I have to admit, I was an “ukay-ukay” (thrift store) snob in the Philippines. I’d been to the monstrous ukay-ukay market in Zamboanga City, as well as entire buildings filled with ukay-ukay shops in Baguio City. I’d always gone home empty handed. Something about being inundated with mountains of clothes, or row upon row of used goods simply overwhelmed me. Not to mention the icky factor ….
Well, expediency has made me give a second look at thrift shopping. Anton has been running out of pambahay (house clothes), especially since we brought mostly winter clothing and our shipment hasn’t arrived yet. So far, the cheapest baby clothes I’ve seen go for $8 for a T-shirt, still too expensive for me.
So today we trooped to Value Village, the ukay-ukay store of North America. It’s not the thrift shop that we’re used to. For one thing, the items are organized by type and size (e.g., boys tops, boys pants, boys outerwear, 0-18 months, 2 yrs, etc). Everything looks and smells clean. Oh, and Value Village actually advertises on TV and has a pretty snazzy website.
I picked clothes that, based on the state of the tags, seem not to have been washed yet and therefore are probably brand new.
My loot: 4 boys’ T-shirts; 4 boys’ shorts; 2 girls’ T-shirts; 2 girls’ skirts; 1 boys’ romper; and 1 electric toy piano. The store was having a special today and at check out, I got an additional 20% discount. Otherwise, the store’s promo for the day was $5 discount for every $25 you spend. My total bill: $30. Not bad, eh?
Oh and I also bought some items for very cheaply at a church auction (more on that in a future post). I got a 6 1/2-foot Christmas tree for $10 and this bookcase for $5:
My wicker basket from the Philippines fits perfectly in one of the shelves. (And now you can see why Bobby desperately wants a new TV.)
{ 0 comments… add one now }