It's Halloween today. For thrift stores, Halloween is the busiest time of the year. Why? Procrastinators who need quick, cheap costumes. Now don't get me wrong, I love quick, cheap, and easy things. I just am not a huge fan of costumes.
For example, I hate clowns. I just do not like them. There's something naturally evil apparent in the forever-smiling, pan-caked-makeupped denizens of childhood hilarity. I refuse to talk to a clown. They scare me. I think my natural dislike for costumes comes directly for my natural hatred for clowns.
That would lead me to not like Halloween. It's true. I don't like Halloween. It's a time where you can be someone else for a night and it's socially acceptable, but I don't like pretending I'm someone else. I don't like costumes and more than anything, I hate hell-spawned funny-things called clowns. I don't even like to drink. It's not a good night for me.
But, it is a good time for thrift stores. More money for thrift stores means more money for the lower classes. In that aspect, I can live with Halloween. I will go up-town tonight, watch drunk people, clap my hands over my ears before I get sensory overload, and try my best to enjoy it. Maybe I can even be able to stand a clown or two, as long as they got their costume from a thrift store. Let's not assume too much though, I still hate clowns.
So anyway, for all my bickering, I still bid ye all to have a great, safe Halloween.
In the halls of thrift stores, there lies an aroma particular to almost all thrift stores. Most of us know what it is, it's that musty smell. I don't actually know where it comes from.
When you first walk in, it's the first thing you notice, a wall of odor that smacks you in the face to remind you, "You are in a thrift store."
The smell is usually so strong, the clothes you buy from thrift stores usually have it lingering on it. If you end up going to ten thrift stores in a day, (I've done it) then you end up carrying it around with you.
I actually like the smell. I don't find it pleasing. It's not an aromic smell or anything, it's just reassuring. If it's there then there is a good chance that you are in a quality thrift store with a good selection of clothing. If not, well, you may be in a vintage clothing store.
There are exceptions to the rule. If the thrift store is relatively new, then the smell may not have settled in. Ohio Thrift Stores, (it's a chain) tend to not carry the thrift store smell. They bend the rules but still end up being good thrift stores. An interesting part about that particular chain is that they get so much business that most of them have a couple check-out lanes, complete with candy on the sides. The first time I saw this, I was blown away. Almost every Ohio Thrift Store I went to had no thrift store smell. At first it was disconcerting. Later it was pleasant. I would probably recommend any of these chain stores. Most of them are in Columbus. One store I went to even had two floors.
Anyway, if you believe you know the source of the thrift store smell, please comment.
I'm tired. Rather I'm exhausted. For the last 6-7 weeks, I've been constantly busy from random stuff. Now, with a slow spot in this quarter, I figure out that I'm very very tired. Oh well, I'll make it through without too much of a problem. I wish I liked coffee.
So...thrift stores. Today that poll thing on the side ends. Thanks for the 3 people who voted. One of them was my roommate. Thanks Austin! Anyway, unless there is a deluge of new people on this site who care deeply for what my Halloween costume will be, then it looks like the winner will be "soemthing sexy!!" posted by an anonymous. It was probably one of my weird friends from Facebook. So, now I have to figure out what that means exactly. Sexy is open to interpretation. I'm sure my form of sexy is a lot different than whoever's-reading-this's form of sexy. In a nutshell, I almost have unlimited possibilities out there for my costume as long as it isn't this guy...
Okay, I'm a little rusty when it comes to iMovie, so bear with me. Anyway for your viewing pleasure, here's some excerpts and some photos from my trip last weekend to Columbus. As you watch, remember that all these weird things are sold at thrift stores, meaning that once before someone owned them. I personally enjoy the Governator picture..."keep pumping". Hilarious.
Random fact: the safety dance, the song in the video, was playing at one of the thrift stores. I felt that it was fitting.
I've been to a great deal of thrift stores. I've been to many dirty places, and I've seen some saddening sights. I've seen the poor and I've seen the homeless and I harden my heart. I curse myself.
This other world, the dirty, the poor, live far away from the privileged lives of a student. They live on our peripherals, but never our focus. They are not afforded a video camera, they do not receive an interview. Rarely do they mean anything. Society has dumped them on the outskirts of our cities to stay away from our green pastures, an entire group fallen through the cracks and forgotten.
I find it hard to write this. I always get so angry and I always sound so prophetic. I guess the point is simple, I hate how what our society has become and how it treats those less fortunate, here and around the world. I hate how people curse poor people for being poor. Sometimes it's their fault, great, but does that allow us to turn them into something other than a person. Is simple dignity too much to ask for? Some people have so much money in this world that giving some away for another to live comfortably isn't a hard thing to do. If I ever make more than I need, I won't keep it. I refuse to keep it.
