Thrift Store Blues

I'll admit that I love clothes. I love the process of picking out things that go together in an interesting way. I believe that fashion does affect one's psychological state. You look professional, you feel more professional. You have a fun outfit on, it lifts your mood a little bit. I do have some problems with the high fashion world, but I love the process of coming up with outfits that work in an interesting way in the real world. However, I also have a boatload of student loans, just finished planning a wedding and furnishing a house, and I work in an art museum. A girl has also got to eat. Put that all together and the first thing to go in the budget was my appreciation of J. Crew and Ann Taylor Loft (enter Target and Marshall's!). I won't even mention the cost of a dress I once bought at Harrod's in London or my totally awesome straw hat from the horse track in Lexington, KY in more carefree times. But I have always loved thrift stores. In MI where I am from they are totally fabulous. Suburban Detroit has some as big as grocery stores. In Astoria, Queens you can get J. Crew cashmere for $1, and enough clothes for a whole summer for 10 bucks. I do realize now a thrift store is only as good as it's neighborhood and the taste and budgets of it's residents. Say whatever you want about the architecture of western Queens, if the Salvation Army is any sign the residents have got style sense.

Then I moved to Albany. The first time I went in the Goodwill on Central Ave it had only stuff from Target at basically the same price as buying it new. The whole point of thrift stores is cheap clothes that were originally much more expensive. You put up with the smell and the inconvenience of the layout because there is the possibility of finding a beautiful, normally $150 dress for 3 dollars that you will wear for years. Or you at least want things from a different time period you could not acquire any other way. I want to feel like I am in my grandma's attic, and I want it to be dirt cheap. I want to have fun hunting. This is pure thrift store bliss. I did have a great time with my friends at a tiny thrift store in Greenwich, NY and we found some great pieces, but the name of the shop alludes me now. Then I discovered the Troy Goodwill, and that is slightly better than the Central Ave. location. The accessories are not bad. I have gotten some cool shoes I have worn a lot. I like all the kitschy glass pieces. But again with the huge shipments (seemingly new) from Target at basically the same price as new! Why would I want that? It is already cheap at Target. Not to mention that the whole fun of thrift store shopping  is the variety! You have 50 of a dress I can get at Target for $20 for $16 instead? Bore me to pieces, and depress me already.

The Salvation Army by my parents house in MI is a regular low brow Victoria and Albert. I got ceramic Molly bookends that were fabulous, beautiful linen napkins, kooky brooches. It is such a blast going there and there are great things as cheap as a quarter. The rummage sales at Olav Shalom can be fun. I got this there and love it. Will Capital Region thrift stores return the fun to thrift store shopping or have I missed the good ones? I have thought maybe they just aren't as cool over here. Can someone help out a girl employed in the arts?