• Home Decor
    • Interior Design Ideas
    • Design Tips
    • Bathroom Decor
    • Bedroom Decor
    • Dining Room Decor
    • Home Office Decor Ideas
    • Kitchen Decor Ideas
    • Lighting Ideas
    • Living Room Decor
    • Home Tours
    • Design Mood Boards
  • DIY Projects
    • DIYs & Crafts
    • Renovation & Home Improvement
    • Storage & Organization
    • Smart Home & Tech
    • Free Printables
  • Recipes
    • Cocktail Recipes
    • Cooking & Baking
  • Shopping
    • Gift Guides
    • Round Ups
    • Shop My Home
  • Lifestyle
    • Social Media Tips
    • Fashion
    • Health & Beauty Tips
    • Beautiful Distractions
    • Music Playlists
    • Books To Read
  • Contact Kyla
    • Contact Kyla
    • Press & Features
    • Social Media Consultation
    • About Kyla
    • Fun Facts About Kyla
    • Personal Musings
  • Gift Guides
    • Gift Guides
    • Round Ups
  • Shop My Home

House Of Hipsters

Design Tips How To Shopping Vintage Decor

Top 7 Thrift Shopping Tips

September 26, 2017

Last Updated on December 2, 2022

It wasn’t until recently that I started shopping thrift stores. The smell at Goodwill kinda skeezed me out, and more often than not, they are full of discarded junk that no one wants. Broke vases, mismatched glasses, holiday decor, old pots and pans, 100s of vases you get from the floral shop, fake Coach purses…shelf after shelf after shelf of downright garbage, right? WRONG!

Best Thrifting Tips for Vintage Shopping

You’ve read my estate sale post and online estate sale shopping post…so how do you find the diamond in the rough when thrifting? The hidden gems?

Table of Contents

  • My Top 7 Thrift Shopping Tips
    • Thrifting Tip 1 — Shop With An Open Mind
    • Thrifting Tip 2 — Multiple Passes
    • Thrifting Tip 3 — The Restock
    • Thrifting Tip 4 — Make Friends
    • Thrifting Tip 5 — Repurpose / Think Outside The Box
    • Thrifting Tip 6 — Go Often. Go Early.
    • Thrifting Tip 7 — Bring The Essentials
  • What To Bring Thrift Shopping
  • Get More Thrifting and Vintage Shopping Tips

My Top 7 Thrift Shopping Tips

Thrifting Tip 1 — Shop With An Open Mind

If you walk into a thrift shop looking for something in particular, you’ll come out empty-handed every time. Walk in with a very basic plan. When I’m thrift store shopping, I grab a cart and walk past the clothes, past the purses, past the toys, and head straight for home decor. I’m there for one reason, and one reason only…home decor. If your jam is t-shirts, stay in the clothing aisle. If something catches my eye, I pop it into my cart. You can always reevaluate before checking out.

Best Thrift Store Shopping Tips

Thrifting Tip 2 — Multiple Passes

Be sure to walk the aisles multiple times. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve missed something amazing. So now I walk through not once, not twice, but three times a lady. Scan the shelves from top to bottom. Look way in the back, and get low. Look all the way to the bottom. If you can’t see, move items in the front out of your way. Don’t be shy, just dig in.

Thrifting Tip 3 — The Restock

Watch for employees restocking. You’ll see them with big rolling bins or carts loaded up with new treasures. Don’t be afraid of walking over and asking if you can take a peek. Most will let you. Be respectful though. You don’t want to act like a raccoon digging through the garbage bin looking for a midnight snack…although that will be exactly what will go through your mind.

Thrifting Tip 4 — Make Friends

The employees know what’s in the back stock room. If you’re peeking through a restocking bin, chat up the employees and tell them what you like. They might give you a hint or two on what to stick around for.

Best Thrift Store Shopping Tips

Thrifting Tip 5 — Repurpose / Think Outside The Box

Now that you are shopping with an open mind and chasing the stock boy in a non-stalkeresque way, think of what you can repurpose. The will be a heaping pile of bad art. pick through it all but pay close attention to the frames. Bad art can be a gold mine for antique gilded frames. A vintage teacup saucer can make for a whimsical soap dish. Mismatched glasses can be beautiful! I mean, look at those pink beauties up there.

