Nice Salvation Army find!

12 years ago

Several of my friends buy purses at thrift shops, but I never have. I'm not exactly a bag person, and somehow it never occurred to me to look for one.

But yesterday I walked past a long row of them, and I was seduced by this one--mostly because of the leather, which felt divine. The bag is big and substantial, made in Italy, and looked nearly new. I figured I'd take a chance . . . for $5.99. LOL

Anyway, when I got home I looked up the name of the designer (Desmo) and found new ones, smaller than this, selling for many hundreds of dollars. Good deal!!

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Comments (17)

glenda_al
12 years ago
I once found a Brighton handbag for $11 and loved it.
Holly_ON
12 years ago
Very nice find!
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When it comes to giving to a charity, I would choose Salvation Army hands-down over Goodwill. I know about the good work they do from personal experience. The Salvation Army provides people in need with shelter, food, and clothing. They feed the homeless and needy on a daily basis, providing meals to them at the shelter, boxes of food to those that have none, as well as food baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They give people vouchers to get free clothing from their thrift stores. They have an angel tree at Christmas that provides gifts for children. They do not discriminate against anyone, LGBT or otherwise, so please stop passing on that lie. The Goodwill calls itself a charity, but how can a charity justify paying it's executives millions of dollars a year in salaries ? They say they train the handicapped so they can get jobs.They did employ some handicapped people at one time, but I've rarely seen any in recent years. My sister worked part-time at a Goodwill years ago to supplement her S.S. income. When she worked there I believe they allowed their employees to take whatever clothes they wanted from the sorting room. Other items had to be put out on the floor and workers had to wait 24 hours before they could buy them. You have to understand that these places are overwhelmed with clothing donations. If you walk into a thrift store you will see mostly racks of clothing, so if they discard clothes or sell them to the rag man to be recycled into rugs, it's what they have to do.
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I have a 45yr old step brother, who I love dearly, but bless his heart, I have to say Randy is mentally one sandwich short of a happy meal and that is further complicated by a slight physical disability in his legs. As you might imagine, he had a very difficult time finding employment, but about 15 years ago he went to work for Goodwill Industries. To my complete surprise, Randy has a very good salary with a health & welfare package, including an IRA. On top of that, Randy has a wardrobe that some ppl would die for. Randy works on a van that goes around doing contract cleaning services for offices and apartment complexes and every day when the van returns to the processing plant he goes in the store and sees what they just got in. If one were to see Randy on the street, judging by his wardrobe they would think he was a doctor or lawyer or something. When I retired I mentioned to Randy that I wanted to get back into serious photography and he told me I should go to the store and see what they had for equipment. I did as he requested more or less as a coutesy to him and I did not find much at the store that I was interested in, BUT, the lady at the store told me most of the good photo equipment is sent to central points where they list it on the Goodwill online auction. I didn't even know they had such a thing, but when I got home I punched up the website, and wow!!!! Was I in for a surprise. In the last 4 years I have bought two professional digital cameras and 9 professional film cameras. (I bought the film cameras because they came in package deals and had extra lenses I could use on the digitals.) I am now four years into this project and to date I have amassed two Pentax DSLR's with 16 lenses and a long,long, long list of extras, all for less than $2000, whereas just one of the cameras cost over $900 on Ebay and about $100 or more each for the lenses. Needless to say, every day when I turn my computer on my first stop is the Goodwill auction, then on to GW....LOL. Last year I did all my xmass shopping on the Goodwill auction and everybody wanted to know where I found the things I got, but that still remains my secret. About once a week Jan & I go bargain hunting at the local Goodwill Industries, Salvation Army, St. Vincent DePaul and a local thrift store. We find its more fun that yard sales or the flea market and quite often we find much better deals, by example, last week I bought 5 large Pyrex glass baking dishes for about $1 each. All I can say is, if you like shopping at the thrift stores you would love the online auction. They have dozens of categories and there is something for everybody at super bargain prices, not to mention that the proceeds go to help ppl who are less fortunate than we. Check it out... www.shopgoodwill.com
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Good day at the Salvation Army!
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It was back this summer, not recently, but I found a great, great buy on a quilting frame and light for the quilting frame. It was still in the shipping box, and so was the light. The frame had been opened but taped back, but the light had not..I took a chance and hauled it home for 15.00. The sales lady said she was glad to get it out of the store as it had been in there over a year. I frequent that S.A. so don't know why I haven't seen it. Everything was in the box, including set up instructions and a booklet on how to start your quilt. My husband put the quilting frame together for me and I was estatic. They obviously did not know what they had, or people just do not want to quilt anymore. It was a Grace Z44 quilting frame. Yippee for me! Someones trash---my treasure! Many years of pleasure!!
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I don't usually have much luck finding clothes at our thrift stores. Friday night I stopped by and found a lovely maxi skirt at one store that actually fit. I love maxi skirts, so I was thrilled. Saturday morning, I stopped by another one that I don't usually go to since it's out of the way. I found a beautiful Coldwater Creek jacket. It is styled like a safari jacket, but it is Tencel made to look like denim, so it is very lightweight. Perfect fit! To make it even better, it was $5 and they had a 25% off special, so I got it for $4 incl. tax! Having seen Coldwater Creek's catalogs, I'm sure this jacket was probably $75 or more new. alisande, your skirt is lovely. I would wear with boots and a simple sweater/turtleneck with a long necklace for winter.
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maire_cate
12 years ago
Oh it does look like really soft leather - 'good eye' - as they say in baseball. And it looks like it wasn't even used, there aren't any worn edges on the corners.
lydia1959
12 years ago
Lucky you!! I love the buttery soft leather purses.
heather_on
12 years ago
Nice score!
lindaohnowga
12 years ago
Great find for sure and it is very pretty. We "had" a Salvation Army store and shopped there a lot. Went there one day and it was gone. :(
MiMi
12 years ago
Nice purse!.. I love the soft buttery leather also and I especially love the pockets on the outside. The adjustable straps are nice too...I take a lot of nice stuff to the Goodwill store here but the few times I have gone inside to shop I can't get past the smell. I don't know how to describe it except maybe clothing that has been worn a long time and not washed, know what I mean? I don't know if all the stores are that way or not.
Orchidllauraga
12 years ago
I love the big pockets on the outside!! Looks buttery soft!!! Great find!!!
ivamae
12 years ago
We have the cleanest, good smelling Thrift Store I have ever been in. They have a washer and dryer and they wash everything that comes in. It is wonderful. All their help is volunteer. I got a nice purse there recently too .
jannie
12 years ago
I bought two perfectly good Coach bags at Sal Army stores.
alisande
Original Author
12 years ago
Wow, Jannie--even I would have spotted those! Good finds!

