Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Saving on clothes: Consignment shops

I enjoy having new (or at least new to me) clothing, but I generally find it hard to stomach the price tags. I sometimes shop at Goodwill during their $1.10/item sale, but find it takes a decent time investment to find nice clothing. Last time I went, I'm not sure I even bought anything.

However, I have discovered our local women's consignment shop to be a bargain-hunter's paradise. Before you rush out and spend money, let me explain.

In our town, we have a small, family-operated women's consignment shop. They're selective in the items they accept--and as a result have rooms full of very nice clothing. Their prices are far better than what you'd typically find at a clothing store, yet still more than I'd like to pay. (I think I've bought a total of about two of their "full price" items.)

However, the store has a once-a-month sack sale--$3 a bag for clothes with the current color tag. I recently paid $3.21 for a bag of clothes. This is part of what I picked up:



I later added up the prices and it would have cost over $100 for the clothes if I'd bought them on regular consignment--and that's not even considering new prices. Some months the selection for the sack sale is rather poor, other times it's amazing (the above, for instance, was purchased weeks after the sale began). I've found that the best deals may be found by being there when the shop opens on the day of the sack sale.

To find out about deals in your area, check your yellow pages for consignment shops (ask if they have any sort of mark-down sale to get rid of clothes they've had for a while), ask friends about deals, and keep your eyes open.

4 comments:

Lisa B. said...

I love to shop our consignment shop also. I also shop thrift stores.

Cherry said...

A free listing for consignment, resale and thrift shops is available at the
Consignment Shops n Stores Directory. Please contact Cynthia by email at
Best Consignment Shop Software. http://www.bestconsignmentshopsoftware.com 877-669-0854

Emily said...

My mom actually owns a clothing consignment shop and her prices are great! She only takes items in great shape. I bought a pair of my favorite shorts today for $6.95 FULL price! They are American Eagle and I am SOOOO excited! I actual bought 5 items that I absolutely ADORE for $22, everything full price buy 1 item. I love shopping consignment because even if the current trends at regular stores aren't my style, I can find last years at my mom's store for super cheap!

Emily said...

Oh, and something else to keep in mind, stores like consignment shops have A LOT of overhead (rent, electricity, etc) and for them to run credit machines are very expensive. Granted, I know that there are costs involved with running a business, but paying in cash or writing a check saves them significant amounts of money, something I always keep in mind when shopping at a locally owned business.