Scraping by at Thrift Stores....

[tubeway]

Ever hit some thrift stores, hoping to find some gaming goodies... and don't? But refusing to leave empty-handed, you manage to find SOMETHING to scrape by and make it feel worth the trip?

What's the most recent mediocre item you've picked up, just for the sake of not walking away empty handed?

Note: This isn't a "HAY GUISE LOOK WUT I GOT!" thread to show off "good" finds.

[Steve W]

I occasionally did that back when I first started thrifting, but I decided that I needed to stop buying more junk that adds to my clutter. So even if I find one item I want, sometimes I won't buy it if there's too much of a line or it's just not something I absolutely have to get right then. Nowadays I'll rarely buy anything in a thrift. Most visits I leave empty-handed, and I'm fine with it. I'm always concerned that they think I'm shoplifting or something, though.

[FortunesPlatinum]

Solar Jet Man
Slalom
Hudson Hawk

All for $4.00

[Tupin]

I used to do that, until I realized that it was taking up too much space.

And besides, I don't like LaserDiscs enough to buy a movie like American Kickboxer 2.

[Cornelius]

I know exactly what you are talking about. Like Steve, I probably do it less now than I used to, and leave thrifts empty-handed more often than not.

Today I did pick something up for this reason though: SNES Judge Dredd for $1.80. I'd been out at garage sales for about 2 hrs and not found anything (some crap games at a couple sales, but that's it), and this included a block sale with about 10 or 15 sales. So when I stopped at the thrift I put Dredd in the cart thinking I'd get it if I found something else worthwhile (I tend to do this pretty often, and usually just put it back when I strike out), but nothing else turned up. Since I'd found nothing all day, I decided WTH, it was only 1.80. Of course, on the way home from the thrift I did find Mario Party 5 for $5 at a garage sale. Kind of annoying, because I drove quite a ways to get to that block sale.

[DigitalSpace]

Most visits I leave empty-handed, and I'm fine with it.

Same here.

[Arcade Antics]

What's the most recent mediocre item you've picked up, just for the sake of not walking away empty handed?

Irregular bowling ball with no holes drilled and a single lightning bolt on the side.

[ryborg]

Same here.

Yeah, same.

I go after work ~3/wk, so if I were to buy something just for the hell of it every time, I'd be spending a ton of money on junk. Why would you do that anyway? If they have nothing, they have nothing.

[EvilxBunny]

Seaman for the Dreamcast... without mic .. it was like... $2!

[bangtango]

Agreed with some of the others.

There are way too many things in other stores that I wouldn't mind spending money on for me to buy things I'd normally never pick up just to make up for the fact that I'd otherwise go home empty handed.

The only time I'd ever take a chance on an item I'm not totally sold on is at a lawn sale or yard sale. And the reason for that is because many times an individual sale will be going for only one or two days.

Whereas if there is an item you are on the fence about in a thrift store (one you'll buy when all else fails), chances are it will still be there the next 2-3 trips you go in, couple this with the fact that they are open 6-7 days a week every week.

If I wanted to make myself feel better about going home empty handed, personally I'd be more likely to pick up a pizza (or any other take out food I enjoy) to take home for supper than anything else.

Not to mention that sometimes if I waste a whole afternoon looking through thrift stores, lawn sales and flea markets, on top of the driving (gas) included, I believe the money I don't spend on junk and thus save basically helps cover the time/money wasted on the trip.

[Sonicwolf]

What's the most recent mediocre item you've picked up, just for the sake of not walking away empty handed?

A 45rpm record adaptor for 50 cents.

It ended up getting lost in my mothers bags of crap too and thrown out.

[Blanka789]

I always end up with worthless PC games that I take chances on, I don't know why. I usually decide that I can at least sell it if I decide not to play it, only to find it's worthless. This has led to a major increase of PC related items when I sell things.

[Ye0ldmario]

all the salvation armies i've been to in mass have nothing gaming related. Once in a blue moon i'll find 1 game and it's crap....

flea markets are my best source

[Steve W]

If I wanted to make myself feel better about going home empty handed, personally I'd be more likely to pick up a pizza (or any other take out food I enjoy) to take home for supper than anything else.

Actually, I tend to do this a lot. When I go thrifting, I won't settle for ordinary fast food, I'll end up getting something that I normally don't eat on a regular basis. I'll pick up a gyro when I go to the flea market, or I'll eat at a pizza place I've never heard of. Sure, I may not find anything of interest on that trip, but at least I expanded my food horizons.

