A thrift store find and the beginning of the second week.

Within the first week of new content, I have an untold spike of people flooding (yes, flooding, damn it!) onto this site.

yes, flooding, damn it!

Actually, what is happening is that my blog is more comparable to a standing puddle that breeds mosquitoes that most cities and towns try to curb because of sudden spikes of people flooding in with a new strand of malaria because no one these days is ready for malaria epidemics. In a far simpler metaphor, it's stagnant.

Anyway, I digress.

What were we talking about? Thrift stores, ah yes.

Today, I shall share with y'all one of the prized finds of my own thrift store expeditions, the painting Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus: Demosthenes Taunted by Aeschines...by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Seriously.

Kinda.

Actually I have some reproduction painting done by some Sturman guy in 1977. His version is a lot less detailed and more impressionistic.

Anyway, some of you may be asking...who is Phryne again?

Well, here ya go...according to Wikipedia...Her real name was Mnesarete (Ancient Greek Μνησαρετή (commemorating virtue)), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne (toad), a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens. She acquired so much wealth by her extraordinary beauty that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander the Great (336 BC), on condition that the words destroyed by Alexander, restored by Phryne the courtesan, were inscribed upon them. The authorities turned down her offer. Wikipedia article here.

If you go lower, see also...sex magic. I can't make this stuff up.

The Demosthenes part involves the great orator of ancient Athens, Demosthenes being taunted by his political rival, Aeschines. The taunt consisted of mainly "Yo' mom's a whore", and the subject became a great pre-impressionistic masterpiece.

Isn't history engaging?

Comparing the industries of thrift: Goodwill

In an effort to better understand the thrift store system, I present to you the companies that create these cheap havens. First up, we got Goodwill Industries International, Inc.

Goodwill in general has pretty solid thrift stores. All in all, Goodwill stores are a bit pricey but most have dressing rooms, something needed most of the time if you are a perfectionist and generally enjoy well fitting clothes. The best thrift store in my hometown happens to be a Goodwill.

Almost all thrift store chains are doing something good with the money they make. Well, at least they profess to. For example, check this out...

Goodwill Results 2008

• People served through employment and training programs: 1,525,451
• Workforce development services provided: 10,490,787
• People who earned a job with Goodwill’s help : 172,317
• Estimated total earnings of people who earned a job with Goodwill’s help: $2.3 billion
• Personal and family support services provided: 18,534,362
• Total revenue generated by Goodwill organizations: $3.28 billion
• Total revenue spent directly on programs: 84 percent
• Total number of donors (includes repeat donations): 64.4 million
• Total number of retail stores: 2,324

Revenue Sources

• Retail sales: $2.16 billion
• Industrial and service contract work: $597.2 million
• Individual/corporate/foundation support for mission services: $61.1 million
• Government support for mission services: $392.49 million
• Other revenue: $46.5 million

These numbers are provided by Goodwill on their website hither.

Goodwill tries to help people get jobs, get training for jobs, sell things to people who need jobs and generally be a good corporation to get people back on their feet. Pretty solid.

Check out those numbers under revenue sources. Retail sales equal $2.16 billion. That's a crap-ton of money coming from retail sales. Now I don't know if that equals only thrift stores or not but damn! Let's say it did for simplicity sake. Now the company has 2,342 retail stores. Crunching some numbers and the average Goodwill retail store makes $900,000 in sales. It makes me want to start a thrift store. This video on the other hand says that the average Goodwill makes $200,000 to $400,000. That's probably more accurate than my quick math, so the retail sales probably include something else I don't know about.



Check that out. Well done, Goodwill, Well done.

Thrift stores are expensive...I doubt it

Thrift stores have become trendy. I don't like it. With the advent of a lack of economic prosperity, all the hip rich kids who wish to show that they are one with the lower class have ventured to the places of thrift.

