Thrift Stores!

I'm often asked where I purchased certain items. Most often, I've picked up said items at a thrift store, which then begs the question, "oh, which one?" Today I'm going to tell you about my favorite thrift stores in my area. In no particular order:

I shop 2 Locations:
Richfield
6528 Penn Avenue South

New Hope
2751 Winnetka Avenue North

This is maybe the nicest thrift store. It's pretty clean, well organized and well lit. The down side to it being the "nicest" is they know what they have & price it accordingly. Designer labels are priced higher as are the quality home furnishings, but I also see more of those things here than I do other places.

I shop 2 locations:
Burnsville
14308 Burnhaven Drive
New Hope4471 Winnetka Avenue
If Value Village is the nicest, Unique is the most, um, unique store. The locations I've been to are BIG. It takes a long time to shop the whole store. They don't organize household items at all. Like items are no where near each other, so you really have to hunt for things. They also have a very strange way of hanging pants. Hands down, they get the most junk. It's as if they won't say no to any donation. That said, I've scored some amazing treasures at Unique because they have no idea what they have.

I shop many locations, but 3 most often:
Hopkins
1025 Hill Street(my first thrift store)

Shakopee
1210 Shakopee Town Square

Bloomington
7845 Lyndale Ave
I think everyone knows Goodwill. It's like the mother ship to thrifters. My favorite thing about Goodwills in our area is that they receive items that didn't sell as clearance from Target. Brand new stuff, usually with the tags still on for cheap. Love it! I like that every store is set up in a somewhat similar fashion, which makes it easy to shop for specific items. I'm pretty loyal to GW, since it's where I started thrifting & because they're everywhere. Much to Joe's chagrin, I'll look up and visit a GW in any city we happen to be passing through.

I shop 2 locations:
Bloomington
8049 Morgan Circle

Minneapolis
2124 E Lake St
Ah, Savers. It's big, it's somewhat clean and they seem to do a good job of keeping things pretty organized. I buy a lot of sewing patterns at Savers. They're often 69 cents. Savers seems to get more funky furniture than the other stores. They also have a slightly higher percentage of junk so it's harder to find the good stuff.
I shop location:
Minneapolis
900 N 4th St

I love this store. It's 1 part city, one part wacky and totally an interesting shopping experience. The really great thing about this Sal Army is they get Target samples. Often they are pre-production samples, so you can get colors or styles that will never be in stores. They used to have super cheap prices on these items, but after word got out, the prices became more moderate as thrift store prices go. They have 2 floors of stuff and you have to check out on each floor separately, so don't be surprised.

St Vincent de Paul

I shop 1 location:
St Paul
461 West 7th Street

In a single word, this store is dirty. It's small, cramped and I've often felt the urge to shower upon leaving. They make you check large bags at the counter, so people must steal stuff, but I'm unsure why they'd want to. The weirdest thing about "St Vinnie of Barbarino", as we've nicknamed it, is they have drawers of stuff. Stuff that shouldn't be donated, like underware. In those same drawers, however, are some really cool stuff like buttons, zippers, and funky craft items.

Happy thrifting! (now you'll know where to find me)