I had the idea for this blog as I was looking for new thrift stores in my area yesterday. I've been blogging for about 2 years, but under different titles and for different people. I live in Southern California and I have picked through all the stores in my city, so when I found a list of stores online through the Yellow Pages within 100 miles of me, I decided to start visiting all of them that I could. I don't do much reselling at the moment. I am thinking about beginning to do so, though. I have a gut reaction to quality merchandise. Normally, when I see something awesome at a thrift store, discount store, or yard sale I check it out when I get home to see if I should have bought it. Most times I should have. haha Funny how life works that way.
Anyway, I wrote down 8 stores in Rialto, Colton, and Fontana/ Bloomington area from this list I found. Crib Thrift Boutique, A Current Affair, St. Catherine's Corner, Kim's Thrift, Mt. Vernon Thriftr, The Yard Sale, Nana's Thrift Store, and Deseret Thrift.
Now, of course, there are the Salvation Army's and the Goodwill's in that area, but I didn't visit those on this trip. I have picked through the available stores of this type on several occasions and will continue to do so. ;) ( I am sure I will be blogging about these later!!) But I was looking for small boutique type thrift stores this time. Places I could find crafting supplies for cheap cheap and some clothing for our family. (I am engaged to a wonderful 37-year-old man who has a 13-year-old daughter.)
Well, out of the 8 stores I wrote down, only 2 of them still existed. Crib Thrift, Current Affair, St. Catherine's, Mt. Vernon Thriftr, Yard Sale, and Nana's were all out of business. Guess it proves how much work it is to run one of these things! Still doesn't deter me from wanting to do it one day. I have so many dreams. I'm sure I'll get into those as well... Geez, I have WAAAAAAAAYYYY too much to share with people who want to listen... :D
Kim's Thrift on 372 N Mt. Vernon Ave in Colton, was still open. Thank God!!! I was beginning to get discouraged! As we were rolling up on this store, we almost didn't go in. It seems very small to begin with, with only a couple small racks of clothes, dishes, shoes, and miscellaneous items. Not only that, but it seems very.... what's the word I'm looking for here?..... GHETTO. Yes, that would be it. But, thanks to my "I'm not scared of anything" fiance, we did go in. I searched through all of the dishes and the clothes and the shoes.... nothing of real importance here... even though there are a couple things I think I should go back for in the dishes as I am a HUGE appreciator of asian collectibles.
As I was looking through the small selection of clothes, I heard my fiance call for me through a set of double doors, which led into a very large room full of furniture and other collectible items. Most of the items are regular furniture store pieces with small nicks or imperfections, but the prices are pretty reasonable. What really got me, though, was the impressive collection of Asian (I was told Korean and Chinese) antique furniture in the very back. These pieces, considering what they are, are also very reasonably priced. I am IN LOVE with several of the pieces, and should I have the money for them before they disappear from the store, they WILL be mine. There were a couple of high priced items in the store, but they were one off type of items, such as a custom oil painting of a buddhism head. Very unique and very huge... this painting is literally about 7 feet tall and very well done.
The service was exceptional. My fiance was joking with the Hispanic gentleman at the counter about the "Mucho Loco" prices of things... even though, as I said, this store was pretty reasonable. We were cracking up as we were looking around. My step-daughter was not very interested in furniture, so she ended up looking through all the clothes and shoes, better than I had.... which is RARE... and she found a pretty black dress as well as a brand new pair of hippie looking 3" wedge heels... for which she started begging. The man at the counter gave us a very good deal at $5 for both... $2 for the dress and $3 for the heels. Worth it to make a 13-year-old very happy. :D
Here's a photo of her dress - Maybe I can talk her into posing in it for a better photo sometime... haha
Deseret Thrift, on 725 S La Cadena Dr., Colton, CA, was also still there. This one is also in the middle of nowhere, on the right side of the street right after a blue overpass walking bridge thing that absolutely did not belong. This store is BIG. It looks like a small KMart in the way it is organized as well. There is no digging through random bins and shelves here. There are TONS of books, all stacked neatly. The knick-knack shelves are completely stocked and not much is broken or nicked. The shoes are all sorted into womens, mens, and childrens and are even sorted by color. The clothing is even sorted by size in some places. In other words, everything is organized very well. It's almost like I managed it, with my crazy OCD. (If I did though, those books would have been alphabetized. haha)
However, organization seems to have a price. The prices here are not as cheap as some thrift stores, but still can be reasonable if you are paying attention. Shirts for women and men start at $3 and jeans and dresses start at $5. Thinking back on it now, I realize that I did not see anything that was broken, torn, or ripped. The quality of the clothing seems to be well managed.
In the end, we spent a little more than we should have here. I found a homemade wedding tiara with a mirror in it for $2 (I tore this apart as soon as I got home to use the main piece and the additions seperately), two packages of stem wire for crafting for $1 a piece, 3 shirts for me at $3 a piece, one shirt for my step-daughter for $4, and a shirt for my fiance for $3. Not too bad, but more than I normally spend per item at a thrift store. I'm after big bargains constantly.
Here's a couple photos of the shirts we got.
So, overall nothing big yesterday, but it doesn't mean we didn't have a good day. Everyone came home with something they liked and there was no drama. With a 13-year-old girl, there is ALWAYS drama, so I count this as a fantastic fun thrift day!
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