Long gone are the days when three trips to the thrift store a week was the norm. I'll never forget the countless hours I've spent rummaging through shit and sometimes shirts with actual shit on them in order to find a gem. Even if the hunt didn't end with a gather, it was still the best stress reliever for a high-schooler with a Dunkin' Donuts paycheck.
It's been sort of a dream of mine to own a little vintage store, but that's everybody's dream. I figure I'll start someday by selling all my old scores from the thrift store days on eBay or Etsy. I'll start price capping my items at ten dollars. You know why? Because none of my shit is even worth two dollars. I understand the value of "sentiment" and "originality", and I especially understand the value of "style", but Urban Outfitters must put gold soles in their shoes to make some of those pieces of shit cost 398 bucks. I'm especially amused by the "Urban Renewal" junk they push. They'll take a cool old jacket that they had an intern buy for fifty cents at a Salvation Army and put heart patches all over it. To me, that makes it worth negative money; I would pay to not wear that.
The "great thrift stores" back at home are quickly becoming picked over by the "cool kids", and some of those places are even catching on. The Salvation Army off the blue line Grand stop has significantly marked up jackets and purses and it just so happens that's what all the kids are gobbling up. "Vintage" stores in Chicago like Lenny & Me and the Brown Elephant have cute stuff, but it'll be a cold day in hell when I pay twenty dollars for a smelly t-shirt that they bought for twenty cents. In Bloomington IN, I've never found anything special at the Good Will or Salvation Army. I guess the demographics of donors aren't eccentric enough for my taste. The Cactus Flower prices most things around fourteen bucks, but when you like everything in the store the thrill of the search is lost! (And you walk out with empty pockets)
I understand these stores are usually struggling to pay rent and turn a profit at the same time. It's just a shame that the true art of thrifting seems to be dying off. For once, I really hope I'm wrong.