I'm so privileged, and I have a loving family and I can live day to day without worrying about basic necessities. But there are 6.7 billion people in this world and only 20% of humanity lives on more than $10 a day. Shouldn't we worry about that. The "greatest" country in the world should be able to give a little bit more money to those in need instead of spending half a trillion every year at the defense department (that's a conservative amount). That amount of money can feed everyone in the world one meal 74 times. I don't know, but with all this money (U.S. 2008 GDP of $14 trillion) and hence all this power shouldn't we be using it for those who need it.
I think people become journalists for one of two reasons. Either they enjoy reporting and writing and are super curious, or they want to save the world.
Okay, so here's the recap for Athens, OH in terms of thrift store quality.
For being a smaller Goodwill store and being somewhat expensive...
Goodwill: 2 out of 5
For a small yet eclectic college experience without the dirt and grime of a real thrift store...
Athens Underground: 1 out of 5 (thrift store rating)
For being a combined standard thrift store experience...
Columbus Rd thrifting experience (including New-To-You Thrift Shoppe and Re Use Thrift Store) 3 out of 5
Athens thrift stores combined score: 2 out of 5
I feel a little nice giving Athens a 2. In reality, Athens has an awful collection compared to larger cities. In all fairness, it makes sense that the amount of collection is correlated with how big a city is. If you do want a good thrift store experience, go to a city. The closest and best would probably be Columbus.
For the visual learners, here's some Athens thrift store pics.
These two being only 50 yards apart I will review both as one thrifting experience instead of two separate stores. If you are going to go to one, then there is a good chance that you will go to both.
Before I start, I will encourage the thrifter not to walk from Athens. It's generally too far away for legs. I would encourage to go by automobile. I walked there. It took forever and there's a good chance people thought I was some sort of drifter as I hugged close to the hill on the side of the road. On the good side though, I got some good exercise and the landscape was "perdy."
First, New-To-You Thrift Shoppe (NTYTS) is a good standard thrift store. It's not the cleanest place nor the most organized. By my book, that's fine. After going to Athens Underground, this place really felt like a good thrift store.
NTYTS (sounds like n'tits) had a small amount of disorganized clothing, some random shoes, but a decent amount of bric'n'brac. The clothes were thrown in somewhat of an organizational pattern with standard women's, men's, and children's section. Unlike the large chains, the clothes were not organized by size or by color.
The store had a decent bric'n'brac section with movies, cups, chairs, toys, books, statuary...blah,blah, blah, you know...the usual stuff. It wasn't an overwhelming selection but again, decent.
In fact, I made purchase there, a movie called BLAST: The Final Comedown, and no, it's not a porno you sick weirdos. It stars Billy Dee Williams and explores rascism, like Crash, except with Lando Calirissian as a martial arts master named Johnny Johnson. A great thing about this thrift store is that all purchases at NTYTS help foster children, so you can't really go wrong if you buy anything (unless you hate foster children). So altogether NTYTS gets a pretty standard 3 out of 5 for being an average-sized store with average selection that happens to give money to foster children. Also because I found a movie with Billy Dee Williams there...oh yeah...
Re-Use Thrift Store is one of three Re-Uses in the area. The others are located in Wellston and Albany, towns relatively close to ole' Athens town.
Re Use greatly lacks in the clothes department. Random racks are set up and are hard to maneuver around. I didn't really see anything that caught my eye at the clothing section.
Re Use does have a great amount of bric'n'brac and rare random finds. For example, it has one of the best book selections I have ever seen in a thrift store. It also has VHS tapes there. Re Use has a lot of VHS tapes. This is great for the three people in college who still use a VCR. I personally would advise everyone to look at the books behind the counter. These oldish leather bound books are very classy looking and any selection there would add character to any bookshelf.
Re-Use also has tons of furniture and some of it is naturally not in the best shape. If you need a new toilet, look in the back. I don't personally, but I'm sure someone out there is clapping in happiness after reading about cheap toilets...perhaps. Anyway, for a good bric'n'brac selection, tons of furniture, a kick-arse book library, but lackluster clothes, another standard 3 out of 5.
To sum it up.
New-To-You Thrift Shoppe: 3 out of 5
Re Use Thrift Store: 3 out of 5
Columbus Road Thrift Experience: 3 out of 5 (two standard thrift stores make for a standard experience)
Side note: People should be paying attention to this. You've got til the 17th to input ideas...
I have a love and hate relationship with Athens underground. I love the weird clothing and the atmosphere. I hate the fact that it's not a thrift store.
First of all, Athens Underground is technically a vintage clothing store. The clothing there is generally not donated. The money earned there does not go to help the poor in any way except right at this moment courtesy of "Homecoming for the Homeless". Rather, the owner, or the little old lady who hangs over your shoulder watching your every move as you walk around, finds the clothes from auctions and sometimes from wholesale suppliers. This lady, or this "Barbara", was originally from New York and owned another vintage clothing store until she moved here to buy up the old vintage clothing store, Secondhand Row.
