Money Matters
Money Matters
Thrift Store Treasures: Stretching Your Dollar Further
We explore the transformative world of thrifting with Betty Mahika Milano and Steve Isaacs from America's Thrift Store, uncovering how secondhand shopping can dramatically stretch your dollar while supporting sustainability efforts.
• Thrift stores source merchandise through donations and many contribute proceeds to community organizations
• America's Thrift Store puts approximately 10,000 new items on the floor weekly
• Popular thrift items include clothing, accessories, housewares, furniture, and even brand-new products
• Most thrift stores offer additional discounts for seniors, military personnel, and often run special promotions
• Pricing at thrift stores is typically 80-95% lower than retail, with many high-quality and designer items available
• Common misconceptions include that thrift stores only serve low-income customers or offer poor-quality merchandise
• Thrifting has evolved to attract diverse shoppers including budget-conscious families, sustainability-focused young people, and resellers
• For beginners, start with smaller thrift stores and focus on housewares before tackling clothing sections
• America's Thrift Store offers a 30-day return policy with receipt, challenging the assumption that thrift purchases are final
• Beyond saving money, thrifting supports environmental sustainability by keeping millions of pounds of goods out of landfills
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Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want. Now here is your host, ms Kim Chapman.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another edition of Money Matters. Do you know how to stretch your dollar? Thrifting can be an answer. And so today with me, we have an avid thrifter and, of course, someone that's no stranger to Money Matters our own Betty Mahika Milano, hello. And of course, from America's thrift store right here in Baton Rouge, louisiana, we have Mr Steve Isaacs.
Speaker 3:Hi how you doing.
Speaker 2:So I'm excited to have both of them here. I've learned a lot about thrifting, because I didn't know anything about thrifting. To tell you the truth, I was one of those people that may be like some of you, that might be turning your nose up just a little. But wait, don't leave, don't turn it off. You will be surprised at what you will find out. As a matter of fact, if you like this shirt, guess where I bought it? How can I do a show on thrifting if I'm not going to come in an outfit that was bought at a thrift store? So, yes, this shirt, the earrings, the pants, but all of this was bought for less than $20. So thrifting can not only just stretch your dollar, it can enhance your wardrobe. So I'm going to jump right in and we're going to go with Steve. First, steve, what led you to work into the thrifting industry?
Speaker 3:Well, several things actually. One was the challenge. It was a new industry for me. I've been in retail for 43 years and it was just a new industry that I had never tried. But what really gets me is we give back to the community. One of our partners is Louisiana Teen and Adult Challenge and that's one of our partners. We have Make-A-Wish Foundation up through Alabama and several in Mississippi, but I just love the fact that we give back. We try to keep 50 million pounds of waste out of the landfills. Everything we work on is in donations. Our prices are right for the public, our shoppers. It's just an exciting field to be in.
Speaker 2:And Betty, what is thrifting For somebody that has no clue what thrifting is? Give us a little insight, especially since you are an avid thrifter, you know. Every time I hear Betty say, hey, I got to do something from the thrift shop, and so that's how I actually thought about doing this podcast, and I learned so much about how you can save. But tell us exactly what is thrifting.
Speaker 4:So basically, thrift stores are, like Steve mentioned, stores that source all of their merchandise secondhand, so via donations typically. So, like America's, thrift accepts donations, goodwill accepts donations, st Vincent de Paul accepts donations and a lot of them are actually also contribute to the community. So, as he mentioned, they support certain organizations. Goodwill typically gives jobs to people who wouldn't typically be able to get jobs people who are recently out of prison or people with developmental disabilities and things like that. But as far as the merchandise, it's secondhand merchandise. That means you're getting the gamut right.
Speaker 4:You can get brand new things with tags. I just bought something from the thrift store the other day that was new, with tags. So it was brand new. So I had the tags on. Maybe just didn't fit somebody or they bought it, they never wore it and they donated it and then it can go all the way to like mega used items. But it can also be really nice vintage pieces and things like that. It's clothing, but it's also housewares, furniture as well. It's kind of like a department store, a secondhand department store, I would say.
Speaker 2:So how did you get started? What led you to not walk into Dillard's, but maybe go into an American thrift store?