Thrifting Tip 6 — Go Often. Go Early.

I like to go thrift store shopping a couple of hours after they open. It gives the employees time to restock from the previous day. By the end of the day, the shelves have been picked over.

Why go often? Every day they receive new donations. That means new merchandise on the shelves. Plus, the more often you go, the faster you’ll walk the aisles. Yes, there will be the same 147 glasses vases on the same shelf daily. Get to know those 147 glasses vases well because when a beautiful piece of Murano is stocked, it’ll jump right out and bite you.

Best Thrifting Tips for Vintage Shopping

Thrifting Tip 7 — Bring The Essentials

What To Bring Thrift Shopping

  1. Tape Measure — even if you find a piece you know you’re going to sell, bring a tape measure. More often than not, a thrift store purchase is final. You do not want to buy a dresser only to find out it doesn’t fit in your car.
  2. Flashlight — You will be looking in bins and kneeling on the floor. It’s much easier when you have a little extra light on hand.
  3. Hand Sanitizer — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked something up at a thrift store and it’s sticky. Even the thought of this gives me the heebie jeebiez. Always, always, always have hand sanitizer on you.
  4. Jeweler’s Loupe — This is a new one for me. I got burned on a piece of art that I would have sworn up and down was an original charcoal drawing. It wasn’t. When looking at artwork under a loupe, you will see a dot pattern if it is a print. Because the employees at a thrift shop are not art experts, a loupe can be very helpful if you’re trying to determine if what you’re looking at is a serigraph, lithograph, or original piece.
  5. Lightbulb — For obvious reasons, you shouldn’t be walking around with a lightbulb in your purse or pocket, but bringing one with you to the thrift store can be helpful if you’re looking at lamps. You don’t want to haul a lamp home only to find out it needs to be rewired…although rewiring isn’t too difficult.
  6. Smart Phone — If you find a piece that is marked or signed but unsure of the maker or artist, Google it. You’ll immediately know its worth and quality.

Are you already a thrift store shopping expert? I’d love to know your best tip. Any tips you’d like to add? I’d love to know!

Get More Thrifting and Vintage Shopping Tips

So you are drawn to certain things while shopping estate sales and thrift shops but not sure what’s next – check out this post How To Start A Collection, and learn why collecting can be fun and how to display your vintage collection.

Vintage Barware is one of my favorite things to collect. Here’s how I style it on my modern bar cart.

I teamed up with Sarah from Room For Tuesday and Chloe from Boxwood Ave. to share our Favorite Vintage Decor finds.

Are you visiting Chicago, and do you love vintage? Check out my ultimate guide to vintage shopping in Chicago for the list of all lists.

The Boy and I made a pipe shelf out of wood planks and some plumbing pipes from Home Depot. Here’s the tutorial on how to build a pipe shelf.

I finally talked myself into braving the scent at Goodwill and created holiday ornaments from ugly sweaters.

Vintage Scores – Hallway Decor

Office Makeover With Vintage Finds

80s Modern Home Decor – A Home Tour

TAGS:estate salesThrift Store
6 Comments
Share
blank
Kyla Herbes

Kyla Herbes is an interior designer and home decor content creator based in Chicago, IL. She shares daily doses of home decor, corners of her home, interior styling tips, and will inspire you to do it yourself. House Of Hipsters has been featured in Architectural Digest, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, HGTV, The Huffington Post, Refinery29, Rue Magazine, and Style Me Pretty Living. Kyla has also made appearances on BravoTV and WGN TV and was named a Better Homes and Gardens Style Maker 3 years in a row.

You May Also Like

Holiday Gift Guide For Him

December 16, 2020

Amazon Prime Sale!

October 11, 2022

Drywall The Basement and Karndean Flooring

January 17, 2017
  • blank
    Mary
    September 26, 2017

    Great tips, Kyla!

    Reply
  • blank
    Miranda
    September 26, 2017

    I love these tips! I never thought to bring a Loupe! Hand sanitizer, most definitely

    Reply
  • blank
    Sara jane
    September 26, 2017

    Another tip: bend down. Yes, bend down. Most people peruse the shelves at eye level. I’ve found gems that others missed because they were in the back on a bottom shelf. So bend and move things to get to the back. One amazing find is worth all the bending.

