Like others have said, it is a treasure hunt. I have found high end quality furniture and several triple matted water color paintings. The frame would have cost more at a frame store than what I paid for the whole painting. Also have bought a real pearl necklace, lots of silver and gemstone jewelry. I have found beautiful glass ware that were artist hand blown plates, bowls and vases. And I have tons of leather coats ($10-$20) and leather handbags ($5-$10), some are designer names that sell for hundreds of dollars. I don't buy a lot clothes unless it is in new condition with tags.

I have been doing this for over 32 years when I starting buying my son's baby clothes there to save money. It seemed insane what they were charging for baby clothes at dept stores that he would out grow in a month. I use to find the cutest outfits like OshKosh bib overalls for pennies on the dollar.

I don't always find something. Though I usually find books to read or CDs and DVDs.

I like Goodwill for clothes -- they have more variety than regular stores. I go when I'm looking for something specific, such as jeans, or long sleeve shirts that are soft on my skin. Goodwill's price is good too.

There are two charity thrift shops in town that I particularly like. One has nicer clothes, household items, jewelry, furniture -- there's even a section for special interest items that are worth bigger money. Those items get displayed for a week and you can bid on them. The other is right around the corner from me, and it's great for misc small household items. It also has a building supply section, you never know what you'll find there.

We also have a Salvation Army and at least two other church-charity shops.

So for me, I like: more variety than standard stores, potential treasures, better prices, and feeling good about re-using/recycling instead of buying new junk.

I'm always on the hunt for sheets...white, 100% cotton percale from the 50's used to be easy to find them but not so much now. I do put them thru a boil wash as bed bugs are common in thrift stores.

I love to buy coffee table books at the Thrift Store. Today I purchased two books both over 100 years old at Goodwill.

Our thrift stores have either junk or styles that I wouldn't use. However, if you consider eBay an online thrift store then I can say that I've been happy to buy dishes, clothing, linens, art and art supplies from eBay sellers.

I love to bargain hunt

I buy tops for mom ; she is in a nursing home and her shirts go missing or get badly laundered. I would hate to pay full price for shirts that end up with bleach marks.

I hit Goodwill for t-shirts for DH. He does home repair, and the life expectancy of a t-shirt in his drawer is less than 6 months. As long as the image is inoffensive, and the size is right, paying $1.50 for them is right up my alley.

Recently I've been looking for some foul-weather outerwear for our boat. I found a jacket for DH that retails for $230, and one for me that retails for $150. Both were marked $7 at Goodwill. Both are in great condition, and are now in my closet.

Sounds like most of you have stores with good quality merchandise. All we saw today was truly hideous old furniture, lots of made in china dishes and knick-knacks, grungy old appliances, clothes that looked to be from the 70's, stained old books and that was about it. Pretty disappointing.

i look for vintage housewares. found Hull, pyrex and corelle products. also old dishes or serving pieces. love oval platters, they are so nice to serve with. can buy for about $3. so worth it!! vintage drinking glasses. found an old butter dish for my DD who plans to move out in about a year or so. when i find things for her, i just wrap up and put away. she has a corner in the crawl space with all her things!

Yes, we happen to have thrift stores with high end merchandise. Northface, Kitchenaid, Merrell, Coach, Dooney & Burke ......

I purchased this Henckel knife block for $2.50(mine has a Henckel logo on it) and it's no longer available. Fits in a drawer. LUV IT!

I get name brands, like new, for 90% to 99% off.

I also look for vintage housewares..got a great Corning stove top tea pot in mint condition corn flower print for .50cents....I love the old Corning. I also like the old blenders which will blow the new very expensive blenders away..so worth the 3 bucks. Kids books I buy a LOT of them at the thrift stores. One of my thrift stores has a book..bag sale once a month. All the books you can fit into a large brown paper grocery bag for 1$ I try to take the boys on those days since they are both big readers. I never get lucky enough to find kids clothes iny boys sizes, I wish.

I like garage sales in good areas better than thrift stores around here.

I am a dishaholic and I can get a fix at thrift stores finding things I couldn't afford at antique shops. I love old table linens, serving platters, pretty glassware etc etc. I also used to buy clothes for my grandchildren but only items in excellent condition or new with tags. nice quality clothes for them are getting harder to find. It really is the thrill of the hunt for me.

I buy 90% of my clothes at thrift stores (except underwear & socks - those are always purchased new). I am lucky that I find a great selection of stylish, on-trend, high-quality merchandise and am frequently complimented on my outfits. I have a good eye for what "works" and what doesn't. :)

I rarely buy any tchotchkes there, unless I'm planning to "flip" them on eBay. I did find a few pieces of stainless flatware for $4 that I sold for $80, and a pair of Dansko boots for $3 that I sold for $40. :)

Love the hunt for treasure and much prefer going thrifting to garage sales. Owners usually ask far more than stuff is worth plus there's a lot less driving around.

