Well, I'm glad to see all the resale and thrift stores opening up. It means we are using stuff up, rather than just trashing it.

My son moved out of the house recently and left me a bunch of his clothes to find good homes for. He's a brand snob and has some good name brand clothes that are still valuable. I tried to take the better stuff to my favorite consignment shop, only to find they are taking stuff by appt. only now, buying outright (for less than you would get consigning) and are booked up so far into the future that I couldn't even book an appt! Then I went by the local charity shop to GIVE clothes to them, and they had a sign on the door that they weren't taking any donations until Sept.! Well, excuse me. So now I have all these lovely clothes and can't even give them away! Will see if the church can find someone who needs them.

We are lucky to have a Goodwill Outlet where you pay by the pound. Even those prices went up from 99 cents to $1.09 per pound. Books (lots of good quilting books) are now 20 cents/lb up from 10 cents/lb. Today I bought close to 15 yards of Christmas fabric (all brand new), 3 men's long sleeved shirts, 2 LL Bean sweaters, a tank top, 2 quilt books, 4 quilt magazines and a quilt pattern. Total spent: $12.00. I can't complain too loudly! The regular Goodwill store has gotten too pricey (in my opinion) and the other local thrift stores have gone up in price as well.

We are still unpacking our boxes from our move. Fortunately, we have a Thrift Shop near us that accepts a lot of what we are parting with. It is part of a no kill animal shelter so that makes me feel good, too. Anything they don't want, our local dump "store" will take. That place is just crazy. Stuff piled up willy nilly but no lack of willing customers there. I've never shopped there, myself but am happy to pass things along! (This is in rural Maine).

I got a pair of men's jeans 4x and a pair of shorts with lots of pockets. Am thinking of taking the pair of shorts and use those for the lining of the men's jeans and make a duffel bag.

i guess a treasure is in the eye of the beholder

I consider the hunt to be recreation. Sometimes I find things and sometimes I don't. The quality and prices vary hugely with different thrift stores in our area. I won't even bother with a few, and others feel like treasure hunts.

I always look in the men's shirts for quilting. Men's shirts in average condition at Teen Challenge were priced $7.99 each - no thank you!

What you are seeing isn't probably related to money grubbing :) but to the minimum wage going up here in America.

Have a few nice thrift stores around the area. One has jeans, shirts, for $1.50 each. Bedding, shoes, books, kitchen stuff, toys and the other usual stuff at reasonable prices. Another one has a bit higher prices, but good selection. I will not shop or donate to Goodwill. Their prices are ridiculous.

I agree.







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