After my horrible shopping experience today, Michelle's $.75 shirt is helping repair my faith in thrifting. The Salvation Army near my parents place in Michigan raised their prices...a LOT! I'm talking like $7.99 for a shirt. This hike up in price is part of their new branding scheme and slogan - "The Absolute Finest in Upscale Resale".
I'm not one to rant (via blog), but I'm bumming. It is not like the quality of the product has changed. The clothing remains the same, but now it is being branded as upscale?
Are the traditional thrift stores trying to align their pricing with boutique 'vintage' stores?
Exhibit A: They were selling used rubber flip flops for 2.99!? Old Navy sells them new for $1.00.
I'm curious to see what you guys think about this. How much are you willing to pay for a used item at a thrift store that isn't technically "vintage"? Do you think that raising prices like this will alienate regular shoppers, or do you think people will eventually adjust to the increase? Have you noticed drastic price increases at your local thrift store?
Ok, rant over. I have a $4.00 item to feature tomorrow and then I'm going back to a $.99 item. The wrinkled dollar will remain strong even with the current economic uncertainty of thrifting in 2011. ;)
Help restore my faith in value-shopping; consider participating in the next wrinkled dollar spotlight. Show me how you spend your wrinkled dollars. You can feature one, two, three, etc item(s) or a whole outfit. Check out my wrinkled dollar spotlight page for more details and to see past participants.
Sweet dreams of $.75 J.Crew Shirts...
I had a similar experience recently at my local Saver's, where I found a fantastic name brand dress for $13.99. It was worth it to me, but I was very surprised to see the price hike!
ReplyDeletePart of it is probably the shifting demographic of who's shopping at thrift stores and why they're doing it. I read recently that, with the repression and all, more people are shopping at thrift stores who weren't interested in secondhand previously, and if a large number of people who were only shopping at Banana Republic and Nordstrom are suddenly flocking to thrift stores, then $14 for a dress is going to seem great! I bet that's part of the motivation for these changes. Let's hope the pendulum swings back before too long.
I'd like to participate in this Wrinkled Dollar spotlight. I went thrifting today and found some nifty stuff...
ReplyDeleteBut you're right, thrift store prices aren't that low anymore--unless you get a special discount day or something (like today was at the store I went to.) That's why I'm constantly surprised by your finds! :)
7.99?! Shoot you can buy a brand new top at F21 for that price. And the flip flops are even worst! I don't think that new strategy will last.
ReplyDeleteI want to do a a wrinkled dollar spotlight! Thinking about it, the outfit I wore for our meet up would have been perfect.
Lidi @ Eclectic Flair
thanks so much for the feature :) looks awesome!
ReplyDeletei had a similar experience in cali this passed week. of course i fit some thrifting into the schedule...went to goodwill and was shocked at the prices! i'm used to $3.50 items or less. nope! granted, the nicer brands were a lot easier to come by but the average cost of a shirt was $5.50. i'm cheap, but not to sound so cheap...that's too much! it's used and they're lucky people are still smart enough to but used clothing. i couldn't believe it. some pieces i got were half off so it helped balance my bill out a little-but still! i got some sam edelman shoes for 14.99! i reeeeally wanted them but i couldn't believe they had the nerve to charge that much for used footwear!
I do a lot of thrifting and I've noticed that all of the thrift stores in my area have raised their prices. I won't even go to the Valu Village because everything is so over-priced. Our Salvation Army isn't bad, but you can't find anything very good there because anything that is a brand-name or true vintage is shipped to their "boutique" store in Portland. St. Vincent De Paul has flat rates on most of their stuff, but I did notice they now have a "vintage" section were everything is $14.99 or more.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me because when I want to pay the higher vintage prices, I go to a vintage store. At a thrift store, I want to pay THRIFT STORE prices!
She did a great job finding these!
ReplyDelete♥
Fashezineo
Thanks for your thoughts ladies, glad I'm not in this alone!
ReplyDelete@hurricanekerrie and Lidi - I would love if you participated in the spotlight! Send me something if you want! :)
ReplyDeleteI went on a Thrift store spree yesterday because I was feeling "vintagey." Found a goooorgeous dress that I can't wait to wear. I'll definitely send you the pics when I wear it. :)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that shirt was 75 cents! I need to go goodwill shopping again soon!
ReplyDeleteYep. My local thrift has significantly raised their prices too. It's not even worth going in there unless it's Customer Appreciation Day and everything is 25% off. It's crazy what they charge. The one good thing is that their vintage is still cheap - which I think is really odd. So I travel just a bit farther for thrift store that aren't blatantly trying to rip me off.
ReplyDeleteI love your Spotlight feature. Will have to check that out!