Podcast #2 – The Beginner’s Guide to Thrifting

In the second episode of the Ultimate Thrifting podcast, I chatted with Ryan about the ins and outs of thrifting, including its rise in popularity, common misconceptions, tips for beginners, identifying quality items, and memorable thrifting experiences. I shared more about my personal thrifting and resale journey, the impact of social media, and the importance of sustainability in the secondhand market. Ryan and I also covered practical advice for first-time thrifters, including what to look for and how to navigate thrift stores effectively.

Here’s a transcript of my discussion with Ryan:

Ryan (00:00)
Hi everyone, and welcome to the Ultimate Thrifting podcast. I’m Ryan, and for those who don’t know me, I spent 11 amazing years running a software company that was recently acquired. And now I’m thrilled to be an advisor at Ultimate Thrifting. Today I’m here with Kelly, the founder of Ultimate Thrifting, who has a 20-year history with thrifting and reselling. Kelly is also an accomplished author and educator in the thrifting space.

Kelly, thanks so much for joining me on this podcast.

Kelly (00:27)
Hey Ryan, I’m excited to talk thrifting.

Ryan (00:30)
That’s fantastic. In today’s episode, we’re going to chat about what thrifting is all about. Kelly, maybe you can get us started by telling us more about how you got involved with thrifting and your journey so far.

Kelly (00:42)
Sure, well, I grew up in a small town that didn’t really have any thrift stores, so I kind of got into it later than a lot of people. I had my son, when he was about a year old, I remember first going to a thrift store near my house to check out what they had for kids, and I was blown away by the amount of good stuff. Mostly I had hand-me-downs for the first, you know, year of his life of clothing, etc. But if I did have to buy him something new, I was going towards cheap brands like Old Navy and Joe Fresh. At Value Village, I was finding stuff new with tags or barely used by great brands like Ralph Lauren and, you know, higher end stuff like that that I was so excited to put on him.

And toys too, the baby toys were crazy. There were so many and they were so cheap.

Ryan (01:38)
Okay, so Kelly, you got involved then quite some time ago through your son, through other experiences, and thrifting has really grown over the last few years. Why do you think thrifting has become so much more popular recently?

Kelly (01:52)
Well, I think there’s a variety of reasons. First of all, there’s, you know, a lot of the rise of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, where people are posting videos of their thrift hauls. So getting the word out where other people who maybe haven’t experienced thrifting get to see all of the amazing things they can find.

You know, lately, the economy is not so great, more people are looking to buy secondhand. There’s the environmental concern. Sustainability has been, you know, a growing topic over the past decade or two, and people want to do their part, and that might mean buying secondhand clothing instead of buying new. And in general, I just think thrift stores have so much more in them now than maybe 20 years ago, probably just with the rise of cheaper clothing/fast fashion. There’s just more of a tendency for people to discard clothing quickly or after not using it very much because they didn’t have a lot of money into it. They’re not as concerned about it.

Ryan (02:58)
Okay, so there’s a lot of influence from social media and elsewhere that’s helping to encourage thrifting, but there are also a lot of people who still aren’t participating in circular fashion. What are some of the common misconceptions that people might have still about thrifting?

Kelly (03:16)
Well, some people think it’s just for the poor or underprivileged, that that’s the purpose of thrift stores, to provide affordable clothing for those who might not be able to afford to buy retail. Really, that’s not the case at all. If anyone watched our first video episode or listened to that podcast, our interview with the chief marketing officer of Goodwill Onney Crawley, we talked about how the purpose of Goodwill, or their mission, I should say, is to sell clothing in order to raise funds be able to promote all of the…

Ryan (03:52)
Social programs, work programs.

Kelly (03:55)
Yep.

So they sell clothing and housewares, etc., everything you see in their stores in order to raise money to fund their campaigns and social programs. So really they’re happy for anyone, obviously, to go in and buy things because they want to raise as much money through their stores as possible. And also, like I said, some people in that vein think that if you don’t need to buy secondhand that you shouldn’t because you’re taking something away from those who need it. But again, the thrift stores are so full, there is just way more than enough to go around.

Maybe another myth is that thrift stores only have old, worn out, dirty stuff. Totally not true. Again, if you watch any kind of thrift hauls, you’ll see all the time people find stuff brand new with tags. I do it all the time or stuff that looks like it’s never been used. So that’s just totally wrong.

Ryan (04:51)
Okay, so you’ve been going to thrift stores for a long time now, but what about beginners starting out? Like if someone was gonna go into a thrift store for the first time, what are the top three things that maybe they should know before they go to a thrift store for their first visit?

Kelly (05:07)
Well, it’s easy to be overwhelmed when you walk into a thrift store, because there are just racks and racks facing you. I’ll use someone like my mom, for example. So my mom is not a thrifter in general. There just aren’t thrift stores again, and she’s still in my hometown. And it’s not something she’s used to. But sometimes she’ll go with me when she’s here and… she always tells me she never finds anything, can’t find anything good. And I see her walking up and down aisles and randomly she’ll pull something out and look at it. And then I come over to her 20 minutes later and I’m like, here, mom found a pile of stuff for you to look at. See if you like it, try it. And she’s just flabbergasted. From that, we can say one, you have to have patience and be open-minded because you just don’t know what you’re gonna find, first of all.