Now this has been happening for ages. Kids who have wished to look like crap realized that crap costs a lot less in thrift stores. After they get their allowance pulled from $100 to only $50, how else are they going to keep getting high and drunk on the weekends. I mean, torn jeans cost an arm and a leg these days.

The original owners of these jeans were killed by a bear. Oh well, I look GOOD

Now with a rush of the frugal rich, some people are challenging that thrift stores are getting more expensive because of the increase in demand.

Now I ain't no economics professor, but...

"Economics is something that I've never really understood"

I do believe that markets as a whole do not change simply because of one variable, that being new thrifters. I've been going to thrift stores for years. Maybe not for decades, I only have two under my belt, but it seems to me that thrift stores are still cheap as hell. I don't understand how they could be so much more expensive. Maybe the whole inflation thing is catching up to thrift stores and people have started to notice it after years of being oblivious to economic progress. Whatever the reason, I still can buy a ridiculous wooden picture of cheetah for a only dollar and that's fine by me.

He's currently residing on my living room wall.

For everyone else who has money to go to places that aren't thrift stores, go to those places and leave me alone. Go buy your torn jeans. Or I could sell mine to you for only $100.

And for those who are too old and have a cheap and non-loving heart towards the poor old thrift store, go live with your cats. I've got better things to do than to listen about the good ole-days and how Reagan was a good-looking young fellow.

(pics from gonomad.com, insidesocial.com, and thesinsider.com)

What about the students?

After continually spurting out my opinions to the world, I decided to see how integral thrift stores may be to a college population. So I talked to a few members of the OU student body to find out just how important they may be.

For the most part, there are three groups of college-aged thrifters: people who have never been thrifting, Halloweeners, light thrifters and heavy thrifters.

People who have never been thrifting are just that; they have never been to a thrift store. Maybe they never had the want or the need to stumble into a thrift store. Whatever the reason, this type of college student makes up the minority of the population.

Halloweeners are more of an Athens oddity. As you know, Halloween is kind of a big deal and thrift stores are often spread thin during that time of year. Sometimes, Halloweeners are shown the thrift store light and become light and heavy thrifters.

Light thrifters are people who only go to thrift stores when their friends do. A couple of my friends are light thrifters. Light thrifters are ambivalent towards thrift stores. They neither love or hate them, but go to them for something to do. Kyle Teders, one of my light thrifter friends commented on his general indifference, "They're okay. It depends on the thrift store."

Heavy thrifters are actually pretty common. Maybe half the people I spoke to were heavy thrifters, or people who go to thrift stores maybe once or twice a month. "They always have great deals. I mean it's obviously not the smell." said Johnothon Tenwalde, a junior. "It's an adventure"

Heavy thrifters realize the good that thrift stores do. "It's kind of genius," Sallie Christian, a senior, commented. Christian tends to visit once a month and look at the random stuff and the vintage clothing at local thrift stores. "I dig 'em." She prefers Re-Use Thrift Store.

David Miklos, a senior, often forgoes the local scene and checks out the larger thrift stores in Dayton. Miklos also brought up the guilt he sometimes thinks about as he checks out his thrifting oddities and clothes. "These clothes are meant for poor people."

Sallie Christian commented, "I'm guilty of giving clothes to thrift stores and then shopping there." I think Johnothon Tenwalde put it best. "I would feel like an absolute dick if I would buy a Christmas tree." He doesn't feel guilty about buying useless oddities but does when it means buying something that will light up a child's holiday."

I personally would qualify as a super-heavy thrifter considering I go about once a week. I'm the only one I know, which probably just means that I'm crazy. Considering I took the interview notes down with a foot-long pen I found at a thrift store, I'm sure my sources would agree.

These people I talked to brought up some good points that I may comment on in future posts.

Top 7 types of thifters...

I was going to do some interviews and make a nice audio piece and all that jazz, but then again I'm so tired and generally forget about this blog. Having more time will help and this winter break, I'm going to try to be more ambitious about this project. It's a fun idea and I know I need to write more. When will this damn quarter end?

