift store because as you say the price has become ridiculous nowadays... i prefer to go to k-mart or big w and add a little bit more but i get brand new stuffs... sometimes, these places can even be cheaper compare to the thrift stores when they are having a sale... so i don't think it is worth it to go to the thrift stores if i have to pay so much money for that... take care and have a nice day...

some stores and garage sales are trying to make money and not trying to get rid of stuff. but if you look around, you can get some great deals. we have some very expensive 'thrift' stores around here too and i avoid them unless they have a half off sale. (quite often i can get the same stuff NEW for the same price!!)

The thrift store where I live has shirts for only $6. Thrift stores don't need to raise their prices they get all their items for free. They are making a 100% profit. Its not like they can't sell any items there.

Most of the thrift stores around here are barely below the prices of new clothing and sometimes theyre actually more.We do have a savers around here which can be decently priced on many things.Ive bought a pair of dockers pants that were new with tags still on for $8.Ive found many good finds there but theyre new around my area and Im sure over time they will raise all their prices.Rummages sales also arent a bargain either most times.Some of them still are but with the price of gas you end up using a lot of dollars worth of gas trying to find a good deal. Even dollar stores that carry clothing are getting as expensive as any other stores now. Ive learned that in my area hitting up the walmart and shopko clearance racks especially around seasonal changes ends up getting me great deals.Ive gotten many pairs of blue jeans and camo pants and cargo pants all for $3 to $5 each this way and Ive gotten many nice button down shirts for a similar price.Finds are few and far in between but well worth keep an eye out for. Once I walked out with 5 new pair of blue jeans for $15.Now thats a price anyone would be happy with. Ive also gotten a very nice leather jacket from shopko that was originally $70 but was marked down eventually to $12 on clearance.

You are right; thrift store prices are not what they used to be. If you shop some of the discount stores, like Target or WalMart, you can usually find clearance new clothing at about the same price of just a tad bit higher than at the thrift store, and they haven't been washed or worn.

Hi there momathome! I do agree with you. There are shops here in the Philippines that claim to be Thrift Stores but the prices of the products they sell do not reflect those of Thrift Stores. I remember visiting one Thrift Store and saw a kitchen timer which is not really new. It's a used one and it is as small as a tea cup. I wanted to have one so I can use as a timer in some activities I prepare for my students. Thinking that it was a Thrift Store, I picked it up and when I showed it to the store keeper, she said that it was worth 250 Pesos. That is around $5.32 based on today's exchange rate. I was surprised when I tried to haggle and she did not want to sell it at a lower price. I ended up not buying it. In another Thrift Store, I saw this tin can that I found really cute and I wanted to use it for the beads I use for my crafts. It is one-foot long, 5-inches wide and 3-inches high. It was being sold at 100 Pesos. That is around $2.13. Come on! For a used tin can? Well, I did not buy it. Few days later, my boyfriend bought me a similar tin can, a brand new one. He bought it from the department store at 45 Pesos. That is less than a dollar.

Wow momathome, that's a expensive thrift store you visit. Have you checked out other thrift stores in your area? Some thrift store's have better prices then others. I use to work for this thrift store last year and I found out after working there that this was the best thrift store I have even known. They ran specials every week and sometimes have HUGE sales on certain holidays like labor day to where everything in the store was marked half off, like if there was a $2.00 shirt it was a $1.00 on those %50 off days. They also have 10 clothing items for $5 once a week , a lot of the clothing is really nice and some of it still has priced tags on it and the prices are hard to beat! Tomorrow they are having half off Thursday and I'm going shopping!:)... Just visit the yellow page site and type in thrift stores close to your zip code and call some of them and ask if they have weekly specials and if they do then go check them out. I'm sure you'll find a great affordable thrift store soon :) .

I would never pay $30 for 2 used shirts. I avoid consignment shops for that very reason. The shop wants their money and the person who is consigning it wants there money. It ends up being way too much money.

I wish it were like that here in Spain. I actually do a stall at a carboot sale (dont know what that would be called in the US) where I sell second hand stuff, including clothes, and the people who attend the market wont pay more that 50cent or 1euro for anything. It costs 10euros for the stall, so actually making any money is almost impossible.

Wow, that is expensive. Here in Virginia they are still cheap though. For 30 bucks I could walk out of a thrift store with maybe 3 new outfits, a couple of books and maybe some decorations for the house! In fact every time I go to the thrift store lately I haven't spent more than 10 bucks. The most expensive thing I sometimes buy there is $5.00 for a necklace, but it was a really nice one that would have cost me more elsewhere. Plus even most of the costume jewlery at walmart is 3 to 5 dollars, and the necklaces I get at the thrift store are much nicer. We do have one thrift store that has really expensive furniture, but that's because it tends to get brand new items to sell that are also high end. So they are still hugely discounted over the original price, but still pricey since the original price was soooo sky high.