Thrift is the new black.

I was driving back from an outing with friends today and drove past the Goodwill store. I’ve lived in this town for over two years and while I try really hard to shop local, I’ve never ventured in. Today, I had a couple moments to spare and remembered a friend who went in a couple weeks ago and was met with a fantastic sale on sweaters, just what she had walked in to find.

My mom spent a fair amount of time in thrift stores when I was a kid. She loved bargin hunting. I sided with my dad, and found the process tedious and a bit embarrassing. There was a brief period of time in high school when I flirted with the goth crowd and spent my Saturdays trolling the vintage stores between Central and Harvard Square, but I never found anything remotely appropriate.

I didn’t have a goal today, I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I was curious. Would I find something worthy of the hunt?

Within minutes, I found the waterproof children’s mittens that had evaded our search. Poor Alex has spent the winter with mismatched mittens and was loosing that at a rapid rate. Tonight, I’ll attach a string to these new ones, thread them through the coat sleeves and hope they last two weeks.

As I was browsing the women’s rack, a very lovely man announced to the store that for the next half hour, all pieces of clothing were only $1.49. What? Did I hear him right? I had my hand on a pair of pants and wasn’t sold, until I heard the announcement . I grabbed the pants, added another pair, three shirts. I browsed the rest of the store, contemplated a fondue set but decided not to clutter up my cupboards.

I noticed that my current pocketbook has been shedding it’s pleather coating and stopped at the purse bin. After a moment or two, I found a styling brown leather bag and added it to my stash. I had just moments left before the sale was up and headed to the check out counter.

As the cashier was ringing up my bounty, I looked around and the shop was packed. There were people in every aisle, their arms laden with clothes. My grand total, $8.50.

Thrift is clearly the new black.