Question about thrift stores...

gpgorbosjr

gpgorbosjr

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I'm just getting active on this site and a lot of the threads have gotten me motivated to go find some deals, especially on older games. (I'm 23 now...until the N64 came out my parents refused to buy me games, they wanted me to read and stuff lol)

So, I was wondering a few things...

How do you find thrift stores?

I never really seen any around where I live. And there is one place on the highway that sells games WAY overpriced (like $20 for a crappy PSX game).

How is shopping at Good Will and Salvation Army?

The ones around me are mostly located in poorer areas where I feel like some people shopping there may be in greater need of the deals than me? How do I not feel bad about this.




Sorry if any of my questions are weird...
 
There are sites online where you can punch in your zip code and find a list of thrifts in the area, try http://www.thethriftshopper.com/

And Goodwill and SA stores aren't designed to sell things to the poor, the stores support those companies endeavors to help the homeless or jobless, so there's really nothing to feel bad about. And honestly, if people are really needy, I doubt an old SNES game is (or at least it shouldn't be) high on their list of priorities.

Also, if you don't find anything your first trip don't give up. My first round of thrift runs I found squat, but I've started going regularly and have been rewarded with some really awesome finds for my perseverance.
 
Try to visit the thrift stores in the richer neighborhoods. They tend to have the good stuff (Though I've had luck all over back when I went regularly.)
 
Goodwill has a store locater.
I think Salvation Army has one too.
The above "thethriftshopper" has one too, but I don't like how it works personally.
A lot of the time I'll just type "thrift" into google maps and make a note of what pops up.
 
Not just richer neighborhoods, but if a store has drop-off locations like most Goodwills have, try to find out which store the stuff from the drop-offs in richer areas go to. I'm pretty lucky in that trucks pick up stuff from a richer area outside of town here and bring it to the GW closest to me.
 
[quote name='aptanor']There are sites online where you can punch in your zip code and find a list of thrifts in the area, try http://www.thethriftshopper.com/

And Goodwill and SA stores aren't designed to sell things to the poor, the stores support those companies endeavors to help the homeless or jobless, so there's really nothing to feel bad about. And honestly, if people are really needy, I doubt an old SNES game is (or at least it shouldn't be) high on their list of priorities.

Also, if you don't find anything your first trip don't give up. My first round of thrift runs I found squat, but I've started going regularly and have been rewarded with some really awesome finds for my perseverance.[/QUOTE]

You never go to a thrift store looking for something, you go to see what you can find.
 
Thanks for the tips guys.

Maybe tomorrow in between work I'll check out something. I know there is a SA in a decent spot about 20 minutes away from me.
 
Man, I really need to get in on this but it seems like those of you who find anything good spend a lot of time doing it.
 
It depends a lot on the area you're in.

I've had varying success at GW and SA. When I used to live in CT I found something interesting almost every trip, now that I'm in South Florida I can't even find anything I'd take for free. I can literally count on 1 hand the amount of things I've seen that I'd ever want. I'm not sure why I never find anything (gets bought before I see it, nothing good gets donated, good stuff gets sold online), but it sucks.

I've had better luck with independent thrift stores in the area though.
 
Shopping at Goodwill is good because they have a base price for all their games, depending on the type of games they are, no matter the title, or what they think it's worth.

I've scored quite a few DC, PSX games there before, and they are always $4 each, even though some of the titles are rare/hard to find.

In general there's just more consistency when you buy stuff at a bigger thrift store chain like Goodwill or Salvation Army since they tend to have sales too. Salvation Army runs 50%-80% sales all the time, so a $4 game can end up being just a buck or two.

The only drawback is that there really are no refunds for thrift stores, you take them as is, and at most they give you store credit depending on the thrift store (at least for the bigger thrift chains).
 
It's hit and miss, and the prices are always all over the place. There's one local Goodwill that literally prices games based on the lowest going rate on the Amazon Marketplace. Others just price all games at a generic $3.99 regardless of whether it's rare and valuable or not. You typically won't find any deals on consoles at Goodwill or SA, even for relatively worthless consoles like PS1, Gamecube, and Sega Genesis, it's rare to find one priced at less than $20 even if it's just the console with no wires controllers or games. Generally thrift stores are miss more than hit for me lately, but usually when I do make a hit, it's a BIG hit, and makes the effort worth it overall.

