You can get some great bargains shopping second hand, but if you want to find the real treasures you’ll have to know when to go. The day of the week and even the time of day can effect when the good stuff gets put out and how much you will pay for it. Days and times may vary for individual stores, but here are some general guidelines you can follow. Be sure to get to know the employees at your favorite stores, so you can get even more insider information. They may even hold certain items for you until you can come in to shop.
If your thrift store is non-profit and gets its items through donations (not all do), then keep this is mind when shopping. Most families donate items on the weekend, usually at the end of the day on Saturday or Sunday, since they have time and may have spent most of the days cleaning and de-cluttering. Because the stores are also busy on the weekends with shoppers, workers usually don’t get a chance to go through the items and get them on the floor. So, Monday late mornings or early afternoons are good times to shop. You’ll have a relatively empty store full of all sorts of new inventory.
I discovered another great time to shop when I visited the Goodwill yesterday (Sunday) at closing time. While my husband took care of our donations, I ran into the store with just a few minutes to spare before closing looking for one particular thing. I was worried about the store closing, but the employee told me to relax. The store was going to stay open for an extra hour, unadvertised, since they needed to make their quota for the week before Monday. They were also using the time to restock and mark down bargains.
I came home with a bag full of great bargains, all items we were had on our list.
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