Let's brag about our craziest thrift store finds!

[PlusThirtyOne]

Do you shop Goodwill? Salvation Army? Teeny tiny mom & pop thrift stores?
Garage sales? Find anything good? Well...?​

...tell us about it!​

Here's a few of mine:

About 10 years ago, i found a brand-new, Logitech G11 keyboard for $10. it must have been a returned product to Target because it still had its retail tag on it. The board was immaculate and obviously never used but the box was beat to hell and back, disguised and wrapped up in packing tape. Literally a diamond in the rough. i still use it today; it's a damn good board!

Not too long ago we stumbled onto a short stack of Sega Genesis games at Goodwill for $3 and bought them all without any research. My phone battery was dying so i couldn't look them up. My roomie decided that neither of us would even be interested in playing or keeping them so we looked up their value online. We just traded in the lot for $226 at our local retro game store. Don't even ask which games they were, i don't remember. i grew up on the Nintendo side of the console wars.

Only a week after the Nintendo DSi came out, i found one at a different Goodwill for $20. Brand-new in a beat-up box; same situation as the keyboard above. i promptly turned right around and sold it within the hour for a cool $100 on ebay for a quick sale. i managed to box it, label it and ship it the same day i bought it.

Last year i found a treasure trove in an old CD binder of forgotten games in a thrift store out in the middle of nowhere. Each game was complete with inserts, cover, instruction, etc; neatly folded inside, including a perfect copy of 'Skies of Arcadia' and other JRPGs for Dreamcast. Bought the whole binder for $4 and sold the contents for $200+ after packing them up in new jewel cases.

But the sweetest find of all wasn't even in a thrift store. On the way home from work, in the middle of the night, i stopped at a red light and saw a white shopping back fluttering in the gutter. i could clearly see it was FULL of SNES cartridges! i hopped outta my car, grabbed the bag and tossed it on the passenger seat. inside was copies of Megaman7, MegamanX 1, 2 and 3, Secret of Mana, Mario RPG, and a boat load of crappy sports titles. i tested and sold each and every one of them on ebay for triple digits. The MMX games alone scored me about $200.

What's been your biggest thrift store haul? Did you flip and sell it or did you keep your find?

 

[GreenZone]

i was too young to buy it but there was a kind of 2 dollar store/thrift shop where in 2001 they were selling a cheap cross bow like this

for $45 and a few air rifles and a .22

this was Australia a good 5 years after the gun restrictions don't know if corssbows were restricted yet

 

[WolfNightV4X1]

Wow, probably the most impressive thrift story I've heard!

I only find nice clothes at thriftstores, lol! Quite frankly it's the only place I shop because I'd rather get them cheaper than pay $20-$40 just for one pair of jeans.

I found a nice black and red flannel that looked to be some kind of larger store style, and these really nice brand new looking shoes.

That's about it, nothing too fancy.



...although at my job things are always going on clearance so I usually end up grabbing things at 50%-90% off the original price. Got me a nice Jack Skellington pillow on clearance after halloween was over, and the other day I nabbed some fancy design duck tape (rainbow, mustache, and sparkle) for $0.29 (Including my work discount) retailing around $3.99. I got a premium candy bar for below $1.00, less than the average hershey sells for

Oh yeah! One time I nabbed like 10 bags of beef jerky for a dollar something each ($6.00 in value for one bag!) It wasnt just Jack links either, it was Lorissa's kitchen Korean BBQ and the other was Ginger Teriyaki, mmmm, awesome!

 

[meowsee]

i don't have anything amazingly exciting - but i found a jacket that i love at a thrift store, and a bunch of cute plushes..!
nowhere near as exciting as that stuff you've found though. maybe i just haven't been looking hard enough?

 

[Old Fashioned]

Do auctions count? If so, I may have bought a few *cough* um, things.

 

[Alstren]

Just this old bootleg Pokemon cartridge.

 

[GreenZone]

Just this old bootleg Pokemon cartridge.

 

[Twopaw Tarnished-Silver]

The most recent 'big find' would be at a thrift store that was in business for several years just south of the supermarket I buy most of my staple foods at here. Most of what they sold was furniture, which was displayed thus, although they did have some jewelry and occasionally computer hardware. What they did have, though, was a collection of audio cassette tapes, a few shelves of compact discs (music CDs, almost all pressed), and literally hundreds of vinyl records, ranging in vintage from the 1950s all the way up to modern pressings from the 2000's. I often poked through the records (I've got a swell direct-drive turntable with an Ortofon stylus, hooked up to an old NEC receiver with an amplified phono connection), and occasionally found some treasures for a pittance: Billy Idol's 'Rebel Yell' and Oingo Boingo's 'Dead Man's Party' in excellent shape, no scratches or lamination cracks. One day, I decided I'd dig through the whole mess there, and ended up coming home with almost a hundred records; most were early electronica/rap (Orbital, Mantronix, Erasure) as well as soundtracks (Chariots Of Fire (Vangelis) (1981), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), Platoon (1986), Top Gun (1987)) and a huge mess of DJ vinyl, most of which I can't remember the names of because to be honest, the vast majority of the artists I had no familiarity with. If there was one very special treasure, it was this: the remix single, comprising two records, of 'Things Just Keep Getting Better: The Theme To 'Queer Eye For the Straight Guy', by Widelife, in near-perfect condition. All one-hundred or so of these records set me back about nine dollars (Canadian), along with a couple of nice tough synthetic bags provided to carry the whole mess home. ^_^