And secondly, you have to search. You can’t just pull out a piece here and there that catches your eye and hope that it’s going to be something good. I basically, I don’t have time. I don’t go through the entire store, but I’ll pick a section or certain racks and I skim through every single item, passing through all the hangers and… that’s how you find the hidden treasures.

Ryan (06:28)
Okay, what about the purchase process or decision making? Like, how do you tell if something is going to be worth buying? How do know if you should buy it? Like are the return policies to consider or what else goes into thrift store planning and purchase decision making?

Kelly (06:45)
So even though we talked about how there’s a lot of brand new or nearly new items that you can find in the thrift store, you do have to be careful and watch for flaws. Although you can get really excited sometimes by something that you pull out and find, you really want to take the time to inspect it carefully. I have pretty much made every mistake you can make; brought home any kind of flaw you can imagine from holes that I didn’t notice in the thrift store, stains I didn’t notice, missing buttons, zippers not working, I have seen it all and kicked myself for not checking more carefully in the store. So you do want to be careful because, leading from that, you want to know the store’s return policy before you 100 % make up your mind about something.

A lot of thrift stores don’t offer straight returns. I actually don’t know of any in my area that offer returns. Usually the best you can do is exchange, and some of them are final sale. So make sure you ask, because you don’t want to be stuck with something. And some stores like Value Village/Savers, most of their locations removed change rooms during the pandemic and never brought them back.

So especially if you can’t try something on, you need to know if you’re going to be able to exchange it or not. So you want to factor that in, factor in the cost before you make up your mind.

Ryan (08:12)
Okay, so just to summarize then, people should visit thrift stores with an open mind, be patient, check return policies and also verify that the items are in good condition. Okay.

Kelly (08:24)
Yeah, definitely.

Maybe check the care label as well, because if you’re not a person who wants to pay for dry cleaning or wants to, you know, deal with some types of materials that need more care, you might want to end up leaving that behind if it can’t be washed.

Ryan (08:39)
Okay, and I know you have your favorite thrift stores, but for someone just starting out, how would they go about choosing which thrift stores to visit?

Kelly (08:49)
I think the easiest thing first of all would be just to find out what’s in your area. Google Maps is a great place to start, just search. And the nice thing there is that reviews will come up as well. So you can maybe read the reviews to see, you know, what other shoppers have thought of those locations to kind of narrow it down. Maybe there is a certain charity you want to support because, you know, there are both charitable thrift stores and for-profit thrift stores. So for example, Goodwill, Salvation Army are not-for-profit, where Value Village/Savers is a for-profit corporation. So maybe you’d rather, you know, your money go to a certain organization or not, so you might want to make up your mind on that.

Ryan (09:35)
Okay, and I know you tend to find better picks in stores and more affluent areas. Is that a big consideration when you’re choosing thrift stores?

Kelly (09:45)
For sure it can be. I know I’m really lucky to live in a more affluent suburb of Toronto, close to a pretty wealthy neighborhood. So I have definitely noticed that I will find higher end items at those locations. And I have heard from other thrifters that the same can be true in areas all across North America. So definitely if you have the rich neighborhood that you can get to, you might want to check those out.

Ryan (10:16)
Okay, and once you’ve found a store then say you’re planning your first visit, what are things that a first-time thrifter should take with them to the store?

Kelly (10:25)
Ooh, good question. Okay. First of all, cash. Some thrift stores, especially smaller, non-chain stores, may be cash only. So you don’t want to get to the cash register and have a pile of stuff and not be able to pay, obviously. Some of those stores, of course, will have ATMs inside them, but the fees will be ridiculous. On top of that, you may want to take a tape measure. Again, if there’s no fitting rooms, you might want to measure some clothing items to try and get a better idea if they will fit you.

Ryan (10:58)
Okay, and I’ve seen your trunk. I know you always have reusable bags and you’re also doing a lot of research on your phone. Do you think those are also important items to have with you?

Kelly (11:09)
Yeah, for sure. Most stores in general, let alone thrift stores, no longer offer bags. So, especially me when I come, I usually have a cart full at the cash. So I bring at least three or four reusable bags in with me. And I mean, everyone has their phones, don’t they? But yeah, I guess we should mention a smartphone is definitely your friend if you want to look something up while you’re in the store, maybe it’s a brand you’ve never heard of, or you want to compare prices on something because thrift stores have also been known to sometimes price things higher than retail. And you don’t want to thrift something and get home and find out you paid more than whatever you could buy it for somewhere else. That’s for sure.

Ryan (11:51)
And I know you’re always sending me photos and listings of amazing deals you found.

How do other people find great deals in thrift stores?

Kelly (12:00)
Well, first of all, I pretty much never pay regular price at the thrift store or the tagged price on items. Definitely, if you have stores in your neighborhood, check if they have an email list and sign up so that if there are sales or coupons emailed out, you’re the first to know about them. A lot of stores will offer coupons for donating. I pretty much never go to a thrift store empty handed so that I can get a coupon. And you know there are other like Seniors Days. I know around here Value Village has every single Tuesday or there might be student discounts, military discounts. So just ask, you know it never hurts to ask, and pretty much expect that you never have to pay full price.