Have found lots of furniture, lots of clothing, several sets of dinnerware, most of my pots, minor decor pieces, lots of designer purses. I've flipped purses and some smaller things but buy for my own use. Several collections have unfortunately started from thrift store buys - Kobenstyle casseroles, Nambe and 50s tea and coffee pots come to mind.

Some stores are useless, the ones that get Target leftovers are awful.

I bought all my merino wool winter wear and all my blue glass dinner and bake ware and silver plate flatware at thrift stores. I have also bought blown glass bowls that I eat out of daily and a mixture of colourful glass drinking glasses. I pay very little for the things I buy and can find what I want if I keep checking in.

We have a fabulous one across from my gym and every Tuesday is senior 1/2 price day. Everything is arranged by color which I love. Apparently many don't because they're opening another one across the river and will be by size. I like color because I only wear a few colors and gravitate to them. I never pay more than $5 for anything and that includes LLbean boots, leather clogs which retail for 99 dollars for $5, a cashmere twin sweater set Ralph Lauren for $3.50. This is in an upscale town where people wear their clothes twice it seems. Everything is in pristine condition and all proceeds stay local. LOVE it and I never shopped thrift stores before. We have a SA and Goodwill both of which smell.

Our thrift stores all suck pretty much. A bunch of really old and worn out junk that they want top dollar for. There are times that I can literally go to Walmart and buy the same item new for cheaper. Furniture prices for old worn out junk that looks like it come off the curb are crazy. An old worn out(the drawers don't even pull out right) chest of drawers that was some cheap particle board junk in the first place, they will want $100 for it. No thank you! I used to go and try to find things, but I have mostly given up. Unless there is some item that is old and I just so happen to need it, I seldom bother going anymore.

There are too many people over here searching on Ebay for prices. They have even started putting up signs in the thrift shops that say "sells on Ebay for $XXX". This is a pet peeve of mine at flea markets too. Someone wants some huge amount for some item and you will ask if they will take XXX for it and they will reply "OH NO this sells on Ebay for a hundred dollars" or some such nonsense. To which I reply "this isn't Ebay, it's a flea market!!!!" They hate that! HA!

I do enjoy visiting thrift shops and have been quite lucky on numerous occasions over the years. The contents of each store depends on how the contents are sourced, on the demographics of the community, and of the business philosophy of the owner.

The best thrift stores are the recipients of bags and boxes of recently deceased relatives, boxes that have been dropped off by the children charged with emptying out the house. The stores will be in support of a good community charity and the proceeds do much to support important causes.....animals, a food bank, homeless shelters, women's shelters, children, and more.

Those thrift stores will have valuable antique furniture, decorative treasures from all over the world, wonderful books, original art, and high quality clothing. PLUS bags and bags of garage sale leftovers and other junk!

I started out collecting inexpensive vases. A hobby of mine is flower arranging and I like to give arrangements away to friends and neighbors without the expectation of getting the container back.

Then came the first Roseville wall pocket, the Rookwoods, Tecos, and Newcombs....and more. I don't give those away, lol!

It really does sounds like we just have bad thrift stores around here. A St. Vincent de Paul, a Salvation Army, and a couple of church stores. That is about it. All are smelly too.

We have about 8 thrift stores within 5 miles of each other. I hit the circuit every week! I find lots of great stuff.

I don't know of any very close to our home. The ones on Maui are largely junky.

Have you seen the site, Everything But The House?

^^ Yes, it's an interesting site but bidding goes fast and furious for desirable stuff.

I like the hunt. Also, I can get better-quality clothing used than I can afford to buy new. Nothing really high-end here, but I'm happy with an occasional find from L. L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Orvis, or Woolrich.

My cats' bedding started out in other forms at thrift shops. My small collection of real cut-crystal goblets, displayed at Christmas with electronic candles inside, came from thrift shops. And so on . . .

I wish our thrift stores were great here but they aren't. There are a couple other places geared more towards furniture in Lexington that have nice stuff but it's expensive. Most of the thrift stores here carry old junk and funky smelling/looking clothes.

We mostly have Goodwill here and that place should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. The prices they charge for junk is ridiculous. The clothing is pretty good but for what they charge I could go buy it new. We've had a few cute resale shops with descent prices but for some reason they never last long. And the consignment shops also charge crazy prices.

