Thrift Stores? How do you do it?

[downfall]

How do you guys find such good things at thrift stores? Do you just go every day or what? I have approximately 12 thrift stores (Salvation Army and Goodwill) within an hour of my house, and I go to all of them at least once each week, and go out all day on monday looking, but there's rarely a single thing there.

I've been looking at these shops for about a year, and I've only found the following:

Donkey Kong Country - $2
Sonic 2 (complete) - $2
An old Commodore Monitor - $3
Game.com with two games - $3

Nothing else. The only other things I've even seen are 4 Saturn games (which are apparently just not going to sell until I buy them, as they've been there ever since I've started going), a ton of Genesis Sports titles that are way overpriced, and one NES system with Amagon and Kung-Fu Heroes, which were also way overpriced.

So how do you do it?

[Darth Sensei]

I've given up on them. There are a few DP'ers in my area who scour them so often that I never find anything. Oh well.

D

[IntvGene]

I hit the good ones maybe twice a week. Some of them just don't get anything in, but I still go to them, hoping for something good.

It seems like the thrifts are even drying up on good stuff. I think that there are a lot of inside jobs, or people getting a shot at the stuff before it hits the floor.

[The Collector]

I go every day M-F (now and then a sat), but usually not on the weekends because there are so many people you find very little. Its on my way home from work so a quick 10-15 min scan of the place is all i need. I would say almost 50% of my collection came from there :D .

[NintendoMan]

Same here. I NEVER find a damn thing at the GW's by me. Every time I go in I find things in bad condition that are way over priced. I gave up pawn shops too. I just stick to flea markets, and some garage sales. x_x

[Chunky]

I tell ya it's fricken hit or miss. I scored tons and tons of tg-16 games one day and nothing ever again from one place. Same with others and 2600s and that. One day and entire collection of games and system for 12 bucks. the next week 2 more. and that was 2 months ago, nothing since.

i still want to put signs on their storefront saying "We TAKE your old VIDEO GAMES" this summers project.

[ubersaurus]

Too many dpers in my area to ever find anything good. I think in the past 2 years, I've found a couple intellivision, a couple nes, a channel f game, and a couple playstation games.

I've done better with the yard sales, and those are pretty bad too.

[den68]

I go everyday. I've got a few routes home from work so I can hit a couple each day. As Chunky said it's hit or miss. A particular thrift may be dry for months then you walk in to find a stack of 30 or 40 carts.

That's the nature of a thrift store, there's no telling what will be in there. If you want to find anything you've got to often. Even if most stops yield nothing it's always worth a look.

I guess it would be frustrating if you're only looking for games. I pick up lots of other things at thrifts. Beta movies, Laserdiscs, Viewmaster reels, Kids videos for my daughter. So most times I find SOMETHING even if it's not a video game.

[Ze_ro]

It's all complete luck. I go to some thrift stores 2 or 3 times a week, and I usually find nothing at all... but every couple of weeks I find something that's worthwhile and keeps me coming back.

Lately all I've been finding is the odd stack of Gamepro's and EGM's... but I'm going back today, so hopefully I'll at least find a cartridge or two.

[Edit: They had two Genesis' (one in a badly beaten box), the usual pile of Genesis sports games, and a handfull of decent SNES games that were unfortunately priced at $15 each. Needless to say, I bought nothing]

--Zero

[§ Gideon §]

Lately all I've been finding is the odd stack of Gamepro's and EGM's...
Hmm... I don't think I'd go for the mags; they could've been read on the crapper. That's bad karma.

[ubersaurus]

I go everyday. I've got a few routes home from work so I can hit a couple each day. As Chunky said it's hit or miss. A particular thrift may be dry for months then you walk in to find a stack of 30 or 40 carts.

That's the nature of a thrift store, there's no telling what will be in there. If you want to find anything you've got to often. Even if most stops yield nothing it's always worth a look.

I guess it would be frustrating if you're only looking for games. I pick up lots of other things at thrifts. Beta movies, Laserdiscs, Viewmaster reels, Kids videos for my daughter. So most times I find SOMETHING even if it's not a video game.