    Reply
  • blank
    JJ
    September 26, 2017

    This has happened to me before, but it happened again just a few days ago in a thrift store. I was looking at a jacket (this lesson easily applies to anything you are shopping for-hard goods, decor..) it set off that bit of spark, you know the one, where you’re studying it, you think ‘this has something to it’, ‘I like it’. Well I left it there & thought ‘I can come back to it’. In the meantime, I saw a guy watching me look at that jacket. We made eye contact even. I knew he saw that I saw something in that piece. But I didn’t ‘listen’. After shopping some more, I went back. Guess what? It was gone. Of course it was! Listen to your gut. If you’re on the fence put it in your cart anyway. Carry it around. You can always put it back. Google it. Think on it. Look at in different light in another part of the store. All it takes is for one other person to be in the store!

    Reply
  • blank
    Kelly Mahan
    October 2, 2017

    Thanks for the tips, they’re really useful! #6 is one that I’ll sure be following!

    Reply
  • blank
    mandala tapestry
    November 7, 2017

    Great tips! love it..

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Comment

Previous Post
Passion Fruit Cocktail With Lillet Blanc
Next Post
What The World Needs Now

SEARCH

Let’s Get Social

  • Amazon
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Hi, I’m Kyla

Kyla Herbes - House of Hipsters

Welcome to my little corner of the internet where I share daily doses of home decor, corners of my home, styling tips, and inspire you to decorate with me.

Sprinkled in you’ll find cocktail recipes and a few of my favorite meals to cook…maybe a DIY or two. Stay as long as you like and leave a comment to say hello.

READ MORE ABOUT KYLA

Sponsors

Living Room Decor

Unique Lighting Ideas

Modern Kitchen Decor

obsessed

Current Lighting Favorites

product_title_1

Modern Wall Sconce

product_title_2

Unique Table Lamp

where I shop

Favorite Online Shops

Anthro Home

House Of Jade

Amazon Home

Urban Outfitters Home

McGee & Co.

CB2

Arhaus

Etsy Favorite Finds

House Of Hipsters favorite Etsy home decor

SHOP MY ETSY FAVORITES

HOH Is On YouTube

HOH Is On YouTube HOH Is On YouTube

Discover evern more home decor inapiration and easy interior design tips on my YouTube Channel.

House Of Hipsters on YouTube

Recent How-Tos & DIYs

  • Learn 7 genius ways to hang a picture like a pro

    7 Ways To Hang A Picture Like A Pro

    February 1, 2023
  • Declutter Your Home: Tips and checklist to a cleaner, tidier home.

    Declutter Your Home Checklist And 7 Easy Decluttering Tips

    December 31, 2022
  • blank

    27 Decorative Boxes Your Inner Decorator Will Love

    September 26, 2022

Search By Category

  • Beautiful Distractions
  • Books
  • DIY
    • Cleaning and Organizing
  • Fashion
  • Free Printables
  • Health & Beauty Tips
  • Home Decor
    • Art
    • Bathroom
    • Bedroom
    • Closet Decor
    • Design Mood Boards
    • Design Tips
    • Dining Room Decor
    • Holiday Decor
    • Home Office Decor Ideas
    • Home Tours
    • How To
    • Kitchen Decor
    • Lighting Ideas
    • Living Room Decor Ideas
    • Outdoor Decor Ideas
    • Vintage Decor
  • Music
  • Personal
  • Recipes
    • Cocktail Recipes
    • Cooking
  • Renovation and Home Improvement
    • Smart Home Ideas
  • Shopping
    • Gift Guides
    • Round Up
  • Social Media Tips

LEGAL STUFF

House Of Hipsters contains some contextual affiliate links. I only recommend products or services I use personally and feel my readers will enjoy. All opinions are 100% mine.

PRIVACY POLICY

COOKIES POLICY

Let's collaborate

Are you a brand? Let's partner up. Do you live in an amazing home you'd like featured on House Of Hipsters? Let's chat!

Get in Touch

  • Contact Me
  • About Kyla
  • Press & Features
  • Home Decor Ideas
  • Round Ups
  • Gift Guides
  • Shop My Home

©House Of Hipsters 2023 Site Powered by Pix & Hue.