A year or two ago my mom and I went to NC. Now those are some thrift shops! :D Neat stuff and excellent prices. I bought a desk with an old Singer sewing machine built in for $150. We also found a bunch of sewing stuff at a few of them. I found a nice spoon rest from Japan at one also. Will definitely go thrifting again next time I go. :)

I tried to like thrift store shopping. A neighbor of mine loves it, and I used to go with her. The only thing I bought was a couple of books. Maybe we just don't have nice ones around here. I find the local ones vaguely depressing.

^^ Yes, depressing covers what I was trying to say. Old, ugly merchandise, unpleasant smell, cluttered and not very clean. I wish we had nice thrift shops like so many who have commented on this thread.

I went to a thrift a few years ago and found $12 in a pocket. Just my luck, my water hose broke in the car, so there went that found money. LOL. I do prefer church rummage sales. I go there for books to read. They're usually 10 cents or a quarter for hard backs. I look for any mysteries or anything that isn't silly romance. Now I"m going to start scouring for things my granddaughter may need when she gets her own apartment. We're going to start a little hope chest for her.

My store is a former Super Petz and is huge, clean and well organized. I don't buy anything but clothes and only four or five brands like LLBean, Gap, Banana Republic , Eddie Bauer, RLauren. I like it because the clothes are made with 100% cotton and none of that spandex which I hate.

I won't buy clothes, sheets or anything upholstered. I am worried about bringing in moths from wool clothes and sweaters. Who knows what has gone on on upholstered furniture, even if it looks clean. I have gotten some cute things for my garden. Our hospital thrifts are very nice and well run.

Never had a problem with moths or bugs. My secret: into the freezer they go . :)

I go to value village, sally ann, and spca thrift stores and they're relatively clean.

Bed bugs are fairly wide spread in thrift stores which is why if I find a vintage bed sheet it first gets a boil wash, well because of bugs and it pulls out all the old soils.

I don't like thrift stores - the ones I've been in all smelled bad. I can't imagine bringing something home from one.

I would never buy used clothes or shoes, but I do buy household items and books. For me, it is the thrill of the hunt. Some of the things that I have bought:

1) Many pieces of Waterford crystal

2) Hand-painted French plates sold by Pierre Deux

3) A hand-signed limited edition print that was originally sold for $600 ( I paid $50.00 )

4) A Tiffany crystal vase

5) A Simon Pearce hand-blown glass vase

1. New Irish linen tea towels

7) a Coach scarf

8) J.Crew bracelet

9) a brand new sterling silver Skagen watch

10) many books so that I always have something to read.

^^Lucy, congrats, those are some fantastic finds. The stores we went to had what looked like cut crystal glasses and other crystal pieces (very heavy), but no stickers and I am not knowledgeable enough to visually ID Waterford or Tiffany.

It's not easy finding great quality stuff at our thrift stores. People snap something up cheap, and then re-sell on Kijiji. There was actually a local segment about it one person doing it on the news, and it seems that more and more are doing it.

petra_gw , Waterford and Tiffany pieces are marked on the bottom. I've also bought Scottish crystal. One piece is a rose bowl commemorating Princess Diana.

I found a crystal box, marked Tiffany, at a yard sale for a dollar. It was at a community sale in Bellaire, which is a well to do little city, surrounded by the city of Houston. You never know what you will find. I used to buy a lot of jewelry for my daughter...mostly vintage but also found lots and lots of sterling and some 14 Kt gold.

Don't knock then until you find a good one. I always hated the thought of one and had a friend who would stop at everyone she passed when I was with her. She even worked at the junior league one and gave me some clothes which I thought were crazily priced and awful. Looked in SA and Goodwill here(all three stores here are within a mile of each other or less)Yuck until this glorious big well-lit fab store opened with like new merchandise. Some even have tags on. All proceeds go local. I donate a lot and my clothes are very nice and I only dump them to make room for more from there.

Lucy, I did check the bottoms of several of the pieces and they were all unmarked.

Jasdip, people do that here as well. Chloecat mentioned flipping stuff on ebay, which is a nice sideline if you can find suitable items.

Marilyn, I used to love to go to the Columbus Flea Market in NJ, they had tons of vintage jewelry and housewares.

Lily, I wish we had a good one in the area. A friend who lives close to Ann Arbor MI has nothing but great thrift stores with really good quality merchandise for great prices. She says it's a pretty affluent town.

When I was in California, visiting my nephew and his wife....near San Diego....I saw a thrift shop and wanted to go in. My nephew's wife said, "there is never anything good in thrift shops here." I never look at clothes, but from a distance, every thing looked clean and nice. I did buy a cast iron skillet....a Griswold, for $2. So I was happy.

