This week, I have some newbie tips for thrift shopping for formal dresses - such as for wedding gowns, and members of the bridal party, proms etc, from the folks over at Value Village and Savers:
Budget Shopping Tips:
1. Know what you’re looking for. Thrift shopping can be overwhelming and sometimes a challenge to find exactly what you need. However, if you have a good idea of what you want in advance, it can cut down on the time it takes to rummage through the racks, capitalizing on the eyeball method while shopping.
2. Keep an eye out for the quality brands. They do exist. And best of all, they’re affordable. You may need to take a little extra time to really dig in, but if you’re patient enough, there is plenty of high-class clothing hiding in thrift stores.
4. Frequency. Savers gets new merchandise on a daily basis and introduces new items to the floor regularly. What isn’t there one day may very well be the next. Persistence can pay off in big ways.
I agree with those tips. When you visit a thrift store you've never been to before, it can be overwhelming even for seasoned resale and thrift store shoppers. Know your budget and stick to it, but also know if you see the perfect dress, snatch it - you may not find something you like as much down the road. Some thrift stores may also have a short return policy you can take advantage of in this case - verify the return policy before buying, and continue your hunt in the time frame if you are in search of something cheaper, for instance. Just remember, some returns may be for store credit only, so only do that if you normally shop that store, or might shop that store, in the future.
I see SO many brand new with the tags on it formal dresses when thrifting, so your dream dress may be found! I also see brand new shoes a lot too, when it comes to fancy shoes. (You know why? Most shoe stores are carpeted. We were fancy shoes outdoors - what felt comfortable on the carpeting may not feel comfortable when you've taken that first step or two outside on the ground. Luckily, very few thrift stores have carpeting, so you'll skip this potential disaster!)
By the way, if you are finishing up your Spring cleaning, or switching out outgrown clothes during this change of season time right now, please remember that many thrift stores use their profits for community good. Consider donating it instead of messing around with yard and garage sales if you can. (At least on clothing, that's always a hard sell at most yard sales) Many even do free pick ups of your things, so you don't even have to visit the thrift stores if you're not into shopping there! (Just please, as a former charity thrift store employee - if it's broken and unfixable, or ripped/missing major buttons, or circa 1980 and not one of the items in style, please don't donate it to smaller thrift stores - they often have to pay for hauling away unsellable goods and it really does cost a lot for the smaller ones!)
I did visit Value Village the other day, but everything remotely interesting was either not our size, or priced higher than we'd like to pay. That's the thing with thrifting often - you know what deals can be had! I did score a few good deals at one of our smaller religious based thrift stores though - several brand new ackages of canning lids for 50 cents a box, and then this:
It is now placed by the front door. LOL!!! It was just 50 cents too, can't beat that even just for the entertainment factor. ;) It truly is the story of our life here.
What did you score?
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