Thrifting: Can you dig it?

Style

Jul 7

The summer after my freshman year of college, a girl who lived in my hall called me up and invited me to go to a theme park with her. We weren't great friends, so I was a little concerned that we wouldn't have a good time. Being the roller coaster enthusiast that I am, I inquired if she was one, too. "Yes! I love roller coasters!" I happily agreed to go, certain that our mutual love for coasters would make for a pleasant afternoon.

That's why I was so surprised when we got to the park and she revealed that she didn't like roller coasters that went backwards. Or that you had to stand up on. Or that went upside down. Or the kind that had hills.

She did not like roller coasters. She liked trains.

All of this is why I don't usually agree to go thrift store shopping with people.

I've found that most people don't really like like down and dirty thrift store shopping. They like carefully curated vintage shops and upscale consignment stores. See the difference? Oh, I like those kind of stores, too, but what really gets my heart pumping is a disorganized, cheap thrift store, where treasures have to be dug out to be discovered.

Today Linda from Little Tin Solider (and incidentally one of my favorite bloggers) came up from San Antonio to hang out with me, Grechen, and Sydney. We had plans to make it a day of thrifting with four stops: Uncommon Objects (carefully curated vintage shop), Feathers (carefully curated vintage shop), Moss (carefully curated upscale consignment shop), and Lake Austin Goodwill (technically down and dirty, but slightly overpriced resale shop).

Of our agenda, I was most excited about Moss Designer Consignment since I hadn't yet made it in and it's one of Austin's newest and most buzzed about shops. Owned by the two wonderful ladies who own Feathers Boutique (Austin's undisputed best spot for funky, vintage 70's and 80's threads), this shop is full of barely worn high end goodies like Chanel jackets, Gucci shoes, and Betsy Johnson frocks.

No digging required. Everything in the shop is jaw droppingly gorgeous. This is great for the "we don't like to dig" shoppers like Grechen, who are willing to pay more to not have to deal with the dig.

However, Linda and I are firmly planted in the "we like to dig" camp. When I see awesome kimono jackets priced for $88 bucks at Feathers or Anthropologie dresses for $50 at Moss, the penny pincher/thrift store hunter in me thinks, "C'mon! I could find that for $5 at Savers!" (Side note: I did score some crazy white harem pants at Feathers today for $28).

So where do you fall? Before you answer, consider this:

Linda showed up to lunch wearing this adorable Theory dress that she scored from Texas Thrift in San Antonio for $5. We cracked up seeing an identical dress on the rack at Moss. Price tag?