I have often wondered how some of my friends can shop at the thrift store and look so fabulous. When I try shopping there I am intimidated by the endless racks of clothes and any fashion sense I think I might have gets frustrated.

If there was a trick to it I wanted to know, so I called in some “professionals,” an inter-generational group of my friends who could be called “nifty thrifties.”

I knew my teenage friends had a fashion flair that I lacked in the thrift store and their moms — my peers — would help keep my selections somewhat “age appropriate.”

Thrift district developing?
We met at the Red Hat Thrift Store in Longview, which re-located recently to the 1200 block of Commerce Avenue, where there are several other thrift shops. I was immediately impressed. I did not see rows of crowded racks. Instead, the clothes were well organized in rounds. There was also a sale underway: half off everything with a peach-colored tag.

Every rack a clearance rack
I was busy looking through the jackets when I heard Katelyn. “Mom I have to get this,” she said to her mother. I’d heard those words too many times shopping with my own girls, but they didn’t sound so traumatizing in the thrift store where every rack is a clearance rack. 

Nikki was a true pro and had modeled three outfits before anyone else found even one.  I asked how she chose so fast. 

“I have a limited clothing budget,” she said, “so I look at all the dollar stuff first.  I look for something interesting.”

She was right. She pulled together  combinations that would never occur to me. I wandered over to look at stuff for my grandchildren. Tina showed me her stash, what she called “cute name brand stuff that’s reasonable and in good shape…” and helped me find a dress for a little girl I know.

Do unto others
I realized the wisdom in shopping with friends when Jill and Katelyn found a skirt they just “knew” I had to have. It was cute and something I never would have picked for myself.  Soon, I was  looking through the racks and having fun pulling out things for everyone else, too.

I wondered if Vance, the only male in our group and the only one in the store with a spiked Mohawk, was bored by now but when I found him, he assured me he liked to look at “all the neat things people discarded…” and showed me the book he bought. He was absorbed in it as the girls modeled outfit after outfit.

Only an hour had passed and we were finished making our purchases. For $16, I got a skirt and matching top, a jacket and a dress. Leshes got a skirt and 5 baby items for $17. Nikki spent $21 on 11 items.  The Rodebacks got three skirts, a pair of capris, a vest, a blouse, a dress, a pair shoes, and a baby poncho for just under $25.

Mix it up but get help
I had to agree with Courtney. “Styles are always changing,” she said. “At the thrift store, you can buy inexpensive, cool stuff you can mix up.”

Yes, you can buy inexpensive, cool stuff. But if you’re a beginner like me, the trick is to take some friends to help you out.  It’s a lot of fun and worth the effort.  I’m ready to go and try out some more thrift stores.  Maybe I’ll see you there.

THE WORD ON THE STREET:

What’s to love about thrift stores?
•Finding expensive labels with cheap tags. 
•Rich material – like silk – for $2.50
•Mink-collared suede jacket with a tag that is marked down again for half price. 
•Going in with the idea of finding the perfect outfit and leaving with more than I bargained for.
•Every rack is a clearance rack.   
•$300 suits for $16.99
•Taking my name brand item home and checking the worth on the Internet.

MORE THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT THRIFTING

•It’s recycling
•Money goes to a good cause
•Many stores employ handicapped people
•You can get a large designer wardrobe for a good price
•Great resource for costumes
•Collectibles
•Good place to pick up inexpensive fad items
•Good place for inexpensive, creative fun with friends
•You can get big ticket items at great prices

Area Thrift Stores (partial list)

Cathlamet
SDA Church Community Center
SR-4 and Fernhill Rd. 360-795-0425

Kalama
•Kalama Helping  Hand
191 Cloverdale Rd, 360-673-2814

Longview
•The Red Hat Thrift Store
1245 Commerce, 360-578-1733
•Hospice Thrift Shop
1246 Commerce, 360-577-6292
•My Favorite Place (CAP)
1526 Commerce, 360-425-3430
•Goodwill /Industries
710–14th Ave, 360-425-7520
•Toutle River Thrift Shop
1212 Commerce, 360-423-6470
Clatskanie
•Turning Point
97 NE Conyers, 503-728-3126

Rainier
•The Hope
“A” St, 503-556-0701

Scappoose
•Scappoose Thrift Store
33511 Dutch Canyon Rd, 503-543-3281

St Helens
The Starting Over Store
164 Little St, 503-366-0325.

Sue's Views: Sinks, surprises and treasure hunting
Sue Piper is Columbia River Reader's Publisher/Editor/Janitor. She lives in Longview, Wash.

While visiting my friend Victoria Findlay in Corvallis recently, I was surprised and captivated by the charming wall art (pictured on the cover and here)  inside the new McMenamin’s Pub & Brewery near the Oregon State University campus. The eatery’s imaginative, two-story high “tree of life” sculpture incorporating 20 old bathroom sinks inspired our lunchtime conversation and led to the topic of recycling.

“There are very few things you need to buy new,” Victoria said. Scotch tape, food, personal items like toilet paper and shaving cream are among them, but otherwise, people could find good, previously-owned things instead of buying everything new, she said.

“They don’t need to make new stuff for me. There are enough clothes, furniture, jewelry and picture frames — designer, high-quality stuff — already out there, some of it with original wrap and price tags still on it.” And the world is not getting any bigger, she noted.

Besides shopping at thrift stores and swapping no-longer-needed items with friends, “You can rent or share ownership” of many necessities, Victoria said. Doing so simplifies your lifestyle, takes up less space and alleviates responsibility for maintenance, storage and insurance. “And lessens the impact on the globe,” she added.

“There are 6 billion of us. We don’t need 6 billion cars and 3 billion leaf blowers.”
Instead of making more landfills, perhaps we can generate less excess and slow down the manufacture and accumulation of more stuff by recycling, re-claiming and re-using what already exists.

Besides its conservationist appeal, shopping at garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores can be a lot of fun (read about Jane Still’s visit to Longview’s Red Hat Thrift Store, above). As a bonus, there are sometimes hidden treasures.

One July 4th, I found a 30-inch hand-crafted, burnished tin peacock  (pictured here) at the Lake Sacajawea  flea market. My friend Diana Hoffman recalls once nabbing a copper-lined tobacco cabinet for $4 at a second-hand store and, after 20 years, still treasures her champagne-colored Norm Thompson cashmere sweater picked up at a moving sale for one-fourth its retail value. Recently, she found a chic red raincoat for $3 at Longview’s Toutle River Thrift Shop.
 
“I don’t like shopping in regular stores,” said Diana, a Portland native. “I’ve gone to Nordstrom’s since I was a kid. At Nordstrom’s, there are no surprises.”

Ours is a materialistic society and everybody wants or needs certain things. But many of them are already out there . . . somewhere. Check out local thrift stores (see list, Sidebar), where you can find just about anything and everything — including the kitchen sink. And bathroom sinks. You never know what you might find.“There’s a thrill about it,” Diana said. “If you enjoy the hunt, there are surprises.”