local good news, bad news, thrift story

Update:  Sadly empty and shuttered, noticed 10/1/2014.

First the good news, American Thrift Store on Chicago Ave (1718 W.) in Chicago is having a sale on all clothes.  $0.99 for each piece.  I set out to look for a navy blue or black pea coat and a sweater cardigan for my 12-year-old son. Instead I found and bought a Bob Mackie 2-piece floaty, floral silk blouse and skirt set (so gorgeous, so not my size but will gift to a size 6 friend), linen pants, linen dress, merino wool sweaters this morning. My almost too heavy to carry bag was loaded up for $14.09. Outside the store perched on the edge of a garbage can was a pair of jeans, reader, I took them!

The store had lots and lots of women's and kids' clothes.  Highly recommend for anyone local to check out. For men, mostly tee shirts and light jackets.  No winter coats or jackets. Big rack of jeans. Didn't have the fortitude to paw through those as the store was very hot and airless.

So some happy finds and will have to keep looking for Clement's requested cool weather items.

Summer bummer: The bad news is that the store will be closing soon.  I hate when that happens to some of my favorite places.  So get there and shop while you still can and let me know what you find.

Can't close on a sad note, can I?  Enclosed are pictures of my favorite birds, taken in February of 2014, on the grounds of a resort, Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in the Dominican Republic.

Caw.

American Thrift Store

I stopped by American Thrift Store on Chicago Avenue near Hermitage in West Town.  Seems to be a mom and pop shop rather than part of a chain. Doesn't seem to be a charity shop. The disinfectant smell was fainter than in a previous visit years ago and no pickpocketing team stalking me this time around. The distaste from the second item is what kept me away for so long.  Today was quieter,  a young mother was shopping for her toddler and grandmotherly ladies were looking for church outfits. clothes were sorted in neat long rows by color, age/size, and gender.

Today I was looking for slim fitting navy pants for my son and tee shirts (instead of polo shirts), both to wear for school uniform.  I found new looking flannel slacks for him, a tee shirt, while I was at it a couple of warm weather girlie tops for my daughter.  She has her big brother's outgrown school things, but I like for her to have some things to pretty up the monotonous color scheme.  I must say I would love to wear lots of navy over the plaid I wore as a school girl. The prices seemed fair about $3 per piece.

Then my brain kind of shut off as I went around finding more to fill up the relatively petite green cart. Things for myself and I wasn't even on the list: a black linen dress, a black pin stripe jumper (new with tags, more pricey, but less than $8), navy floral skirt, several silk and linen shirts, more and more, until a heaping heap collected.  Regretfully, a pretty Liberty shirt was not in my size. I felt vaguely nervous about what the damage to my credit card would be.  I wheeled over to the check out, and felt relieved and stupid.  There was a hand lettered sign saying CASH ONLY on neon magenta board.  I told the clerk I'd have to put some items back.  She graciously said that she'd do that for me and was apologetic that she didn't have a machine.  I went off to the front sorted and used another cart to cull away the items that were not coming home with me today. So I spent $29 for about 8 pieces of natural fiber clothing. Not as good as free, but still happy not to be buying new.  I was grateful to have been stopped short from going overboard and not made to feel foolish, grateful to the people who donated their clothes, grateful to the people who sewed them (5 countries represented in the tags).