More Athens Thrift Stores...

The third and final installment of Athens thrift stores include the two local stores on Columbus Road, Re Use Thrift Store and New-To-You Thrift Shoppe.

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...

Athens Underground

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!!




Side note: Hey!

So Halloween is a Big Deal...

In ole' Athens town, Halloween is a big deal.

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.

Thrift Stores in Athens

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.