The Beauty of Thrift Stores
There
are a lot of things that teenagers and young adults like to do to sometimes to
look good or gain popularity, like owning designer bags or materials and owning
clothes from retail stores or stores with expensive clothes. Plus sometimes
some families would buy expensive clothes for their “favourite child” or some
would gift them and use the gift and the money to guilt trip or control their
kids into keeping the gift. Some
families might do it to get the kids to fit into society. Not to mention
popular and rich people like to brag about their expensive materials to make
“lesser” people look and feel bad and think that having expensive things makes
them look cool or successful. Well, I’m here to say that money isn’t everything,
love is. I sometimes wish money wasn’t
such a big deal, people wouldn’t be living in poverty, we could all have jobs
we like without worrying about how much money they make, lower class people
should get paid more for their hard work, and we’d all have more time to enjoy
life (unless the jobs you take you are very passionate about) and things would
be more affordable and we can focus more on living than just surviving.
Anyway,
I’m getting off topic. Now sometimes to shop more affordably, people might go
to thrift stores and some people would get a lot of crap for it, being seen as
poor or orphans. Well, I myself like to thrift and there is no shame in doing
so, when you do you can find things for very little costs, you can save money,
find the joy in recycling and embrace the simplicity.
Clothing
Thrift
stores can have a variety of clothes, some can be old fashioned, you could find
nice shoes, nice clothing and even cozy pajamas to wear.
Some
of my clothes came from thrift stores, like a pair of dress shoes I wore to
events, like the time I saw the Mean Girls musical with my friend, or when I
went to a funeral for the mother of an old friend/classmate from elementary
school. Some other clothes include my raincoat, some dress pants I wore at my
own mother’s funeral, a skirt with some pink on the bottom that goes really
well with one of my mom’s Disney shirts, a yellow sweater or even a pair of
pink pajamas and more. I enjoy buying clothes from thrift stores or Walmart
because I can choose what I like without being bossed around about what to wear
or shopping with people who think that their styles are the only ones. When I
choose my clothes especially from thrift stores, I can develop my own unique
sense of style, and the best part is, they cost very little, they’re not crazy
expensive like brands like Gucci or Chanel. Plus, they might be old fashioned,
but they can be unique, you could be able to stand out and not always follow
the crowd. While rich people will judge you for being poor, nice people will
praise you for saving money and being who you are. Stay true to you, don’t ever
give into conformity, and the right people will like you, maybe it might not be
so many but it’s not about how many friends you can count, but how many friends
you can count on.
Here are some of my clothes I got from thrift stores
Books
Another
cool thing about thrift stores is that you can find nice books you probably
remember from your childhood, sometimes you can find them in different styles.
A good example would be the novels from beloved children’s author, Beverly
Cleary. She had wrote many novels that were great for elementary school
students, the books have illustrations.
Her first books had illustrations done by Louis Darling, who designed the characters with ink and it did look retro due to being published in the 50s to70s. After Louis passed away, the rest of the books were illustrated by Alan Tiegren who designed neat looking drawings with simple designs. In 2006, Tracy Dockray added different illustrations to all of the books, giving them more shade and made them a bit more modern, while they had inconsistent designs and the pictures didn’t always match the text, as TV Tropes pointed out, it was still really nice and I personally have a fondness for those designs since it was around that time I started reading some of the books. Then in 2013, the books got yet, another redesign with pastel drawings and more detail from Jaqualine Rogers. However, while the designs have changed over the years, there is no doubt that the books will remain timeless as they do have situations that happened or happen in the past, present and future. If you do want to read any of Cleary’s novels with certain designs whether it’s the Henry Huggins books, Ralph S. Mouse and my personal favourite, Ramona Quimby, the thrift stores are the perfect place to find them. The same goes for other books, like the original prints of Judy Blume’s books, like Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing (especially the prints with the pictures in one page per chapter), the black and white or coloured pictures in the Little House series and of course, they way we used to revisit our favourite movies before they got released on home media before websites, movie novelizations, you could relive your favourite moments in your imagination, and see pictures from the movie, they’re things you won’t find in your local book stores because of how old they are. The thrift store is where I collected my Fudge and Ramona books. I even bought this Blue’s Clues book that my grandmother had at her apartment when I used to sleep over there, it was worth getting stuck out in the rain. As I said, you can check your local thrift store to find your childhood books or maybe try eBay, the perfect places to find old things.
