Cultural thrift store differences
April 4, 2009 by Monica
Filed under Green Household
Living in Ecuador I never thought I would ever want to got to a second hand shop. When I was a child there were many of them selling old clothes from the US, probably arriving to the country as donations. Thrift stores had a very bad name, selling foreign used clothes for the same price you could find a brand new cloth made locally and claming they were selling “Amarican clothes”.
I discovered the real value and fun of thrift stores when I first visited the US. Of course, there were American brands but I was in the US, and the prices were really low. It made sense to me that local people would benefit by selling their clothes to other local people, very different from what I´d seen in Ecuador by the time.
Several years later I was a foreign student near Tokyo and really got the second hand love. Our sempais (elders) taught new students the second hand shops where we could get our household appliances for a fraction of their value if bought new, which were great considering we needed them only for a few years.
I discovered other second hand stores selling dishware, clothes in good condition, and almost everything. I got the love and enjoyed finding real treasures, but it was especially helpful when I got my child. I found really unique toys of my like, that otherwise would’ve cost a good deal of money to get. For instance, I got him a wooden xylophone, a wooden car, kanji cards, and books that we even brought with us to Ecuador. (a few books and the cards).
After we were done, we just gave them away to the same store to be loved by the next family. A great way to put in practice the first of the 3 R´s.
Back to Ecuador, I see the second hand business are not anymore what they used to be, with a few exceptions. Customs are very picky with what enters the country and used clothes are banned (not always good, if it´s your own clothes you shipped by mail). Middle class is just getting to know the second hand love while some real thrift stores featuring local second hand goods with truly low prices are starting to get popular.
What about where you live? Are you able to enjoy thrift stores with locally collected second hand goods at enjoyable low prices?
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I absolutely looove going to a second hand store or thrift store more than even going to a store where new things are sold. There is just something about things that were once owned by someone that attracts me so much, it’s like they have personality and also the prices are unbeattable.