Apparently, Athens Underground (AU) was not the first vintage clothing store in this area. Instead, the dingy basement that is AU has been a series of different vintage clothing stores for the last 20 years or so.
Anyway, if you have been there, you will notice that AU is not set up like a thrift store. It does not smell like a thrift store. It plays eclectic Arabian music, not elevator music or 90's hits. It's bright and happy. Worst of all, it's expensive. Apparently, some of the stuff on the shelves is completely new, a sin in any thrifter's handbook. This place was made for college students, to entertain college students, and to steal college student's parent's money because most college students are afraid of mingling with poor people. I must say, the business model works. Ask anyone about AU on OU's campus and you get, "Athens Underground! I LOVE IT THERE! It's so hipster!"
Well, you're right. It is hipster.
One major problem I had with this store is lack of good clothes for men. Yeah, you got suit jackets and vests and shirts and pants. BUT, and this is a large but, most men can't get away with wearing a bright red jacket or the other weird eclectic clothing there. If you can, more power to you. I personally can't, so I stared at the clothes and just moved away to the weird vintage books. Women probably have a heyday in this place with all the different fashions. Like women really need more clothes and shoes.
Anyway, as I offend all my lady readers, here's the final rating.
Athens Underground: thrift store rating: 1 out of 5
Athens Underground: vintage store rating: I don't know. I don't go to vintage clothing stores. I hear it's good though.
"Shaking my fist..." Curse you Barbara! and your surly glances!!
In the spirit of October and of the local thrift scene, I am thinking about holding a contest that would allow you, the readers, to pick my Halloween costume. Suggestions on what costume can be posted in the comments of this post. Once that fills up, I will hold a poll on this blog and there the winner shall be decided.
Any costume goes as long as I can put it together in a week. Again, any costume is fair game. I want some creativity. I want relatively simple and more than anything I want something because I don't want to worry about it. If you have any idea, post it. Comment it up people.
Once Halloween is over, the pictures of the costume shall go up on the blog. Let the ideas spring forth.
Oh, quick side note, within the next few days, the rest of the Athens thrift store scene shall be reviewed. Stay tuned.
There is a direct link between the quality of thrift stores and how poor the surrounding area is. The more lower class in the area, then the better the thrift store...in general. Sometimes, without a large backing through chains, smaller thrift stores fall apart from lack of donations in poorer areas.
Secondly, other types of businesses make most of their money from the poor, such as auto part stores, quick loan agencies, low-end martial art dojos, cheap Chinese food restaurants, and the mecha business of the poor, the liquor store. If you've never been to the ghetto, almost every block has a liquor store...seriously, pay attention next time you're there. Their signs are yellow, bold with LIQUOR spelled out at the top followed closely by WINE COOLERS and BEER in digressing order of importance.
Hence, these two statements form an almost guaranteed way to know a good thrift store before you even have to go in. The quality of a thrift store is almost always directly correlated to how many liquor stores are in the surrounding area. If you want a super thrift store, look to where the liquor stores are.
For example, the best city for thrift I have ever been to is Detroit. Detroit is falling apart. It's roads are deteriorating. It's economy is based on the failing American auto-market. There are a lot of poor there. From what I hear, from the sports knowledgeable, their sports teams are awful. Hence, a great deal of liquor stores erupted into existence in Detroit. And so have great thrift stores.
I currently live in the small college town of Athens, Ohio. From what I know, there are four thrift stores in the immediate area. 1. the Goodwill on East State St. 2. Athens Underground on Court St. 3. Re Use Thrift Store on Columbus Rd. and 4. New to You Thrift Shoppe also on Columbus Rd.
This post will concentrate on the Goodwill. The Goodwill here in jolly ole' Athenstown is pretty small. I've seen Goodwills easily two to three times larger than the one we got here. Goodwill in general tends to be somewhat pricy compared to some other thrift store chains. For example, the cheapest thrift stores are one-owner entrepreneur thrift stores. Chains are a little more expensive. Goodwill is the most expensive of the chains. Still, being a thrift store, it's not like it's going to break your budget.
It's collection is little small. The clothing section in particular is one of the smallest I've ever seen. If you're looking for something for Halloween then you probably will still find something, but if you're looking for interesting clothing than move on. The bric'n'brac (thrift store slang for random stuff) is probably half of the store. That's a good ratio, but considering the store is generally small then it's not all that great. I would rate this particular thrift store on the low end of the spectrum...maybe a 2 out of 5. It's not completely awful but it's no Detroit Salvation Army.
I've got this three and a half pound lump of gray matter sitting in my skull. It irritates me, bites at me until I've got to write something. Well here is that something.
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