VHS
DVDs and Blu-rays
Whenever
I see that one, it makes me a little nostalgic because, unlike a lot of people
around my age, I didn’t have the first two movies on VHS when I was growing up
(although, I do remember watching them on tape outside of home, whether it was at
a friend’s place, at the hospital after having my tonsils removed or at summer
camp), instead I had that 2 pack DVD, and that was how I watched both of those
movies, until my dad and I bought the 2005 special editions years ago. Another one
would be the first Kung Fu Panda DVD. Sometimes, I might come across the DVD
and the Secrets Of The Furious Five DVD, they were both released on DVD back in
2008 (the KFP DVD had Po, Shifu and Tai Lung on the cover, while the SOTFF DVD,
had, well, the Furious Five on the cover) It’s kind of cool to see it, because
I remember when I was 9, I remember seeing commercials for it on TV, and it
showed both DVDs, at least the first one was one of my wishes for Christmas.
The KFP DVD I got from Santa had all the aforementioned characters on the cover,
while my first time seeing the Furious Five short was when it played on TV, and
my family and I bought the DVD, in early 2011, this print was released on it’s
own, back in early 2009. I am happy I have those DVDs, and seeing those other
copies, I find pretty cool. Other DVDs to see there include the HiT
Entertainment prints of Wiggles DVDs (especially when you see the ones that
were distributed by Lyrick Studios when they were released on tape), two DVDs I
remember fondly, the Shrek and Finding Nemo DVDs, both played the movies but
with different formats and bonus material. You could also find the original
DreamWorks DVDs, rather than the ones where the covers have only one or two
characters, and sometimes, you can also find blu rays too, it can be good to
find some for very little costs.
Toys
Another
cool thing you could find, are some neat toys you probably remember from your
childhood. You might remember seeing them in stores, or playing with them too. You
could find plushies, toys from the Disney Store, electronic toys, baby toys,
dolls and more! They can still feel new, and if you’re lucky, the electronic
toys can still work, at least once you put batteries in. On my many trips to
the thrift store, I have come across a variety of toys, like some Build A Bear
plushies, Little People playsets, some Buzz Lightyears (some that still work),
some stuffies that came from the Disney Store like some Nemo plushies, a baby
Dory plush or Bolt. You could also see some other plushies like a mama koala holding
her cub which I gave my friend for one Christmas, and one time I found a
stuffed Blue from Blue’s Clues, if you squeeze one of her paws, she would bark
and the other paw plays the Blue’s Clues song. I remember that plush so fondly,
I got her for my first Christmas, I used to play with her and I remember one
time taking her with me when my Grammy took me to the doctor to get a shot
because I had eaten infected food (my family found out too late that the food
from the grocery store was infected). I also found a toy xylophone that I
remember playing with, some McDonald’s toys, one time I even found a Pixel Chix
house, thumbs up if you remember those. Once you see those toys and others that
I haven’t mentioned, you might feel some nostalgia and joy just seeing them!
Electronics
You
can also find electronic too, sometimes older ones, like old phones, VCR and
DVD players, CD players, printers, portable players, toasters and much more. They
could even still work if you buy them, sure they may cost a bit more than the
other items I mentioned, but they are cheaper than they used to be or still do
cost at regular stores online or offline. The VCR/DVD player I have came from a
thrift store, and it works very well, (well, the DVD isn’t very good but I do
have a Blu Ray player for that one) and the best thing is, my parents used to
have that exact device in their bedroom when I was a kid, before they replaced
it with a Blu Ray player, and the remote for their old player was still there,
I just needed to add batteries to them and it worked well for the VCR DVD
combo. I was able to watch my movies the old-fashioned way! I even bought a
portable CD player and it worked, once I put the batteries in at least. Plus,
you could also find the wires or cables needed for them, I was able to find
just the cables I needed to hook my VCR/DVD combo to my television. So whether
you buy these electronics or not or if they work or not, there’s no denying that
they can give you nostalgia and you can look back on how different technology
was compared to today.
Games
You
could also find some board games, some you probably remember having or playing
growing up. I remember seeing a Disney Version of the classic game, Sorry, Clue
Jr and a variety of games, I even got a 3D puzzle for a friend of mine for
Christmas.
Surprises
To me, one of the best things about coming to the thrift store, is that you never know what you will find there. You can usually come in to see what's there and you can be surprised and amazed to see anything, maybe things you remembered when you were a child, or clothes that look like what you were looking for. I love being surprised like that. Sometimes I come in, hoping to find a specific item, and even when I don't, it's always so amazing to see different things there. You never know what you'll find there, that's what makes it so grand.
Conclusion
I
know the things you can find and see at thrift stores may be old fashioned and
used, but they can be really neat to buy or look at, so if you have a chance,
find your nearest thrift store, look around and find or maybe buy something
there, you can find the joy in saving money and embrace it’s simplicity.
If any of you like thrifting, tell us why and share your favourite thing to buy or find there!
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