Since I've started this blog I've posted numerous times about my anger and frustration with the current state of thrift stores, as well as their lack, and abandonment, of any real thrift. But on my birthday I got the wild idea to go check out the Goodwill Outlet store to see what it was all about. I had been before I just didn't find anything to buy, and to be quite honest I was scared to purchase anything being ignorant of the purchasing process.
Luckily my first trip through was a massive success, and I both got a lot of goodies for cheap and become well aware of the whole purchasing process. I learned that if you can avoid it not to purchase things that require a cart, as I have a sneaking suspicion, since they charge you by weight, they include the weight of the cart! Regardless of their tactics I've become very addicted to going to the Goodwill outlet store and sifting through bin after bin in hopes of finding hidden treasures, which it is indeed just that, a treasure hunt.
The simple fact that I can walk out of a place with a bag brimming with things I just hunted down for the past 2 hours and spend under $10 greatly appeals to me! It almost renders going to a normal Goodwill, or any other thrift store for that matter, moot! Obviously, although I wouldn't count it out entirely, I'm not going to find the extremely hard to find items I want at a Goodwill Outlet store, yet it is still a great place to find the retro and modern video game items I'm seeking while I do my thrift store rounds. Thrift stores around here are carrying less and less of the good stuff and even if something good pops up on the shelf they mark it some astronomical price that isn't even in the realm of reality!
As much as I love Salvation Army over Goodwill, even though to be honest I dislike them both GREATLY for their shameless price gouging, I love the outlet store above even that! Its an odd mesh of elements that I greatly enjoy; treasure hunting, inexpensive and they always seem to have something that I want to purchase. As where with thrift stores I almost always leave empty handed, the Goodwill Outlet store has even just a few items that I can't leave without picking up for 69 cents a pound, who wouldn't enjoy that!?