Random side note: I think the word "bollox" should be used more in everyday speech.

Now, today I think I'm going to do one of this list things, so here is the top 7 types people who go to thrift stores.

1. The poor: These people need thrift stores to save extra bucks on clothes and other random items. If not, they couldn't pay their rent. Let's face it, $60 for a pair of jeans is ridiculous when you could buy some for $3. These are the most common people in thrift stores.

2. Down-on-their-luck-damn-it-I-have-to-thrift: These folks generally don't like to thrift because only poor people do it. They don't like to think of themselves as poor, instead, they are down on their luck. With the economy flat-lining at the moment, these folks are becoming more and more common.

3 Thrift store granny: This is the old grandma in thrift stores, walking around with a cart looking at the old linens. There's at least one in every thrift store. What she does with them is a good question. I don't really know. My own grandma would probably sew them together or something. I know she made rugs out of old jeans. Maybe there's some fraternity of old thrift store ladies who meet on Saturdays to quilt things. I don't understand woman, so I doubt I will ever know what exactly goes on.

4. Fashionistas/hipsters: These are the young folks surfing the clothing aisles, looking for something new or eclectic. They hold out for cheap brand names and are excited to find something they have never seen before. Thrift stores also are great for recycling old clothing, so the environmentalist hipsters can say that they care for mother earth. That's great by me. These people are generally pretty common near college campuses. In Columbus I always saw more the closer we got to the OSU campus.

5. The Dignified Black Man: I saw a great deal of these people in Detroit. Usually, young to middle-aged black men, these people stick close to men's suits and shoes looking for something sharp. It's hard to buy a sharp clean suit, especially when they are so expensive. Thrift stores are the alternative. There are nice suits out there. I once found a HUGE soft leather jacket but it was too HUGE for any of us to wear it. My one friend, Huck, tried it on but it went to his knees. Huck is probably around 5'9". Anyway, I've conversed with a couple of these fine gentleman and they do find nice jackets out there.

6. BORED: This is the group I fall in primarily. I'm bored. I want something to do. I haven't gone to the nearest thrift store to see the ridiculousness. So I do and I walk around and look at crazy stuff and buy somethings every once in a while. Women do this too. They walk around and try on the weird dresses and giggle uncontrollably. Whatever, it's fun.

7. Halloweeners: People who go strictly for Halloween for cheap costumes. They need a piece of clothing, they check out a thrift store. Simple as that. They come out of the woodwork every October and ravish the racks, so when I need something, say a white button down shirt, it is nowhere to be found.

So yeah, enjoy y'all's day.

Goodwill has failed me...

A thrift store has failed me.

This quarter, in order to look more hip and fresh (as the kids call it nowadays), the Singing Men of Ohio changed their uniforms from a tux shirt and button cover to a regular button-down and tie. Being a member of this esteemed organization, I was against the change but because majority rules it was decided nonetheless. So, after using my $160 current uniform for two years and, I now had to spend another $30 to buy a white shirt and tie.

This is where thrift stores come in. I am not buying another new white shirt for $20. I am poor. I have a broken car. I have bills to pay. I have college to pay for. I am not buying a new white shirt, so what do I do? I go to a thrift store.

BUT ALAS!

They had no white long-sleeved button-down shirts. It's really a sad day. We really need some quality thrift stores in Athens. I don't need to support the corporate nightmare that is Wal-mart or any other large stores in this town.

I am really just complaining at this point, but I hate when something I support so much not support my clothing needs. (It's hard to communicate sarcasm in the written word, so read that over with a different tone)

Anyway, my point...

Sometimes a thrift store doesn't have a whole lot in what you need, but a thrift store somewhere probably has it. If you live in a small town with few choices than you take what you can get. If not, keep looking around the surrounding area. Anything goes in thrift store-land. That's where the fun is.

Seriously...anything goes.

Columbus trip

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.

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 and Logic: part 1

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.

In summary, check this out.



Cleveland looks promising. 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.