A Goodwill recently opened up about 10 miles from me (around here, that's close), but I haven't gone there yet. We have three Salvation Army stores that I like a lot. None smell bad. I donate a lot and shop often. Most of my clothes come from there. This past summer my addiction was silk scarves. I got some beauties.

I haven't bought any shoes, though. Several of my friends buy shoes at S.A. all the time, but since shoes can't be washed I haven't been tempted.
linda_in_iowa
12 years ago
One of our pastors buys shoes at Goodwill and his wife thinks it is gross. When my son was a kid, I would buy him dress shoes from thrift stores if we were going to a wedding. I would also buy him a blazer. That way with a new shirt, kakhis and dark socks, he was good to go.
Our Salvation Army closed a few years ago but we still have Goodwill.
marilyn_c
12 years ago
I'm not a "purse person" but that is a very attractive purse! The thrift stores here are all clean. None of them smell bad in any way. I don't mind at all wearing used clothes. In fact, I'd say that 99% of everything I own was used...whether clothes, furniture, dishes, whatever. I prefer shopping that way because it gives me money to spend on things I like that tend to be expensive...like feeding horses or buying stuff for my mule and donkeys.
heather_on
12 years ago
I know exactly what you mean by the smell of some thrift stores. It is a musty mildewy odor. My sense of smell is not good so if I notice it, the smell is really bad. I especially notice it in stores that are jammed with clothes and the clothes are not allowed the space to air out. Perhaps they are washed and not completely dry when they are put on the racks. Some of our stores have that smell and some are okay.
nicole__
12 years ago
Dh & I "love" this one thrift by our house. It's next to the grocery store, so we stop in once a week.

You scored BIG time!!!!

Saturday we made a big haul. A like new Columbia 3 in 1 jacket for $6.99(sug retail was $220) and overalls that turned out to be a kevlar based flight suit, paid $3.50, sug retail was $548.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flight suit
alisande
Original Author
12 years ago
Holy Moly, Nicole--now you'll have to buy an airplane! ;-)

I admit to a Columbia addiction, and the Salvation Army feeds it. I'm always on the lookout for Columbia, Eddie Bauer, LL Bean, etc. I don't see them very often. My cousin buys Prada in her Goodwill, as she lives in a more affluent area. I wouldn't recognize most high-end designers if I fell over them. :-)
kathi_mdgd
12 years ago
Very nice!! I found a briton last year 2013 at one of the independent thrift shops for 3.00.I didn't even know what i had as i don't keep up with that sort of stuff.When i was at my bff's house she saw it,and said, n ice purse,briton,isn't it?? I said i have no idea,so we looked it over and sure enough it was.She then told me had i got it at the mall i would have had to pay at least 175.00 for it.To which i replied,you know i'd never pay that for a purse,as frugal as i am.
Kathi

Nice Salvation Army find!

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Nice Salvation Army find!

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