See, this is why I ever find anything :eek 2:

[Kejoriv]

I would say i find something 50% of the time. Whether it be a game or a system. Usually a game. I try to go twice a week.

[Doonzmore]

Unfortunatly for me there are no thrift stores around here and i rarely go into town so i mostly rely on my local video store or scour ebay or simply bug the hell out of my friends to sell there games.Garage sales are good to but there only during the summer and most of the time the sellers are old people who have lots of crap but i have found lots of Genesis and Nes games for around 50 cents each (complete).

[sisko]

See, this is why I ever find anything :eek 2:

Funny. I figured I could never find anything because you always got them first.

I've been thrifting for 6 months and I only scored big at a thrift once (at least anything worth buying at a cheap price).

It's rather discouraging. :/

[Pantechnicon]

I go thrifting 2-3 times a week to that same amount of shops, all conveniently located along one large thoroughfare here in Albuquerque. It's not all that time-consuming because I've got a fairly good idea of what I'm looking for and where the stores will keep it, assuming it's there. Average visit to each shop lasts five minutes or less unless there's a find.

As many in this thread have already stressed, thrift stores are purely hit or miss. Today, for example, I missed bagging one of those spiffy gaming monitors with the folding speakers by a matter of less than a minute (the other guy wasn't carrying a 3-year-old, as was I). But last summer, I found a Playstation2 at Goodwill for ten bucks and the luck of being in the right place at the right time.

Come to think of it, I've now been going to that same Goodwill at least once a week for the last nine years :eek 2: . So I can say with all certainty that tenacity at the thrifts will always be rewarded in the long run.

[kainemaxwell]

I occasionaly go to my local Salvation Army shop and they sometime shave 2-5 random NES, genesis or SNES carts. Occasionally complete ones.

[PackratMarty]

I go 5-6 days a week, and since I am currently not working, I am going 2x a day to at least 2 stores.Its very competitive here, but I also buy alot more then games.I prefer garage sales, but my best scores have been at thrift stores.

[Pantechnicon]

A couple more thoughts on the subject:

Two other keys to good luck at the thrifts, in my experience, are timing knowing which thrifts to hit (location).

Timing - The quality of selection at the thrifts has a lot to do with what time of year it is. Garage sale season (April-September in my part of the country) always means better pickins'. whereas winters tend to be dry and scarce. Very easy to get demotivated about thrifting in the winter.

The best days I find to visit the thrifts are Tuesdays and Wednesdays using the following rationale: Garage sales tend to conclude on Sunday afternoon. What is not sold is dropped off that day or Monday morning at the latest. Allow one full day for the store to process the donations and put them out on the floor, and there you go; thrift in the early-to-middle of the week, never on weekends.

Location - The best finds are going to be at the thrift stores either in, or on the periphery of, the middle-to-upper class established neighborhoods. By "established" I mean neighborhoods that have been around for twenty-or-so years, not to be confused with new (less than ten years) subdivisions full of houses that all look the same. The people in the established neighborhoods are the ones with the disposable income to indulge in the trendy tech toys (consoles), as well as attics or basements which need the occasional purge. Donating to the thrifts also gives them a false, but harmless, sense of altruism. Poor neighborhoods, on the other hand, have thrift stores utterly devoid of electronic goodness. All they've got is clothes, yard tools and half-spent prayer candles. Stick to the upper-crust (keyword being "crust") thrift stores.

Did I manage to equally insult the rich and poor alike here? Good...Just want to be fair about this.

[Cmosfm]

As said above...timing and knowing where to go. When you first start to go, go a lot and hit them all. You eventually learn which ones are worth hitting rapidly and which ones you should hit once every 2 weeks at most.

I usually find good stuff at mine, I always find SOMETHING....you also need to know where to look at in the store. For instance, you may check out the electronics section all the time...but lots of them keep every game related item in the front case due to people stealing them.

It's all about knowing when to go, where to go, and where to look at inside the store. Good luck, keep hitting them!

[eze]

I make sure and hit up at least 2-3 thrifts a day, 6 days a week. I've got all of Los Angeles mapped out based on thrift store location.

