Seconds Chances Thrift-Store Shoppers Get Satisfaction Out Of Paying Pennies For Quality Goods

Call it an addiction. Call it fun. Either way, thrifty shoppers say bargain-hunting is an art.

Throughout the Valley, residents scour racks, shelves and tables loaded with clothes, books and knickknacks. Those who consider themselves experts shop with a strategy: often, early and whenever there’s a sale.

“You go into super scan mode,” said Newman Lake resident Vickie Bushee, who searched for nearly new flannel shirts at the Thrift Center on Dishman-Mica Road. “You look for color, texture. You do a lot of feeling.”

Bushee shops on a regular basis - a couple times a week - to keep track of what’s new or what’s trash, she said. She recently left her public relations job, and its “stuffy, professional attire,” to start her own consulting firm for employee training. A new, more relaxed wardrobe was in order.

“I like to spend my money on other things like having no debts, adding to my IRA,” she said. “(Thrift shopping) is fun for me, like a hobby.”

People thrift shop for many reasons. Mothers with ever-growing toddlers can clothe their kids for close to nothing, said Bill Kierulf , production supervisor at Value Village at Sprague and McDonald. Many people look for collectibles such as copper pots or depression glass. Others refuse to pay full price for home-exercise equipment or furniture and don’t mind a few scratches or scrapes on them, he said.

“They save half of what they pay at Target or Kmart and 75 to 90 percent of what they’d spend at Nordstrom or The Bon by shopping thrift,” he said.

Part of the fun is figuring out when stores put out new merchandise. Thrift Center, Value Village and Valley Christian Thrift Store (13510 E. Sprague) each have different pricing systems and days when they replenish their stock. Some offer discounts to senior citizens on weekdays, others have 50 percent-off days once a week.

“Every day, it’s different,” Kierulf said. “That’s what fascinates (shoppers).”

For many older people, the shopping is therapy.

Some pore over vintage books from the early 1900s, books their grandparents read to them. Others look for lacy kinds of things - doilies, dickeys or handkerchiefs.

“They come in and just linger and linger and linger,” said Lois King, manager of Valley Christian Thrift Store. “Older people also don’t have a big income and they need to stretch every penny.”

Central Valley resident Jane Carnegie says she finds thrift shopping relaxing after her day’s work as owner and operator of an adult care home.

She saves bundles every time she’s in the store by rummaging through the piles of sheets, replacements for her worn-out ones.

One of Carnegie’s clients, a 96-year-old woman, pleaded with her for a new spring jacket. “She’s very vain,” said Carnegie. “She wears wigs and is very conscious of her appearance.”

Carnegie initially went to a discount store to buy a new jacket. She spent $47 on it, but the client didn’t like the jacket’s zipper.

So Carnegie went to her trusty favorite, Value Village, and found a like-new jacket for $3.49. Her fashion-savvy client loved the jacket even more than the expensive, new one.

Most shoppers agreed they’d never spend more than $15 for a thrift store item. Many said the ideal price is 50 cents or less.

Bragging rights have been earned for some purchases. One woman says she bought a rare, Dr. Seuss board game worth $100 for just 69 cents. Bushee nabbed a suit which she said she found at The Bon Marche for $150, at the delightful price of $2.50.

Michael Maker, 24, shops solely thrift. His favorite find: a giant floppy hat with feathers and a plastic bug on top.

Maker, a downtown resident, calls himself a junker. He was dressed hat to boot in second-hand clothes - an outfit that included a shag-carpet coat.

“New (clothes) are so boring,” he said. “Clothes feel better when someone else has worn them.”

He said his eyes zero in on military items. “People in the Valley dress more rugged. Ex-military men sell their stuff to these places. There’s more paramilitary stuff out here than anywhere else,” he said.

Junkers will buy anything, said King.

“I have a lot of stuff I’m ready to throw in a Dumpster and they’ll rummage through it and buy it.”

She said junkers travel from Montana and Oregon to shop Eastern Washington’s thrift stores. Then, they sell it for twice the price at other thrift stores.

“Part of it is if you bought it here, you don’t want someone to see it here,” said King.

There’s somewhat of a stigma attached to second-hand shopping, she said. People said they don’t want neighbors knowing they paid nearly pennies for someone else’s Liz Claiborne or Jones New York clothes. Others don’t like to admit they don’t have the money to shop in department stores.

But not Bushee.

“You can really do a nice wardrobe for a little bit of money,” she said as she piled yet another flannel shirt into her cart. “Of course, it helps if you have taste.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (1 color)