I love nothing more than when my interests intersect with my travels, and we hit the jackpot in Belfast in a most unexpected way. My love of thrift stores is well documented. Strolling down Botanic Avenue to the Ulster Museum (recommended, especially for the Botanical gardens themselves), in a three block stretch we passed no less than SEVEN thrift stores! Called “Charity Shops” on this side of the pond, the biggest and most notable chain is OxFam, but we also saw ones raising funds for cancer research, fighting hunger, homelessness, and other local charities.
Of course, Deal Kid and I were chomping at the bit to get out there, so we split from Deal Girl and Deal Dad (who lose patience after one or two stores) and hit them all! Deal Kid’s biggest score was a huge stash of Pokemon cards (close to 1000) for 5 pounds that revealed some he’d never seen before…a rare treat indeed!
I used the opportunity to sample a few brands of clothing I’ve never tried before…I went on the feel of the fabric to test the quality. Some googling after the fact revealed I’d picked up some great quality yoga gear for 3 pounds 99 and a wool/cashmere cardigan that sold for 90 pounds originally for 6. That came especially in handy as it’s been a LOT colder here than the sun setting at 11PM would suggest.
Luckily we also picked up a suitcase for 3 pounds to stash all of our new discoveries! Have you had any charity shop steals on your travels? Please share!
Having just downloaded yet another free book from BookBub – once again I must thank you for that link a while ago – I clicked on this. I was surprised since I did not know you were a thrift store shopper. The main reason I rarely follow up on your deal links is I love thrift store shopping and buy very few new items.
To me, reuse is the best of the “reduce, recycle, reuse” mantra because it incorporates the others. Glad you had such fun and found so many gems. It is great to see the value of some finds, isn’t it!
My go-to local store is Value Village, but we also stop into thrift stores when on vacation, not just for browsing but also to get some needed item that we forgot or lost – most recently a decent makeup mirror when the mirror/vanity setup of a hotel was less than desired for someone as near-sighted as me! My son, who currently travels 100% for his job, also seeks out thrift stores if he needs to replace a clothing item. Luckily, his many years as a Nordstrom employee (when he routinely got compliments on his work clothes, much of which came from VV) taught him enough about quality to know what is a truly good find.
Happy hunting!
Hi Elaine,
Oh, yeah, love the thrift stores! I think it’s a logical extension of living overseas where so much of your shopping is open-air and flea markets. I have a number of friends who turn their noses up at thrift stores but will spend hours digging through piles of used junk at the flea…what’s the difference 😉
Especially for kids stuff…thrift stores are a total no-brainer. I was just surprised to see them in such numbers in Ireland/UK. Apparently they are a fairly recent fad (right word?) with the shopping public due to the recession- like here I guess.