Ryan (12:50)
Okay, thanks, Kelly. And once you do find some items in stores, what should you look for, especially in clothing, to make sure what you’re getting is good quality? Like I know you mentioned brands, but what else are good indicators that something is worth buying?

Kelly (13:05)
Well, I think you get to a point when you know clothing that you can even tell by the look and feel of something that it’s good quality. Now, why is that? It’s probably because of what something’s made of and that’s what you’re feeling. So I would always try to look for more natural fibers or fabrics like silk, 100 % cotton, linen, wool.

Ryan (13:25)
Okay.

Kelly (13:32)
As opposed to synthetics. things like polyester, unless it’s like activewear because activewear is pretty much all polyester. Rayon, viscose, modal, pretty much the things that fast fashion uses. And you know that they’re trying to mimic the natural fabrics, but they won’t last as long. They’ll wear out quickly after a wash or two; they usually they might have loose threads you know loose buttons, uneven seams, there’s lots of things you can look for that are indications of quality.

Ryan (14:05)
All right. So now that we know what to look for and what kind of stores to go to, it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners to go into a thrift store and know where to start. I know when I go in, it can be pretty overwhelming, but at least most of the time I have you there to kind of direct me and tell me what to look for. So for someone who does feel overwhelmed just by the amount of clothing and other merchandise, how do you get past that in a thrift store? How do you focus on what’s good and not feel like it’s too much?

Kelly (14:35)
Well, I would say just try to narrow it down. So say I didn’t know anything. I’m going to a thrift store. So I’m a woman. So I’m saying, okay, I’m going to start and just focus on women’s clothing today. And maybe I can go further from there and say, right now it is February. We just got a insane amount of snow last night. So we’re still in winter wonderland, so I’m going to only focus on things that I can wear right now or in the next couple months. So maybe I’ll just check through the racks of sweaters, long sleeve tops, jeans and pants, stuff like that. So it doesn’t feel quite so overwhelming if you try to stick to one or two areas.

Ryan (15:26)
Okay, so you’re in a store looking around for the first time. What are some common mistakes that you see beginners make when they start thrifting?

Kelly (15:34)
Well, we did talk about damage and that’s the mistake that I’ve made many times and still occasionally make. So that would probably be number one is to inspect your items thoroughly. Again, it can’t be said enough. Secondly, I would say impulse buying or buying too much. I see a lot of people get super excited and you know, I can’t blame them because if you’re not used to thrifting, you can be amazed at what you find and how cheap it is, but that can also lead you down the path of buying something just because it’s cheap. And really that’s not the point, right? You don’t want to waste money on stuff that you’re not going to wear just because it’s cheap. So it’s better to put your money into higher quality items that you know you’re gonna love and that will last longer in your closet.

And one more thing, just again, I mentioned checking the care tag, seeing what’s required to keep that garment looking its best. Again, if you’re not gonna want to pay for dry cleaning, maybe avoid things that require that.

Ryan (16:41)
Excellent. I know when a lot of people talk about thrifting, they focus on some of the most valuable items they’ve found, like the best deal they’ve had, the most memorable, whether it’s sentimental or otherwise, like different things that just stand out to them with thrifting. What about you? Like what’s your most valuable or unique item that you found through thrifting?

Kelly (17:02)
Honestly, and we haven’t talked about how I’m a reseller, but I do have a thriving reselling business that I started almost five years ago now. So I have made money. I’ve found a lot of things that have made great profit, but really the ones that stick in my mind that I can think of off the top of my head first come down to sentimental value and finding something that I grew up with in the 80s is always so fun. And for example, I found an original Light Bright toy in the box still with the pegs and some unused papers that I was able to bring home and show my son at the time how to do it. And it was just so great, I loved it.

And then another time I was waiting in line to pay at the Salvation Army and it just happened to be in front of the bedding section. And I looked over and saw these sheets that, I mean, you couldn’t miss them. They were from the 60s, total flower power, bright orange and green. And I realized they were the exact same set that my sister had on her bed growing up that had somehow, you know, got lost over the years. I think when my mom moved after high school, she got rid of a bunch of stuff and I called my sister. I was almost screaming and I bought them and now they live on my niece’s bed and we both love it. So both items were totally, I think under five dollars and you know, I didn’t make any money off them, but they were probably my best finds.

Ryan (18:53)
Kelly, those are great insights. Thanks so much for sharing some of those personal memories. I did want to also thank you for your time today. Everything that we talked about here and tips and guidance, they’ll all be posted on the Ultimate Thrifting website. So make sure you check us out there if you’re listening. We will also have a transcript and audio of this podcast on the blog. So you can find it at ultimatethrifting.com. Kelly, is there anything else you want to mention before we sign off?

Kelly (19:24)
Just stay tuned because I look forward to going more in depth on a lot of thrifting topics in future episodes.

Ryan (19:31)
Good, so do I. And thanks everyone for listening today. We hope you enjoyed the podcast.