I live in Utah County so the nearest big thrift store is Deseret Industries (or "DI") in Provo. They have a good selection of women's clothes (all sizes), children's clothes, books, housewares and crafts. Their furniture section leaves a bit to be desired....at least at this nearest store. I used to live in Murray, UT and found quite a bit of decent furniture at the stores in Salt Lake County. I've found quite a few books in excellent shape to add to our home library. My daughter loves to read, so this is an affordable way to buy her older books between buying trips at Barnes and Noble and Scholastic Books. The books at DI are usually around .75 for childrens books, $2 for adult paperback books and slightly more for hardback books. Of course, the section I check the most often is the crafting areas. They have one aisle that says "crafts" but generally only has gift bags, wrapping paper, old calendars and some prepackaged craft items. Every once in a while you will get a good find (see my next post for that!). They also have an aisle that has wreaths. I have found quite a few wreath bases that I have used in the past. The aisle I generally find interesting items on is the wood aisle. It usually has random pieces of wood, projects that people have already finished, canvases, some never used projects from big name craft stores, pre-cut wood blocks, jewelry boxes, and organizers. A few times I have bought items that people had already used and I have touched them up with paint or taken off the scrapbook paper that they glued to the item. Removing glued on scrapbook paper is a hassle, so I would advise you to think about whether you want to spend the time removing the paper and sanding the item. If the person has used Mod Podge on the whole item then you can sand and just recover or paint over the paper, which is much easier.
The next thrift store that I go to is usually Savers in Orem. Their childrens clothes section is very good. I have bought a few of those cute English looking peacoat type jackets. My daughter loves them and wears them all the time.
Savers has a good selection of quality paintings or home decor that has been donated. There are always prints that I love to look at and would buy if we had the room. Their housewares department is nicely organized and the items seem to always be in very good condition. I found this cute little teapot for my younger daughter to have in a tea set.
Their craft section is organized very differently. They don't have very many big items, but they have tons of small items. Instead of just putting all the items in a big bin that you have to go through, they have all the crafting items in small bags that hang on their wall. You can find decorations for wreaths, kids crafts packs, stamps (look for more info on that in the next post!), art supplies, paper crafting items, and just about anything else you can think of. The way the store is kind of tricky though is that they generally package something of interest with something that is not as desirable. I once bought a bag of stamps that had 3 great stamps and one double sided tape dispenser that was empty. So it's kind of surprise what you will get!
There is a small thrift store here in Spanish Fork, Tabitha's Way. The staff at Tabitha's Way are so nice and friendly, but they don't have as many donations of craft items so I don't go there as often. They have an interesting collection of dinnerware and serving dishes. I had to force myself to not buy a set of three adorable nesting heart shaped dishes because we don't have room for them. While I was browsing in their shop the two workers chit chatted with me and offered to change the station of music if I wanted to listen to something else instead. They also have a nice selection of jewelry.
I also go to the ReStore here in Spanish Fork also and look around. They don't just have big cabinets, lighting fixtures and leftover paint. They also carry overstock craft and decor items, picture frames, paintings, cut pieces of wood, extra ceramic tiles and so much more. I have found quite a few cute items that I've just repainted and used at home.
One place I haven't gone to yet but found out about on my Instagram feed is Treasures Antique Mall in Springville. I know antique shops generally have higher prices than thrift stores, but I'd love to just look around and see what is there. You never know what kind of treasure you will find.
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