Thrift Shopping

I have been meaning to write for a while about the good finds I've been making lately on new-old clothes. Here goes.

While there are some fancier, more discerning second-hand fashion boutiques in downtown Halifax, most of the volume stores are located outside the city centre, which means that bargain hunting can be a bit of a marathon event. The first place I hit up when I got here, and the only location I knew about for a long time, was the Value Village in Bayers Lake Shopping Park. Getting there requires a forty-minute bus ride and some careful timing (the bus stop for that route is about a ten-minute walk from my apartment--when I leave myself extra time, the bus is always late; when I think I've got it timed just right, the bus speeds by while I am waiting to cross the street and I have to wait a half-hour for the next one), but Bayers Lake is a sprawling complex of big-box stores, so it can be worth the effort if one has other errands to accomplish. I went to this one several times while I was still living with my mom, and made a few good finds, but nothing really exciting.

I learned through the grapevine (ie. my sister), though, that the Value Village in Dartmouth is a better bet, by virtue of being less popular and thus less picked-over. The downside, of course, is that it's in Dartmouth, and there is nothing else around it, so you pretty much have to make the trip just for that. I did trek out there a few weeks ago, and I found it worth the trip, at least in that case. I picked up a few really pretty pieces, including a summery silk skirt with the tags still on for $9, a sexy beaded top for $6, a cute little sundress, and a bunch more. I'd harbour-hop again.

Even better than the Dartmouth VV--far, far better--was the Coldbrook Guy's Frenchy's. I told a new friend that people keep talking about The (Annapolis) Valley, but I'd never been there, so she offered to take me on a mini-road trip out there to visit what she considers the best Frenchy's in the universe.

Wow.

I had been to a couple of Frenchy's locations--there's a little one not too far from my apartment, and there is one in my parents' town--and really wasn't impressed, but I learned that Guy's Frenchy's are way, way superior to the non-Guy's variety. This particular place was huge! Frenchy's seems to be a uniquely Atlantic Canadian thing, so let me explain... no, you know what? This article describes it nicely.

For $40, I picked up:

• two (2) collared shirts/blouses
• three (3) skirts, one Banana Republic, possibly even with tags still on
• two (2) cardigans
• one (1) beaded top
• one (1) wrap-front sweater/top
• two (2) fashion tees

I also found and thought I purchased (but, sadly, it appears I was mistaken) a 100% cashmere sweater for under $4. I'd been planning to refashion it into a cozy, wear-with-everything little cardigan. I nearly cried when I got home and discovered it wasn't in my bag.

So, as if I weren't already hooked, now I have to keep going back out there, to keep looking for the one that got away.