Hey Readers!

We made it to the month of November. The final stretch of 2018, and the last few weeks to accomplish the rest of the goals, that you set for yourself this year. Now, I know this timeframe can be extremely overwhelming. A month and a half, is not a lot of time. And the way September flew by, I know October isn’t lasting long either. So while the Fall is here, and in full effect (Fall is my favorite fashion season btw), its only right that I start the season off, highlighting and dissecting the world of thrifting

Last week Friday, I wrote a blog post, encouraging  readers to go thrifting this past weekend. First off, shout out to the readers that went thrifting this  weekend!! Anytime I write a post on here, I always write them with my readers in mind. For the readers that didn’t get to go thrifting last weekend, it’s okay, you still got TONS of time! And I’m sure after this post, you will definitely be a lot more encouraged than before.

So you wanna thrift shop like a pro huh?

I don’t blame you. There are so many perks of the thrifting world, that I foresee this in a few years being one of the leading industries in fashion.

Dont believe me just watch!

Last week, in my prior post, I highlighted some reasons to go thrifting, and a few short tips, but I mentioned that I would indulge further in a later post, so here I’m!

As a frequent thrifter, and a former resale fashion buyer for Plato’s Closet, I’ve gotten the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be a customer, and what it feels like to support the customer’s style needs. As a buyer, one of my favorite roles, was educating customers on how to thrift shop, or how to become better sellers within the store ( some thrift stores you can sell your clothing at, which I will also highlight in a later post!). I’m a people person, who likes to see people grow. I knew many of the customers that came in to the store didn’t know much about thrifting, and I felt like it was my job to educate them on it. Many of these first time customers, eventually became frequent shoppers as well. Im sure they appreciated the customer service, but they loved the fact that they get unique items, for less money!

I’m talking cheaper than your favorite discount stores!

And I know that for a fact, because I used to work at TJ maxx! Lol. But anyways, let’s jump into these tips, on how to thrift shop like a pro!

1) Go through All the Sizes Racks

For example, you may be someone that wears a size Medium in blouses, so instead of shopping solely in the medium section, look at other sections as well. 1) you never know what gems you may find in the other sizes, that you can work with and 2) People misplace items all the time, so you may find an item that’s actually your size!

2) Always Inspect Your Items

Sometimes at resale fashion stores, typically thrift stores, some of the items that come in aren’t that gently used. So sometimes, they can be worn, torn, discolored, missing buttons, broken zippers, etc. Whether your shopping at a thrift store, or a gently used resale fashion store, it’s highly important for you all to inspect your items.

Item examples:

– Shirts: Inspect the underarms, the neck line and the bottom hem.

-Pants/Jeans/Shorts:  Inspect the crotch, the back pockets, and the bottom bottom hem of the pants.

-Jackets/Sweaters/Pull overs: Inspect the under arms, the inside, the bottoms, zippers, and pocket.

-Shoes: Inspect all around the shoes, for a lot of wearing

-Purses/Wallets/Bags: Inspect the outside, and the inside layers.

3) Know the Demographic of the Thrift Store Your going to. Location matters!

Some thrift/resale fashion stores serve a specific customer demographic. For example, Plato’s Closet, is a buy sell trade store that serves teens to late 20’s. So what they sell is going to be a little different than Buffalo Exchange. Which serves a demographic from late teens to late 30’s. Savers and Goodwill are thrift stores that sell all general apparel, but they sell different items, depending on the location and demographic. Around the Boston area, we have consignment shops as well, but a lot of the shops are high end luxury brands, and are located on Newbury street, Brookline, Newton, or South Boston, which are all very affluent areas. A way to look at it, is that the location and the demographic of the store, go hand in hand.

4) Always try on your unsure items

I know everyone doesn’t like trying on items. Speaking for myself, sometimes I don’t! Especially since I’m allergic to dust, and many of the dressing rooms can be very dusty! When thrifting, it’s very important to try on your items, because a lot of thrift stores do not have return policies. And instead they have store credit. Personally, I do not mind store credit, it definitely comes in handy, for stores that I shop at frequently. But I’m sure there are some people that do!

So if you don’t want to potentially rack up on store credit, differently try on your items!

5) Shop with an open mind

I know many people when they shop, might shop with an idea of what they are trying to purchase. Although I do not think that’s a bad idea, when it comes to thrifting though. I think doing that would make your experience an overwhelming one. Especially if you have a certain idea of what you want in mind. Truthfully, who knows if you will find it. But I’m sure you will find something like it, or something better! When you thrift shop with an open mind, you end up leaving with things you would never expect to pick up! You leave the store with a different feeling. And I guarantee being open minded, will motivate you to thrift shop again.

When you are open minded, you are free to experiment, free to create, and free to reinvent your style.

7) Check the racks by the Dressing Rooms

Listen y’all, the amount of gems I’ve found on the dressing room racks alone, is insane! I recently went thrifting two weeks ago, and walked up to the rack, to find this nice orange trench coat. When I pulled it out, a woman that was near me, looked at me, looked at the coat, and began to walk towards the dressing room racks, to see what she could also find. Sometimes people don’t even try things on, but elimate their items, and put them on the racks. Definitely check the dressing room racks out!

8) Bring a Backpack or a Tote (just in case)

A lot of resale stores are now adopting the no bag rule. If you do want a bag, some stores ask that you pay one or two dollars for their reusable tote bag. The tote bag comes in handy, because you can always use that bag again. Sometimes the sales associates even ask you, if you have the bag with you! Some stores also give out brown paper bags, in substitute for plastic bags.

9) Pay attention to sale days/sale tags

Sales are a frequent thing in the thrifting world, and people love them! For holidays, season changes, or three day weekends, I can guarantee you that your local thrift stores, will be having a sale. The next sale will be this 3 day weekend coming up, so make sure to check out the blog this Friday to get details on store that will be having sales! Also, some stores, have frequent tag days, for example when I was in college the Salvation Army had a sale where every Wednesday, a certain color tag was marked down 50 percent off! And because of that sale, my broke college self, was in that store all of the time!

9) Find out if the store has a free membership/discount card

For example a lot of stores have free memberships, or a discount card, and it’s set up like a point system, where after a certain amount of purchases you get a certain percentage off your item. The thing with these point systems, the stores don’t make it difficult for customers to reach the limit. A lot of these stores are really for the people, and I appreciate that.

10) Have Fun!

Yo, thrifting is fun as shit! It’s not supposed to be stressful at all. Bring a friend or go alone! Either way, I guarantee you will have a chill time! Yes, its a unique shopping experience, but I know as time goes on, a lot of people are going to start riding the thrift wave.

Wait, before I go, a few last things!

1) Dont be discourage if you go to a thrift store and you can’t find anything. This happens to many of us, no matter where we shop, we aren’t always going to see something that catches our eye.

2) Bring Cash with you just in case, because some thrift stores are cash only! Keyword: some!

3) If you feel like you need to brush up on the resale fashion industry, click the words within the text to be directed to a post that describes each category within the resale fashion industry!

4) Don’t neglect the furniture/home goods section!

so, readers, how are you feeling, you feel like you got what it takes to be a thrift pro?

will you be going thrifting this weekend?

Lets Chat Below!