In my country, people do not really like to buy second hand items. Our mentality is that if it was previously used by someone, it must be bad quality. Which is, of course, not necessarily true, but you sometimes just cannot change people’s minds. But Americans love shopping in thrift stores.
Thrift stores are stores where you can buy previously used items that mostly look like they are brand new, for a small fraction of the price. My neighborhood has quite a few thrift stores, but not all of them are as good as the one I will describe in this post.
For example, there is Goodwill, which is usually super unorganized and quite expensive, another one is called Salvation army, then some others where they only sell furniture and home decor kitsch. But the one I am talking about, has all of that combined, and the best part is that it has (for the most part, at least) high quality items for a really low price.
And by a really low price, I mean almost brand new Nike hoodie for 69 cents. This thrift store is called Valley thrift store, and it might as well become your favorite clothing store. Because who would not like to buy twenty - five pieces of clothing for ten dollars? I was able to do that during my last visit, and I must say I was never a big fan of clothes shopping until I discovered this store.
How do clothes end up in a thrift store? People either donate them, or they are brought here from the stores where they overstocked a certain item. And it is not uncommon to find brand new items, with original tags on, for only a small fraction of the price. For example, I found brand new PINK leggings with an original price of 69 dollars, for six dollars. And they fit me perfectly.
As you can see, the original tag is still on on this piece of clothing, but the price is much much lower.
How to get there and when to go?
Valley thrift store is situated on 1717 Woodman drive in Kettering, Ohio, and it is quite easy to find. If you have GPS, of course. Woodman drive is a long stretch of road, so a good reference would be the Half price Sushi restaurant, which is situated just a few hundred feet away from the Valley thrift store.
The store is open daily Monday through Saturday from 10 o’clock a.m. to 19.30 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock p.m. There is no good or bad time to go to this thrift store, because the items are different almost day by day. My only advice on the best time to go would be not to go on weekends. Since most people do not work on weekends, they use their free time for some bargain hunting. And I do not blame them!
What can you buy at Valley thrift store?
The simple answer to this question is - almost anything! This thrift store is so diverse that I actually have to thing of everything you can find there. Furniture, luggage, home decor, books, all kinds of shoes and clothes, bedding, sleeping bags, toys, clothes and accessories, children’s clothes and much more.
This Angry bird plush pillow looks brand new, but it only costs 69 cents.
If you are looking for a gift for someone who likes to read, you might as well buy that gift here - Valley thrift store has a big amount of brand new books for twenty nine cents. Did I convince you that it really is worth going to that thrift store already?
But, be prepared, because rule number one for shopping at thrift stores is: if you are looking for something specific, you most likely will not find it. You have to be prepared for a lot of searching through endless racks of clothing and other things.
Valley thrift store is very well organized and the staff is friendly most of the time. I only had one bad experience with the staff, but I was there during the busiest time, so I can understand that. Regarding the layout of the racks, women and men’s clothes are divided, and each line of racks holds a different size. For example, on the very last rack, you will find everything that is a size XL, and the first rack will have everything that is size XS.
Like I told you, Valley thrift store is enormous.
This is just a little part of the size S T - shirt rack.
The part with hand bags. Some of them are branded, and cost less than five dollars.
My tips for shopping at the Valley thrift store
Before you leave the car, remember to leave big bags there, do not bring them in the store. Because If you do, you will have to leave it at the check - out desk, and I do not think this is the safest thing to do, especially if you are carrying any valuable items in it.
First, and most important thing: make sure you have plenty of time! Before you arrive, you might think to yourself: Ah, I am just going to grab a pair of jeans, no big deal.’. Trust me, this is not how it will work. After finding about fifteen pairs of jeans that you really like, you will notice a perfect T-shirt on a rack next to the jeans, and of course you will have to look through that rack too. But that is not the only reason I advised you to make sure you have plenty of time at the store.
The second reason is that you are only allowed to take three items into the changing booth at a time. I can understand that policy, because just imagine someone in front of you with a shopping cart, full of clothes, being allowed to try them on all at the same time. You can bring more items there and leave them on the tables outside. The restroom is situated next to the changing booths, and there is only one, so you might have to wait in line for that as well.
When you enter the store, take a shopping cart. You might feel you will not need it, but trust me, you will. Speaking from a personal experience, it is really hard to walk around with arms, full of clothes, and trying to browse through the racks at the same time.
You can also make some easy money by shopping in the thrift store. Imagine finding a brand new Victoria’s secret shorts for 69 cents (happened to me) and then selling them for at least fifteen dollars. Not bad, huh? Some of my friends actually made a hobby out of reselling clothes from that thrift store. I do it too, but only sometimes, when I am sure I will be able to sell these items, even if they are super cheap, because I already have a fairly big amount of clothes in my wardrobe that I only wore once or twice.
Guess jeans for less than a dollar? Even if those lucky finds are not your style, someone will want them, and for a higher price!
I could say the same thing for this NIKE female hoodie. Looks brand new, and just look at the price!
Or those Adidas shorts for twenty nine cents.
If you shop at Valley thrift store on Mondays, you will get an additional ten percent off of the already low priced stuff. Monday is not the most convenient day to go there since most people work on Mondays, but if you can, it is definitely worth it if you are buying a larger amount of clothes - you will most likely save a few dollars. This might not seem much, but just think how many things can you buy at this amazing store for a few dollars.
If you see something that you like, buy it! It will definitely not be there anymore during your next visit. This is not H&M where they have an endless stock of items and they can still order new supplies if they are out.
And just a friendly reminder for the end - the price at the checkout will be a little higher than what you see on price tags, because of the tax. I already wrote about this in one of my previous posts, and it is very common in United states of America. But we are not talking about some crazy amounts there - if you bought a piece of clothing that costs sixty nine cents, your tax will be six cents, and the total price will be seventy five cents.
Conclusion
If you need (or want) some new clothes, but you do not want to spend crazy amounts of money on clothing, Valley thrift store is the perfect place to go to. And after visiting it, prepare to visit big, and more expensive, shopping centers much less frequently than you used to before discovering this store.