Yesterday I popped into the local GoodWill...nasty store. It reeks of unwashed bodies and the prices were unbelievable..everything I seen was over priced..a sofa way past being useful it was horriably dirty, had multiple cigarette burns, the arm rests were thread bare and the entire thing looked like a cat used it for a scratching post..price..74.99. Plastic drinking cups about 6 ounce size the rims were chewed up as if a toddler chewed on them .99 cents each. And the bedding, a bunch of poly sheets covered in pilling 6.99 each. I hightailed it out of that place. I get the point that Goodwill is making jobs available to people ect...but how is this store selling anything.

Some peoples junk is another persons treasure. I've found a few trinkets that I still have, at thrift stores. I REFUSE to shop at Value Village because they use the rouse that they donate to charity BUT, it's like 0.01% of 1%, meanwhile the family who owns the company owns mansions, yachts, airplanes, etc., off all the money poor people pay for over priced used items. I've seen them price things more expensive than you can purchase brand new. I rarely go into thrift stores, but Calgary has a cute little one directly across the street from VV that's privately owned an operated. The clothing looks clean (VV stuff looks so dirty!) and the staff is so friendly. While I don't buy used clothing, I do buy books for my grandson and a few used toys I know he won't use for a long time which I can donate back to them. A few staff members at work buy their kids clothes at thrift shops. Good idea. When my kids were little there was a stigma against used clothing. Now I kick myself for falling for that stigma... ;) Girls in our cosmetics department can only wear black clothing to work so they check out thrift stores for black clothes. Why spend extra money on clothes that will only get ruined at work?

mamapinky, that sounds EXACTLY like our GW! It's the pits and I just don't understand how they sell that old junk. You can find better out on the curb for garbage pickup!

The GWs in our local area are very clean. They have a special almost every day....like Wednesday is 30% off for seniors. I went in one the other day and found two Fireking baking dishes....which I collect and two cookbooks. I was thinking I'd barely have enough money to get out of there....or might have to go to the truck to dig around for change to make sure I had enough to pay the tax. All I had with me was $10. Not sure how they tallied it up but it came to just over $5. One of the dishes had a glass lid, and it was 4.99. The other one was 2.99 and the cookbooks were .79 and I think .99. It wasn't senior discount day.

DAV is the one I don't like. They claim to donate to veterans but it is a small percentage of less than one percent. They price everything way too high. The store is clean but that is all I can say for it. They would rather break things and throw them in the dumpster than mark them down. They check ebay and price accordingly.

The three best ones are run by churches. They are more interested in turning stuff over and moving it out.

What I like about thrift stores, I can donate things that can be used by others. I will not throw good itens into the garbage. Feels good to pass things on that I have never used or worn. Have lots of clothing with tags that were bad ideas or never fit because I gained or lost weight. I always wash whatever I donate if it has been worn. I have recently decided to only give to the church thrift stores. They benefit directly from the sales. I take items to them, they are not paying a pickup service. I always feel happy to give things that will be used by someone. There is so much "stuff" that needs to be recycled.

I like to collect housewares: dishes and glassware and centerpieces like vases and candleholders. I find tons of stuff at thrift stores. I brought home 3 large ceramic vases on my first spree, and I keep going back to try to find more. They are getting harder to find. Glass vases are plentiful, probably because of floral deliveries.

I buy things on 50% off days for $1-3 that I would never pay full price for because I don't need them that badly. A footed bowl, a fish griller, teapots, a variety of stemware (cheap stuff and nice stuff), any set of four dishes that speaks to me (yesterday it was palm trees, other times it was sushi plates, oval multicolored glazed salad plates, williams sonoma tuscan style low bowls). I've picked up candles and holders from crate and barrel, pottery barn, a nambe bowl, wooden candlesticks and a vase. Lately I have been finding these realistic looking faux apples (pink ladies, red delicious, granny smith) that I had never seen before. I have a whole closet full of fun stuff to set the table with now. It's fun to go down the street to my local thrift store and see what I can find.

It's almost like you can find things that you have been searching for that are not currently available in retail stores. You also see a lot of repetition, so you can find things that go together if you visit a variety of thrift stores regularly.

I get the best finds when the staff is restocking the shelves. Otherwise a lot of the stuff is picked over.

Now I am at the point where I have to get rid of something to make room for something new, so I only buy if I want to upgrade or if I can make a space for it or stack it.

I still want to find some amazing blue stemmed wine glasses though. When I see a beautiful one, there are only 1-3 and I need four. Or irish coffee mugs - ceramic or glass without seams, in sets of four. Those are harder to find.