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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Thrifting In Winston Salem!

I blogged yesterday about my "getting away from it all" at home and heading out to have lunch with Lisa and Karen.....such good sports at dumping all on THEIR "TO DO" lists just to indulge my desire to have some gf chat time over some good food.

We went to a place we've frequented a couple times before (and will again!) Nawab....the best Indian food in Winston! Really...I always leave there full to the point of pain, so maybe it's not a good idea to go there.. :cÞ

We sat and gabbed and ate and chatted and laughed and ate some more. At which time I asked which was the best way to get to Peter's Creek Parkway from there...and Karen's eyes lit up. "Are you going to the Goodwill Clearance Center???" She hadn't been before..CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Well, she was in for an awakening, Quiltville style.



This is the beautiful new Goodwill in Winston....it has a career training center, a retail store on the right, AND the clearance center on the left!



This was our entrance! Quite the nice building, don't you think?



Upon entering, and grabbing a cart (A buggy, if you are in the South...) THIS is what you are greeted with! Miles of bins on wheels, stuff piled high! An overwhelming sense of "OH MY. WHERE DO I START!?" And you have to be willing to DIG...and DIG...because there is no rhyme or reason to anything. You've got to know that the BEST finds might be at the bottom of one of these bins, so you can't just casually walk by and GLANCE...you've gotta get IN THERE!



Karen found some wool clothing items for Lisa who does rug hooking (Yeah, she's gone to the other side and taken up with the hookers! *LOL*)And we spent time laughing about really WEIRD items, and finding things that we would even take home and wear ourselves..it was really fun!



And what did we pay? Signs hung from the ceiling telling us that clothing was $1.39 a pound, or if you bought 25lbs or more...it was $.99! I suppose you could get friends to go with you and get that much...I have a confession to make, the first time I went to find clothing I could repurpose into quilts, I came home with 35 POUNDS of clothing....so I got the bargain that day!



If English is your second language, there is this sign to help you too!



To check out, you simply wheel your cart up onto the scale, and someone will ring you up!

All in all, I paid about $10.70 for what I came home with. That's 12 articles of clothing....from shirts to skirts to pajama pants. That averages .89 cents a piece. Not bad! My treasures are ready to be put through the wash so I can cut them down into useable pieces for quilting. It was definitely a SCORE day!

19 comments:

  1. WOW - this looks like the kind of place a person could stay all day rummaging!!

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  2. How much fun!!!! I am afraid that would be a dangerous place for me to go...not necessarily for my pocketbook but because I would probably hit the 99 cent category!

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  3. I LOVE going to our Goodwill Outlet Center. I will be the one in there digging until I reach the bottom! My daughter, not so much! LOL!! I found a pair of VS shorts, new with tags! You sure have taught me to look at clothes in a new light. Much to the dismay of my family!! LOL!!

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  4. Aww man!!! Next time I'm going with you guys. I don't care what's going on at the office!

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  5. I want to see WHAT you got, Bonnie!

    (nosy) Lucy~

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  6. You scored all right, big time!

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  7. Now that is what I call Good Will. Ours is a lot higher in pricing than that. Our Good will is called Deseret Industries and owned by the LDS church and I think they are trying to make a million dollars everyday.

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  8. Oh my....I would go bananas!!! I hit my local Goodwill once or twice a week....and have blogged about some great finds....but it is just a small store....what would I do at the Outlet.....go bananas I'm sure! :)

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  9. WOW I never knew that GW had a clearance store! A bargain hunters paradise :-)

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  10. Anonymous3:37 PM EDT

    Wish you would have called me! How fun for you guys!!

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  11. I was so full from lunch that I didn't eat dinner...oh, it was sooo good!! Loved the rummaging trip too...just dropped off the wool finds at Lisa's house today. I'm still hiding mine in the van... ;)

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  12. Gee whiz. Our Goodwill charges $3.75 per item of adult clothing, more for coas, jackets, suits. I need a clearance store, too!

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  13. I love a good treasure hunt! This weekend the Junior League of Winston-Salem is having their huge annual rummage sale at the convention center. Starts Friday, and prices drop periodically until sat pm. Not sure exactly, but I think Sat AM things go to 1/2 price, then Sat afternoon it is everything you can fit in a bag for $5. Whatever isn't sold goes to the GW so keep a lookout for other bargings starting on sunday :) Treasures everywhere, and hunting with friends makes it all better

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  14. I love Thrift Store shopping. To me, it serves as both a treasure hunt and cheap entertainment, but it's also an addiction. The biggest bargain here is at one thrift store's $1.00-a-bag room. Louise

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  15. Anonymous1:58 AM EDT

    I love going to goodwill stores (or Op(portunity) Shops as we sometimes call them here in Australia. I have to ask though, are you a fabric snob when you look for your items ie. only 100% cotton, or do you go with the feel, colour and quality of the fabric and the content isn't as important? I have a lot more trouble finding shirting in cotton, we seem to have a load of poly cottons here and also beautifully coloured items with 5% spandex mixed into the cotton!

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  16. sounds like a great day. Fantastic lunch and a great resale shop. Looks like fun.

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  17. Anonymous4:50 AM EDT

    That is mind boggling! Here in Perth, the clothing is on racks....and only a minute amount compared to what is there!

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  18. Wow, I'll have to check out the goodwill here. I've never been to one.

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  19. Wow, looks like my kind of heaven! Well, until I get shoppers overload and have to retreat to the solitude of my front porch with tea and a book...

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