I've had incredible luck over the past 4 years (wouldnt believe some of the stuff ive found) but mainly because im in the center of everything, aka hollywood. Within a 30 minute radius there are 4 chains (goodwill, salvation, out of the closet, and council) consisting of about 20 individual stores total.

Not much competition around here when it comes to video games but records are a different story. A couple of the stores around here get new records almost daily so theres plenty of vultering going on. I almost got into a fight once cause some kid tried talking some "get outta here this is my dig spot" lol.

[Goodwill Hunter]

You have to love the thrill of the hunt, or you'll burn out fast. And as others have said, it also helps to be on the lookout for other items...I have a basement full of toys, both vintage and current, for my daughters that I paid next to nothing for. Getting a "Thanks Daddy, that's so cool!" rivals the rush from a good gaming find.

The Tuesday/Wednesday rule is a pretty good one in rummage season, but more than anything else, persistence pays when it comes to thrifting. I have 4 thrifts I can hit over my lunch hour, and do so almost every day. I can also work a thrift stop into most of the errands/parent taxi runs I have to make. You may come up dry 19 times out of 20...but boy are those 20's sweet!

Good Luck Hunting!

Rich

[SegaAges]

I only started going to thrift stores maybe about 4 or 5 months ago, and what they say is entirely true. I used to go to this one that was in the middle of lower class and middle class, so nothing but clothes and useless junk. I just found out about a week ago about a good one, literally right behind a Porche dealership (or Mercedes, one of those 2), think of the irony in that :)

Since it is cold and snowy and crappy out right now, there is nothing at any store, but in a few months, they will be flooded with good gems. I honestly have no clue what happened to all my games over the years I got from thrift stores, but I bought all those before I considered myself a collector.

I found that between March and April are very good times to go here in Omaha. The snow lifts up, and people throw garage sales, and that is that.

[KirbyStar27]

i go a lot and usually find something or another ....best thing ive found are eight complete SMS games all for $3! :D

[punkoffgirl]

It's beyond hit or miss... It's total luck. Especially since our local thrift stores never put the games in the same place twice, nor price the games the same from month to month.

[downfall]

Thanks for all the comments. Seems right on track with what I've been thinking myself, so that makes me feel better about it.

And I agree with whomever said that they don't go just for games. I always look for things that I know my wife will like as well, so I usually come back with something.

Thanks again.

New question though. Do you guys just scoop up anything you find that's game related, regardless of whether or not you really collect it? Example: There's that store with the Sega Saturn games near me, and I don't even have a Saturn. Would you, if you were in my shoes, pick them up? I would guess that most of you would say yes, and use them as trading material or whatever, even if you don't collect that particular system.

[Kevin Listwan]

New question though. Do you guys just scoop up anything you find that's game related, regardless of whether or not you really collect it? Example: There's that store with the Sega Saturn games near me, and I don't even have a Saturn. Would you, if you were in my shoes, pick them up? I would guess that most of you would say yes, and use them as trading material or whatever, even if you don't collect that particular system.

I would pick them up if the price was right and I was in your shoes (I have a saturn, 2 games only). Also you never know in the future you might pick up a saturn, I have come accross games for systems I did not have and did not buy them (SMS), and then when I finally got the system I was kicking myself.

Question: Does anyone have a mole working for them in a thrift shop for you, someone who lets you know when stuff comes in or holds it for you?

[Pantechnicon]

New question though. Do you guys just scoop up anything you find that's game related, regardless of whether or not you really collect it? Example: There's that store with the Sega Saturn games near me, and I don't even have a Saturn. Would you, if you were in my shoes, pick them up? I would guess that most of you would say yes, and use them as trading material or whatever, even if you don't collect that particular system.

Some people probably do this, but I generally don't. It helps to have a general idea of what the hot commodities are for a myriad of systems. These Saturn games you mentioned for instance: are they sports titles? If so, then there's probably not going to be a lot of demand for them in the trading circles. I carry my rarity lists with me on my PDA whenever I go thrifting. That way if I see something I'm not sure about I can always check the lists.