I think my best, but more vintage find, would be a professional studio drafting table and chair, dating from the late 1980s, in excellent shape and equipped with two drafting arms, two direction table wide/high rulers, and a set of triangles and curves. This would've been my brother's finding it, and it set him back about $12 Cdn. (not including the gas to get it home in his truck ^_^), and he was thinking of me when he found the whole business. Other things I've found at a Goodwill include a mess of science-fiction and horror novels, usually at a fraction of the cost of the original shelf price and more often than not in excellent or pristine condition. I've found compact discs of some rarity (WARP Graphics' repress of Julia Ecklar's 'Songs Of Elfquest' from the early 1990s, nearly every GNP/Crescendo Star Trek movie soundtrack CD, DJ Pearl's remix CD of Limahl's 'The Never Ending Story' theme, and a mess of hard-to-find 1980s maxi-singles) and a whole mess of modern CDs and tapes, too.

The local Goodwills here shut down en masse late last year, but after helping my brother with a move a couple of months ago, found out that a Salvation Army Thrift Store has taken up the reins, so next time we go to Swiss Chalet for a meal (right next door), I shall be visiting thus! ^_^

-2Paw.

 

[Zenoth]

The best I've found so far was a straight razer (wade and butcher) from the birth year of my grandfather, that didn't have any cracks or chips in the blade. I re honed it and use it ^^

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

I only find nice clothes at thriftstores, lol!

You can even make money on that if you know what to look for.
Anyone into ladies' fashion can tell you that thrift stores like Goodwill usually don't know what they have and price triple-digit garments at bargain bin prices. We've made bank before on reselling designer jeans, expensive tops, coats and even socks. You might be surprised to know what ladies buy and never wear, only to end up at a Goodwill! Around October when they start putting out Halloween junk we've found some expensive lolita dresses in perfect condition. Some dresses sell for $200-$500 online, imported from Japan that end up in thrift stores as "costumes" for $10. Obscure brands from other countries often get mistaken as knock-offs or low-end and priced as such. "i've never heard if this brand so it must be garbage." You never know the value of stuff until you look it up online. Hell, my favorite hoodie i had for a number of years was one i found by chance at a nearby bus stop late at night. Nobody was around and i was cold so i took it. Turns out it was some hoity-toity brand from upscale india and the exact hoodie sold for $350. i just found it draped over a bench in like-new condition!

 

[Jarren]

Not mine, but a friend of mine works at Good Will and found a shrunken head in a shipment of donated items. They wouldn't let him keep it.

 

[Pipistrele]

Walkman player (NWZ-E573) for about 17USD. A damn good player - with tons of useful features, strong battery life, very pleasant GUI (which is often the suckiest part of any other PMP aside of maybe iPods), and just sounds great. Storage is tiny by today's standards (4GB, which is more than enough for me, though), but otherwise, if you can find one for cheap, I'll highly recommend it.

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

Almost forgot about the time i found a foot-high stack of Gold Digger comics and furry porn at Goodwill.
Yes. ACTUAL published, printed, plastic-wrapped furry porn; some comics, some art books and a modest collection of art CDs and DVDs. All furry, kimono and nekomimi. ...in the kids' books section. There were some classic Eric Schwartz, SexyFur collections and some super early Michael Vega stuff. i totally would have bought the whole stack just for the sake of saving them but since everything was priced individually the stack would've cost $300+. i didn't have a dollar on me so i couldn't even take a crack at it but the next day it was all gone. Not sure if someone bought it all or an employee threw it out. i sincerely hope that someone bought it, preferably a closeted tween with clueless parents. When i was about 14 my mom surprised me with a short stack of comics from Goodwill and it turned out to be softcore early 90's manga. Classy stuff.

