Thrift shopping in Budapest

Well before I moved to Europe I have never ever thrift shopped in my entire life, I don't know we just don't have the culture back where I come from. Well first of all, I mean back in Malaysia, clothes are kinda cheap and imported from China so it doesn't make much sense to buy someone else's hand me downs when you can buy a newer one just as easily. I also think that since the weather is so hot, clothes are almost completely destroyed and it's really not in good conditions for someone else to wanna buy it. Anyways whatever it is, I had never seen a second hand store back there, nor did I ever shop at one or cared to find out if there is one. As for Iran, oh gosh no, I definitely think Iranians would even find the idea of second hand clothes taboo or something to be ashamed of. I don't think anyone who would consider themselves a rich person would ever willingly shop at a thrift shop or second hand store. They literally frown upon that, I know there are second hand stores in Iran and specially more in Tehran but I don't think that many Iranians have the mentality to go and regularly shop in one unless they are really out of cash. Anyhow it's much more different here in Europe, in fact, one of the first things that caught my eye when I first moved here was the amount of second hand stores and the fact that they had chain thrift shops here, my first thought was wow there must be a lot of poor people here! That of course was completely wrong to think or say but that was just because I was misinformed, I soon learnt that thrift shopping was sort of a way of life here in Europe and it literally had nothing to do with how poor or rich you were ought to be; I know people that are crazy obsessed with thrift shopping and that they always manage to find the finest jewels in thrift shops.

Having had learnt that I thought to myself that it's time I start trying out this different lifestyle and who knew that I would actually start liking it. I mean as a student you aren't always financially blessed, not that you don't have money but it's more like you need to spend your money on more important matters rather than spending it on clothes, you know. So, anyways I started searching online to see which thrift stores were the most famous ones in Budapest and then I started going to some of them one by one, I'll write about my experience with them below and may you find it helpful.

1) Cream stores

Well technically cream stores aren't hungarian, cream is the second hand store of Britain which has many branches in a lot of countries, but specially a lot of branches in eastern europe. There are a lot of cream stores here in Budapest and gosh I mean a lottttt, there's literally two stores within a 2 minute walking distance from my house, there are also about another 4-5 within a 2 mile radius, like I just said a lot of stores. It's cool though by the way because I get to check them out easily and they all have different items so it's all gucci. No the items are not from gucci, I'm using the slang of "it's all gucci" meaning "it's all good", okay now that I have explained it, it's super lame please let's just ignore that. Anyhow, as I was saying, you can occasionally find some jewels in Cream stores, I wouldn't say they are the best because they aren't but they aren't half as bad either. I usually spend an hour in cream and try on maybe 20 different items and end up buying two, so yea. I have bought quite a few items from cream over the past few months, warm socks, sweat shirts, turtle necks and I actually bought a Tommy hilfiger turtle neck for 1700 Forints from here once, See I told you guys you can find jewels once you really really dig deep. The most famous Cream stores are the ones located in Corvin and Westend. I specially like the one in Corvin because, god, it has a lot of good clothes and it's really big. The one in Westend is also good but I haven't bought anything from there yet. There are also more stores across the town you can just google it and go to your nearest one. Although smaller stores tend to have a much more limited selection obviously so I really suggest checking out the bigger stores.

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2) HADA

Well Hada on the other hand is a Hungarian second hand store or I think it is with so many branches all across the city, well maybe not as much as Cream. Hada doesn't only contain second hand clothes but brand clothes as well which are completely new but are "out of style" according to the brand or maybe they weren't sold out. Anyhow I definitely prefer Hada to Cream, they have really really good items and most of them are as good as new. The only thing about Hada is that sometimes some of the items are actually expensive considering they are from a second hand store, you know what I mean? I once found a dress and it was like 6000 forints, I can find a totally good and new product with that money, so I don't know sometimes the items might not be worth the price. Hada has really good sales though, I remember they had this sale which was like really really good and you had to pay by the kilo, so you could choose anything you wanted and in the end they just weighed them and you paid for the kilo, which was so so cheap. So you gotta just keep an eye for the sales. They also have an online store which has a good variety, although I have never shopped from it since I prefer to try the clothes on before wearing them, but you can check it out here to get some idea: Hada webshop. The Hada I usually go to is the one on the ground floor of corvin plaza next to decathlon, there is another good one in Oktogon. Be sure to check them out, but of course there are more branches all across the city.

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3) Humana

My least favorite store, I'm just including it for the sake of completing the list. I find the store pretty much useless to be honest, I mean I'm guessing it's only like this in Hungary because honestly it is so much better in Germany but here most of the items aren't even worth looking at twice... The sales are good though, I won't lie but the items are all just too out dated; however I might be wrong and you guys should pay a visit there by yourself and see what it's all about.

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I will add more stores to this list as I go and discover more.

Hope you find this useful and get in touch with me!

Cheers

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