You also need to have a clear, but flexible, understanding of where your gaming priorities are. I consider myself a gamer first and a collector second, so when I go out I usually pass up the things I already own or that I'm not interested in. However, I'm not opposed to snatching up a good deal when it's there even if I already have it, e.g. - found myself a second Atari 7800 - sans box - the other week for $5. So is it trade fodder or a spare? For five bucks I can go either way...

On the other hand, if you're a collector first and foremost, and you have the extra cash and storage space, it's probably not a bad idea to rustle up whatever you can, even if it's a lot of common stuff.

[QBert]

Come to think of it, I've now been going to that same Goodwill at least once a week for the last nine years :eek 2: . So I can say with all certainty that tenacity at the thrifts will always be rewarded in the long run.

lol I go about 2 times a week to the ones around my house, and maybe weekly the the rest in my city. Do you guys every feel like the people working there see you a few times a week, come in, look in the area where they keep games, see none, and then leave with only being in the store for less than 2 mins....and think you are wierd? I do, but I dont really care.


QBert

[Pantechnicon]

Question: Does anyone have a mole working for them in a thrift shop for you, someone who lets you know when stuff comes in or holds it for you?

Shite, I really wish I did sometimes... :roll: The thrift community in Albuquerque is pretty intense. Eze mentioned thrift people in LA who are like vultures. In Albuquerque they're more like a pack of coyotes LOL I'm not talking about gaming collectors, of which there only seem to be a few. I'm talking about a general group of people who show up at the same time every day for many reasons (flea marketers, antique freaks et al). It's a pretty eclectic, yet interesting, group of zealots. A mole would be very helpful in getting around some of them.

Even if you can't get an inside man one can, and should, make nice and establish a rapport with the workers. This has its own rewards. At my Goodwill, for instance, the counter people don't mind letting me back behind the glass at the cash register to poke around at whatever carts might strike my fancy. I've been going there long enough and been nice to everybody where I'm recognized and trusted.

And also from my own experience, it helps to let employees know if you're a private collector and not some shameless Ebay pimp. The employees at my thrifts generally understand that there's this vast online trading and auction thing going on, but they seem to have more respect for people who collect for private pleasure and only occasionally trade and sell. I know for a fact that I havce been given breaks on pricing for this very reason. Bottom line: if you're going to resell items you find at the thrifts, don't advertise it.

[evilmess]

Here's a bit of a thrift store tip.

Try the stores in a neighboring city are best yet in a large resort town where the rich pay to play. Rich folk, and I know a few, discard perfectly good stuff all the time.

I found a sweet new - used video game store in Bend Oregon that I hope to go back to with some extra cach just for buying game goodies. I'ts about 120 miles one way but well worth the trip to me. I need to check out Salem too, last time I was there they had a great value village where I ended up buying a near complete Fisher Price Family Camper #994 set for cheap.

I also noticed that the goodwill in Bend was one of the best I'd seen for video game stuff with the usual GW prices.

my .02 cents

[Sph1nx]

Whats a Fisher Price Family Camper #994 ?

[evilmess]

Whats a Fisher Price Family Camper #994 ?

One of these.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3172986226&category=2527

I bought one for my wife as a congratulations for getting a new job. SHE LOVED IT and she displays it in her office were its quite a conversation peice.

[ubersaurus]

See, this is why I ever find anything :eek 2:

Funny. I figured I could never find anything because you always got them first.

I've been thrifting for 6 months and I only scored big at a thrift once (at least anything worth buying at a cheap price).

It's rather discouraging. :/

Nah, that hasn't been the case in a while. I don't go to the thrifts much, as its hard enough for me to get people to go game hunting with, that I'd like to be able to at least find something. I'm sure if I had, you know, a car that runs, I'd probably hit em at least once a week. I do, however, go to alot of yard sales when that season starts up. I remember a few years back though, I'd always find something at thrifts. Alot of Atari, NES, genesis, and even some intellivision stuff. Not so anymore though, which really kinda sucks. Ah well-maybe this year will be better.

Come on, Stadium Events x_x