[Gameguy]

I pretty much just go to thrifts once a week now, and most times I leave with nothing. I don't have enough money to blow on crap. I was just today at Value Village, they had an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive for $89.99(passed), and a Gameboy Advance missing the cover for $5.99(passed), plus Atari commons(passed). I went next door to Salvation Army and saw an NES system with hookups for $39.99 which is untested and sold final sale(passed for sure with this). For the most part thrift stores are crap now and it's a pain to search through them, I used to enjoy going to them a few years ago but I don't anymore.

[tubeway]

A lot of stuff I "scrape by" with, is stuff that I want, but isn't actually bargain priced (Xbox commons I want for my collection at like five bucks), or stuff that I can resell, but will only net maybe a 20% or so profit margin on ebay. Or, it will be non-video game items that I can resell at a larger profit, and use it to fund stuff I DO want.

[Baloo]

Heh, what a great thread. I have a wonderful story for this one:

I went to a Farmer's Market nearby me on one of the days where they have their huge weekend flea market (Saturday). I always get a huge amount of deals at this and it had been a year since I had last gone (we used to go once a year, but after this happened we've changed it up to about every month or so).

It was going to rain that day, so we decided to call up and make sure that they were still having it, and they said yes. So I go there, and it's drizzling with some wind, just to find no vendors . So I spend the $14 dollars I had on me in the Farmer's Market arcade (They call it a Farmer's Market, but it's really more like mini-mall with no franchises whatsoever. Kind of a bunch of independently owned stores) on Super Mario Pinball and NBA Jam T.E. Right when my ride comes to get me, my brother (who was with me) tells me after browsing around that a store had two Genesis games, one was $5 and he didn't know what it was, the other was Mickey Mania for $10. This was after I had spent my last 50 cents and my ride was all of about a minute away from the market, but I say what the hey.

So I go check it out, the game is in a box with the cover flipped inside-out. I expect a crappy game, and open the box to find Gunstar Heroes, of all games that could've been in there. I thank God that day my brother loaned me $5 to buy the game. We then go home.

That was really quite the scrape there.

[cyberfluxor]

Last run to a thrift store I had was a few weeks ago and I've only found games there once in a blue moon. I generally hit it for the records, books, and electronics. I passed on a bunch of Microsoft programming and administration books published for 1.x .Net and Windows NT/2k servers. They were tempting but since they go with certification packages I'm more inclined to pass. I do however like to pick up old programing books from the 70's up to 90's, haven't seen anything from the 60's. So wondering into the electronics room I stumbled across a Suncom analog joystick that plugs via gameport. The interface would be a nice adaptation for a 5200 controller, but more than likely will use it for older flight sims. And looking through the records there were a bunch of old vinyls pressed in the 70's. I ended up grabbing a double set Soviet opera recorded and printed/pressed in Romania in the early 70's, all the other records were damaged from water, scratches, sun exposure, and heavy dirt but in amazement this one was great! I also grabbed a CD from 1996 of a UK psychedelic rock band that is still putting out albums. I can't recall the name at the moment, but the artwork depects world leaders and revolutionaries throughout the 20th century (I'm sure someone knows who this is).

[crom]

I do this soo much, I actually have a foot map that i use going into the local value Villages here... walk past electronics, cords, then back to the display case.... ah, fuck nothing, oh well time to go home... the only thing I pick up lately though, is disapointment

[NayusDante]

I recently found a rather overpriced thrift, which actually had a few things I wanted. The big disappointment was the old iMac, which I REALLY wanted, but not for $125. I walked out of there having paid $8 for a set of Atari 2600 paddles, which were the first thing I found in there and knew I definitely wanted. Thing is, I didn't ask the price until I was frustrated with the prices of everything else, and I had already told myself "I'm buying these damn paddles."

I've actually made my thrift trips rather focused. I specifically look for games, records, tapes, and sometimes books/comics. I'll look at other random junk, but I don't think I ever impulse buy any of it. Games, yes, I'll impulse buy if they're cheap enough (Marky Mark Make My Video for $1!). Unless I find some interesting non-sports games or electronic/new-wave/alt-rock music, I generally move on.

If I see something random that I like, I'll come back for it later in the week. That's how I got my audio rack (now a retro console rack). It's a good idea to go home and think about what you'll do with that random stuff before you actually bring it home. Make a list of what you WOULD impulse buy, and don't buy it until you can justify it.