When I was 16, I needed a prom dress. That’s when I learned just
how smart my mother was, and a whole new world of shopping was revealed to
me.
There weren’t many thrift shops around when I was growing up. There
was a mentality, perhaps leftover from the Great Depression, that they
were only for people who needed “charity.” We didn’t. But,
Mother wasn’t about to waste money on an item of clothing that would be
worn only once. So, one afternoon she drove me to a little house
with a discreet sign on the door reading “Junior League Thrift Store.”
From Mother’s secretive attitude, you would have thought we were going to
a speakeasy.
I liked to shop and often went downtown on the bus with my girlfriends
and “just looked.” All females innately understand that shopping,
like fishing, does not require a “catch.” All we needed for a
pleasant day of shopping in the real stores on Main Street
was bus fare and money for a soda at the drugstore.
The Junior League Thrift Store took my shopping experience to a different
level. I was astonished at the prices, so much lower than the Main
Street stores. Suddenly, a girl on a budget could afford to buy
things, not just look at them. As long as she didn’t mind that they
were used.
The gown my mother and I selected was pale green. It wasn’t the
prettiest gown in the world but it fit and it was what I was going to get.
Mother made that clear. When the prom was over, the green gown went
back to the Junior League Thrift Store where mother could recoup some of
her money by selling it on consignment to someone else. Brilliant!
When I became a mother myself, my thrift-shopping passion really kicked
in. Somehow, I started with one kid and almost overnight I had
three. How could I clothe three children on a student-wife budget?
In a college town, thrift stores abound. I went to them to save money - but I stayed for the fun. There were always
toys for the kids to play with, and jolly staff people who didn’t mind
that my three wild children were creating chaos at knee level.
Thrift shopping had a friendly, easy-going vibe. I made the
transition from maternity clothes back into real ones with the help of
thrift shops. I could buy clothes of unclassifiable droopiness to
cover up my constantly altering body shape. I couldn’t do that at
“real” stores with real sizes and separate departments.
In the thrift shop, anything could be anything - I could buy an
Indian-print bedspread and cut it up for pillowcases and a headscarf.
If my son liked a pink tie-dyed shirt, I could let him try it on without
the disapproving “real” salesclerks steering him to the “boys” section.
For a few bucks we would leave the thrift store with pounds of clothing,
household gadgets, a book or two and some “new” toys.
The only area in which the thrift stores failed was men’s clothing.
Though this has improved somewhat over the years, it’s generally true that
men wear their clothes completely out. My husband used to complain
that I was buying him “dead men’s pajamas” at the thrift shop.
