Gracias, ajsmama :). Now it all makes sense. At least till I forget what I just learned; occupational middle-age hazard these days! Re. the ebay/thrift store relationship--do you think that the now ubiquitous online markets (EBay, Craigslist etc) have hurt, harmed or not affected bricks n mortar thrifting? Years ago (I was working PT, had more time to do fun stuff like this) my MIL and I enjoyed going to local bazaars,yard sales and church rummage sales. There were fairly often some nice things dumped in there. Now I suspect many more people are doing what flyleft encountered, shopping in order to then resell. I think there is a whole new 'entrepreneur' niche, at least I've read about people who make their living or at least some income from selling online. Dunno, just wondering what folks who are more in the know think about this? Ann

I've shopped at a Purple Heart outlet ever since I went in by accident at Christmas about 15 years ago and saw the variety and price. A few years ago, my granddaughter had at 'thing' for dresses and her parents didn't have the $ to buy dressy dresses for her play time, so I went to the above outlet and picked up about 7 dresses, all priced under $3.oo each and each looked beautiful on her and no one was worried if she accidently spilled something on them. Three dresses were even worn to school on dress up day because they were so nice. I look the clothes over carefully, checking hems, pockets, buttons, and the end of sleeves for stains and tears. Quite a few couldn't have been worn over once or twice. One time when she was about 4 yrs old, I had found quite a few really good outfits there and gave them to her wrapped for her birthday which is the beginning of Oct.(she still needed quite a few winter outfits for nursery school). Everyone was exclaiming how beautiful they were(her parents knew where I had bought them)as she opened the multiple boxes. My daughter told everyone there that I had not bought them new, so people would not feel that I had outbought them on her presents and due to the fact that no one could tell they were used, no one felt it was inappropriate to give them. They were amazed at the quality and price paid. I buy jeans, coats and some nightgowns and blouses there for anywhere from $1.50 to $8.00 each. They have nothing missing and no tears,stains, etc.I only shop a regular store if I need something specific in style or undies,socks or shoes. Of course everything gets washed first. But I would never go back to paying $40.00 to $100.00 for a coat, when I can get one like new for $8.00!!

Goodwill operates as a network of 185 independent organizations in the U.S. It is unfortunate that Goodwill in other areas are not up to par. In my area the stores are brand new buildings and huge. They are clean, well maintained and organized. They all have a drive through lane to drop off items and on weekends it always has a line of cars that keeps moving through. They come right out to the car and unload it for you and give you a receipt. Everyone is polite and well groomed and wearing a t-shirt uniform. The items in the store seem to really move, including clothing. If you see something you like you cannot 'think about it' and come back later as it WILL be sold and gone. I found out by chatting with one of the workers, that they do not put out any items that are not in pristine condition and sort the shabby items out to sell to places that buy scrap metal and rags and recycled glass. They still make money off of this, so donate everything. I suspect they have dealers come in to purchase items separately or they put valuable vintage items on ebay to fetch more money, as I never see a special area set aside in the store for such items to be displayed as featured collectables as other thrift shops do. So a Jadite mixing bowl would not be set out and priced at fifty cents nor does it end up in a special display case and priced as a vintage find at twenty dollars for collectors seeking out those rare finds. They do have *standard item pricing* though. For instance, all coffee mugs are fifty cents no matter what. I got a really cool Starbucks mega mug for the same price as all the junky ones with all the advertising on them.

I'm in PA... but I don't do flea markets (too time consuming!). Thanks, though!