The Salvation Army, that is.
Yesterday afternoon I went down to my local Salvation Army for a quick look around. Several years ago the Salvation Army was probably my favorite thrift store in Greeley. On top of having a really great selection of clothing, jewelry and household goods, they had an entire downstairs section full of good-quality furniture. The prices were reasonable on most items and they had fairly regular sales on the items that often seemed over-priced (red tags, mostly).
Unfortunately, on top of all these grand things, the store was run by a band of grumpy women that ran the store with an iron fist. They doled out use of the dressing rooms and bathrooms to whom they saw fit, when they saw fit. On one occasion, Rick got yelled at, very publicly & loudly, for using an open dressing room without asking. You never knew if you were going to get grumped at or if they were going to turn a favorable eye upon you and grant you the extra 10% off on the damaged sweater you asked them about. After shopping there for several years, I knew the system and I could thrift along with the best of them.
And then corporate changed the whole system.
They let go the entire staff and replaced them. At first, the peasants rejoiced! We thought, "Finally! Get some reasonable sales associates in here!" And the new staff is certainly nicer and way more helpful. No doubt about that.
But then corporate changed the pricing and the sale schedule and they completely removed the furniture in the basement, saying that it was a liability and they wanted to see how the store did without it. The store became disorganized and messy. It seemed like they weren't even getting as much stock as they had before.
It was like a really B-level episode of the Twilight Zone, where the store's good stock and deals came from the grumpiness of the workers. I'd watch that. Or maybe they were secretly trolls that guarded their treasure? They never asked me to answer their riddles three, but I remain undecided. Or maybe they were just a group of workers who had seen too much; too much theft, too many people using the dressing rooms as their personal toilet. Too much grumpiness pointed at them for things out of their control for too long. That's probably closer to the truth.
Needless to say, I haven't stopped in a whole lot since the "changing of the guard". It just wasn't worth it. But yesterday I was downtown and thought, "Hey, why not?" & I'm glad that I did.
First, the gems I didn't buy.
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| Essential for hunting a six-fingered man |
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| Both the lunch boxes had a matching thermos inside. The Dick Tracy thermos must have come from a third lunchbox. I always find stuff like this and think, "What am I going to do with this once I buy it?" |
Yellow tags were 50% and I just happened to find a few things that caught my fancy:
- A super-soft baseball tee for me. I'll impersonate a Texas girl if I can wear a shirt this comfy
- A practically like-new Johnny Cash t-shirt for Rick
- A copy of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
- An awesome sixties bedspread, light enough for summertime snoozing
Everything besides the book was a yellow tag, so I felt pretty good about my finds and the price that I paid for them. It seems like the organization of the store has gotten a little better, and though they haven't re-opened the basement area (I don't think they ever will), I really enjoyed my mini-shop. I think I will add the Salvation Army back on my thrifting rotation.
Have you thrifted anything special lately? I would love to hear about them!
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