Another national chain is Savers, but they tend to be way overpriced, so it's not great for resellers, but you will sometimes find items there you want, just not at the price you wanted to pay.
 
So my first trip stunk....went to a Goodwill around me....a few psx's for $25 (one of them painted blue), crappy psx games for $7.99, and Big Hurt for the Gameboy priced at $5.99.

Also had a replica Atari (one of those cheap knockoff things that has certain games built into it) and my friend got all excited thinking it was real. Quite embarrassing.
 
[quote name='gpgorbosjr']
Also had a replica Atari (one of those cheap knockoff things that has certain games built into it) and my friend got all excited thinking it was real. Quite embarrassing.[/QUOTE]
If you're decent with a soldering iron, you can mod the Flashback 2 (if that was the one you found) to play (most, if not all) 2600 carts.
 
[quote name='mguiddy']If you're decent with a soldering iron, you can mod the Flashback 2 (if that was the one you found) to play (most, if not all) 2600 carts.[/QUOTE]

Not sure....didn't pay much attention to it. If it was cheap I'd give it a try because I want to practice my soldering but I think they were trying to sell it for $15 or $20 so I turned my nose up.
 
[quote name='gpgorbosjr']So my first trip stunk....went to a Goodwill around me....a few psx's for $25 (one of them painted blue), crappy psx games for $7.99, and Big Hurt for the Gameboy priced at $5.99.

Also had a replica Atari (one of those cheap knockoff things that has certain games built into it) and my friend got all excited thinking it was real. Quite embarrassing.[/QUOTE]

Wait. Was it painted blue, or actually blue?
 
[quote name='HotJuicyBurgers']Wait. Was it painted blue, or actually blue?[/QUOTE]

No, painted blue! Imagine ? lol.

It was hilarious because my friend looks at it and goes "That's not even a spray paint job, looks like they used a paint brush".
 
[quote name='gpgorbosjr']No, painted blue! Imagine ? lol.

It was hilarious because my friend looks at it and goes "That's not even a spray paint job, looks like they used a paint brush".[/QUOTE]

Oh ok lol. I would have had a conniption if it was a developer psx lol
 
[quote name='HotJuicyBurgers']Oh ok lol. I would have had a conniption if it was a developer psx lol[/QUOTE]

Haha no.....it looked like a pre-k kid took it to art class.
 
I don't find much at thrifts, then again, I don't bother going much, but that is because (almost) every time I go there is nothing. Certain thrifts definitely have a better selection than others, on all merchandise. Sometimes a thrift is just terrible all around, and all the time.

I doubt I would do well on video games at thrifts even if I was stopping in 2-3 times a week, which for me would likely be a huge waste of gasoline. Now yard sales, that is another story, I do quite well at those and I almost always get several things I want from a run, even if its not games or game related. There are many sales in the same neighborhood usually, and like I said I almost always get something I want, at a large discount so its not really a waste of gasoline for me.
 
Firstly- never worry that the other shoppers might 'need the deals more' You are not buying clothes or housewares or other essentials. You are buying videogames. No one needs videogames.

Aside from that, thrift stores and the like are always a crapshoot. Your best options are to find out when restock day is, and come back often. I had my best luck when the Deseret Industries thrift store opened near my work... those first few months I got some good stuff. Then people figured out they were there and it all went downhill (since I always got there after work, so the restocks got picked over.)

Oh, if you can make friends with anyone working donations, that's a help too. I can tell you for a fact the really good stuff gets pocketed long before it gets to the sales floor.
 
[quote name='gpgorbosjr']How do you find thrift stores?[/QUOTE]
A phonebook. They're free.

[quote name='gpgorbosjr']How is shopping at Good Will and Salvation Army?[/quote]
It's like Walmart, but cleaner.

[quote name='gpgorbosjr']The ones around me are mostly located in poorer areas where I feel like some people shopping there may be in greater need of the deals than me? How do I not feel bad about this.[/quote]
Just remember that they are subhuman and need to be treated as such.
 
[quote name='ZombieToast']A phonebook. They're free.


It's like Walmart, but cleaner.


Just remember that they are subhuman and need to be treated as such.[/QUOTE]

:thumbup:
 
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