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Hello,
I am not sure if there is a thread for this already or not, please inform me if there is, but I am looking to see if we have travel tip forum. I know many of us like to travel and that there are a number of us from different countries who could maybe give tips for our area. Specifically, I am traveling to areas around Florence, Italy and many areas in England in April and would love to talk to someone from either of those places for any tips on Thrift or Charity Shops to visit, local interesting sites especially relating to our scavenger life style. I am not usually the kind of vacationer who wants to see the normal touristy things. I love just walking about in little towns and seeing what makes life beautiful for the locals. I love the country life and usually look to visit more rural areas. Anyway, any tips would be helpful. I do already use Airbnb. – Grace -
Hi Grace, wishing you very happy travels.
I’ve just returned from the UK. I posted this in the Trash Elf Twins thread, but for your convenience so that you don’t have to wade through all of it, I’m just going to copy/paste it here.
The thrift stores were, for the most part, utterly depressing. Prices were high and the stuff uninspiring. I think that the gems in thrifts are very location based. In other words, a small town thrift in a mid-range community is not going to have much to offer, while going to a large town or an affluent part of town, will be more fruitful. By that same token, I visited a couple of the charity shops on the High Street and was surprised to discover they were actually charity shops. They look like standard retail shops from the outside. Some of them had great pricing, and some of them had Goodwill Mania. It was an interesting exercise in frustration. My notes to me are to go in summer, when my bags are light and I am not expected to return with gifts, and spend some time being selective in my shop choice. That being said, with the forex rates not being in our favor, I’m not sure that it’s even worth dragging stuff back. I’d have to find something really special.
I’ve had much more fun looking through charity stores on previous visits when I went to Scotland. I found some awesome stuff there! If you have a very specific idea of what you’re searching for, that might help you sniff out the treasures. And if there are any car boot markets, you’ll pick up some goodies. (Car boot markets are car trunk sales – usually in a field from the back of a car or truck, so they’re normally held when the weather is friendlier.)
Good luck!
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Never been to Italy, but we’ve scavenged in England and other European countries. Their thrift stores are tiny and overly curated.
Our best finds were at flea markets. There were definitely professional sellers with inflated prices, but there were plenty of people just selling off old junk for cheap. Like you said, we have more fun going to cool parts of town outside tourists areas and just meeting people.
We just googled “flea market + (country/city name). We found very helpful websites that told us locations and dates. Have fun!
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my biggest travel tips are- pack light (we travel with one single tiny book bag style backpack each), pack clothes that dry without a dryer (nylon and polyester knits etc, we buy all ours on ebay or when we find athletic “quick dry” clothing at thrift stores). your airbnb might have a washer, but most likely won’t have a drier, sucks to wash jeans and hang dry them, they literally never dry. if they have a drier, great, if they don’t no problem. if they don’t even have a washer, just wash clothes in the sink or in the shower. that way you only have to bring a couple changes of clothes and you’re good to go. i need to make a video about scavenger style traveling light. been meaning to do that for a while…
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Regarding charity shops in England; try the re-use shops located at council recycling depots. This is where stuff brought in by people clearing their junk ends up. A need to keep a rapid sell-through keeps the prices relatively low.
The shop I work at prices stuff according to what they’ve found similar on the internet. And thta’s not sold prices either, so they’ve got a reputation as being expensive. I’ve got to sort out around 2,000 Sci-Fi books tomorrow (part of a collection of 4,000 that’s been donated) and I don’t even like Sci-Fi! I have the attitude that “Pulp fiction” is an activity not a category.
Other charity shops get browsed constantly by resellers. It takes me between 30 seconds and a couple of minutes to check out a shop, or 5 seconds if I’m just looking through the window. Or half an hour if I go with my partner!
Otherwise head to the Cattle Market in Nottingham at 6 a.m. on a Saturday with a torch and a couple of strong carrier bags for the junk market.
The antique fairs are usually a dead loss. Newark’s okay, but you have to browse at a stiff walk. High prices are the norm- they have some guff about “Trade days” but I’ve never seen any benefit. Allegedly the more rabid buyers can get in at 6 a.m. by paying £50.
I stand at a car boot sometimes; set-up is around 6.30 and gates open to the public at 8.30, which allows a couple of hours for dealers to buy stuff. On a good day I’ve sold all my junk before the public arrives, to fellow stall holders.
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