 

[cosmo-cat]

You can even make money on that if you know what to look for.
Anyone into ladies' fashion can tell you that thrift stores like Goodwill usually don't know what they have and price triple-digit garments at bargain bin prices. We've made bank before on reselling designer jeans, expensive tops, coats and even socks. You might be surprised to know what ladies buy and never wear, only to end up at a Goodwill! Around October when they start putting out Halloween junk we've found some expensive lolita dresses in perfect condition. Some dresses sell for $200-$500 online, imported from Japan that end up in thrift stores as "costumes" for $10. Obscure brands from other countries often get mistaken as knock-offs or low-end and priced as such. "i've never heard if this brand so it must be garbage." You never know the value of stuff until you look it up online. Hell, my favorite hoodie i had for a number of years was one i found by chance at a nearby bus stop late at night. Nobody was around and i was cold so i took it. Turns out it was some hoity-toity brand from upscale india and the exact hoodie sold for $350. i just found it draped over a bench in like-new condition!

i would cry tears of joy if i ever found a lolita dress at a thrift store!! i've heard a few stories of other lolitas finding them, so i suppose i can only hope~

i haven't found anything of serious value at goodwill before (probably the most valuable thing i've found is a "harajuku lovers" purse) however the other day i found something quite interesting. it was a tokyopop manga that was titled "fall previews of 2003". this intrigued me bc i had no idea they did such preview books, and i love the style of y2k manga. i haven't read it yet, but it's a cool find. i also found a scott pilgrim graphic novel brand new for 50 cents! i'm sure i've found other cool stuff but i can't think of anything else atm...

 

[MsRavage]

aww man my finds are not as good as others...i found lots of good books and some nice clothes there...but nothing else

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

i would cry tears of joy if i ever found a lolita dress at a thrift store!! i've heard a few stories of other lolitas finding them, so i suppose i can only hope~

i haven't found anything of serious value at goodwill before (probably the most valuable thing i've found is a "harajuku lovers" purse)

Harajuku merch gets priced high because everyone knows what it is and ebay listings are easy to find. The dresses we found were Angelic Pretty originals. They have easy-to-spot fabric prints but they're often kitchy and busy-looking prints so they don't LOOK like valuable dresses. it's not like they're cocktail or prom dresses. They look like homemade dresses sewn by a quirky grandma so they don't look valuable or even retail.

 

[cosmo-cat]

Harajuku merch gets priced high because everyone knows what it is and ebay listings are easy to find. The dresses we found were Angelic Pretty originals. They have easy-to-spot fabric prints but they're often kitchy and busy-looking prints so they don't LOOK like valuable dresses. it's not like they're cocktail or prom dresses. They look like homemade dresses sewn by a quirky grandma so they don't look valuable or even retail.

thank you for the tips!! I'll definitely be on the lookout next time I go thrifting. did you find these dresses at a regular goodwill or some sort of other thrift store??

 

[Sergei Sóhomo]

Never took a photo of them but I found a Nintendo DS XL and Gears of War cog for like 20$. Gave them to a friend of mine

 

[Mandragoras]

Not a thrift store story exactly, but many years ago I found a really nice jacket at the now defunct clothing outlet Syms. $150, fit me perfectly. I looked at the original inside tag and at a normal retailer, it would have gone for over $1000. Snagged it then and there.

My boyfriend has even wilder stories from working at Goodwill. Thom Browne, Chrome Hearts, vintage Sonic Youth T-shirts, a lot of weird expensive shit. Stuff that goes for hundreds of dollars for a few bucks.

 

[CrazyDragon]

I remember finding a whole set of IKEA plates that were the same as the ones i'm using now (which my dad had bought in year.. 2000, 2001?)
Not really exciting but one of those... 'oh, cool' moments

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

thank you for the tips!! I'll definitely be on the lookout next time I go thrifting. did you find these dresses at a regular goodwill or some sort of other thrift store??

At an actual Goodwill but your luck will depend heavily on where you are. We live on the edge of an asian suburb, right between Korean and Japanese communities in Portland so we find lots of asian stuff here. Given the hipster population, there's a lot of otaku, furry, nerd and -obviously- lolita culture around here. Cosplay walking down the street here is "normal"...

 

[cosmo-cat]

At an actual Goodwill but your luck will depend heavily on where you are. We live on the edge of an asian suburb, right between Korean and Japanese communities in Portland so we find lots of asian stuff here. Given the hipster population, there's a lot of otaku, furry, nerd and -obviously- lolita culture around here. Cosplay walking down the street here is "normal"...

ah i see, so location has a lot to do with it too. not sure how much luck i'll have then since i live in a southern town where no one is interested in asian culture though if i go a bigger city i'll have to search their goodwills. thank you for the tips!!

 

[Scorpen]

Went looking for a cassette deck once and wound up finding a dual deck Sony with Dolby S NR. I think I paid like 10 bucks for it. Best deal I ever found was a N64 copy of Conkers Bad Fur Day for $5 . Snatched that one up immediately.

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

Roomie just got two new Switch Joy-Cons in box for only $20.
We don't even own a Switch.

*drops mic*

 

[Tigers-on-Unicycles]

Beautiful authentic 1950's dress, sort of a teal or deep aqua color, at a Goodwill for 5 bucks.