Thrift Stores: a rant

Thrift stores suddenly became a big thing when DIY bloggers promised that all the treasures of the world could be found there and hipsters, with their baggy sweaters and old glasses with the lenses poked out, became mainstream. Thrift stores were a big thing for me long before that because my family was poor, and I had to shop there for things. I’ve enjoyed making the old new and making things cool since before it was cool. Thus, my problem. The thrift store, which is supposed to be inherently unpopular, is suddenly popular, and the steals I liked to find are harder and harder to come by.

For example. If you’re part of the teen-or-twenty-or-thirty-something crowd, you probably get invited to at least one Ugly Christmas Sweater party per year. In years past, I was able to borrow said seemly items of clothing from college friends or my mother (who said, “You’re wearing my sweater? I thought you were going to an ugly Christmas sweater party. That’s not ugly!” Sorry, mom. Awkward.). However, this year, being the married/graduated/grown up individual that I am, I had to go hunting for my own. So did Brett. We scoured the thrift store, but to no avail. The popularity of Ugly Christmas Sweater parties has wiped them off the face of the earth. Which is sad. Because Ugly Christmas Sweaters are awesome relics of the past.

Another unfortunate turn-out of the DIY/hipster-perpetuated demand for thrift store items has made the thrift-store powers-that-be deem their second-hand/already-been-purchased/holey/pit-stained/chipped goods to be of more value than they actually are. Sorry, Ohio Thrift, but I am not going to buy that Ugly Christmas Sweater for $8.99, even if it is the last one in central Ohio.

There is hope, though. Maybe. Hipster styles will fade once they realize how mainstream they’ve become and that everything they want to buy can now be found at H&M. Pretty soon all the 70s and 80s clothes will be gone from the thrift stores, leaving behind only the 90s monstrosities that the world called and said no one wants back. Then people won’t shop there. Except kids like me who want to save a buck and have a little actual creativity in them.