Speaker 4:I think growing up, you know I'm the youngest of three well, technically five siblings, and so you know resources were never, you know, super scarce, but they weren't like super abundant, and so it was just a way to feel like I could get more for my dollar and my mom as well. So it was kind of an easier way to keep us in new clothes without spending a ton of money. And then I just found that I liked the clothes there more because they're more unique and I'm kind of weird. So it kind of was a match made in heaven.
Speaker 2:So, steve, can you kind of piggyback on what Betty was saying some of the items that are found at the thrift store, what are some of the items that are most popular, and just kind of give us a range and atmosphere of what we can expect if we walk into America's thrift store?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, our typical thrift customer visits us about two to four times a month. We have our core groups of shoppers Budget shoppers take up about 44% of all our clientele that walks in, treasure hunters about 47%. And designer brand shoppers are our resellers that come in. You can find just about everything in our stores. We put on an average of 10,000 items out a week. So you can find clothing, accessories, housewares, purses, shoes, belts, and we carry a line of new clothing also. Our undergarments are new, our socks are new, all our mattresses and rugs are all brand new, so there's such a variety when you walk through the door new, so there's such a variety when you walk through the door. It's a huge store, 50,000 square foot, 44 different racks of clothing alone.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a lot. I've been in the store. I'm sure you're going to see some of that footage in the background. It's huge. They sell so many different things but you know, when it comes thrifting and this show is about saving a dollar, so even for thrifters, they're there to save money. Are there even discounts for thrifters?
Speaker 3:There is. We do a senior discount, we do a military discount, we do a discount for Amazon if they bring their ID with them. We run special promotions if you're a loyalty member, where you might get 10% off for a particular weekend. Or we just ran a sale where it was 30% off all our clothing items and that's a sale that we've never run before. It was very successful. We had a lot of people in the store and they were finding what they wanted. It goes back to how many items we put out a week. For us, it's a brand new store every day. America's Thrift is just a brand new store. We're not your mama's thrift store.
Speaker 2:So how do you determine the pricing for those items? I'll mention again this shirt we got from the thrift store six bucks. I looked online for shirts very similar to this and this brand $25. So how do you determine the pricing?
Speaker 3:A couple of ways. For one, our employees who price our clothing are typically our most tenured associates in the company. So when they go out and they're pricing they're keying in what the brand is, what condition that brand is in. So we've got three different brands. It's either going to be an A brand, b brand or C brand. So for argument's sake, if it's a Target or a Walmart brand, that would be more of a B brand. And then we grade by is it new, excellent, good or fair? That's how we determine what the prices are. It's keyed into a computer, just basically. If it's a new item, that still has a tag on it. If it's a new item without the tag, that means it'd be in excellent condition and that's how the pricing is determined. But it's our most tenured team members that do that.
Speaker 2:And Betty, you seem to have an eye for these things, so kind of walk us through your process in terms of how do you determine something that's good quality? Can you tell if it's new or not? How can you tell if it's really a bargain?
Speaker 4:So, kind of like to his point, the people he has pricing the things are his most tenured employees, right? Those are the people who've been there day in and day out and they've seen everything come through. They've touched all the fabrics and it's kind of the same for me. I'm 35. I've probably been thrifting since I was about 14. So let's say I've been doing it consistently for 21 years. That's a long time to build up kind of a knowledge base of like, what to look for and what you like.
Speaker 4:And a lot of times for me it really is touch. That's probably my biggest thing. Like I can go through a rack and I can kind of like keep moving it until I feel a fabric that feels like a nicer fabric, so like, let's say, a linen or something that's 100% cotton as opposed to you know, I know probably nowadays you guys get a lot of stuff from sheen and things like that which you can feel that that's 100% like unnatural fabric. It's no, there's no cotton in it at all, and I typically tend towards 100% cotton things, just because they're more breathable and things like that and more durable when you wash. So it really is a feel thing and it's also really about dedicating that time.
Speaker 4:Like when I go to the thrift store, people try to ask if they can come with me. All the time I'm like don't come with me, leave me alone, because I get in the zone. And when I'm in like the thrifting zone, like I'll just pick a section of the store, I'll say, like today I just want to look for skirts and I also have a list on my phone, my notes app. I always have like a thrift wish list, so I'm manifesting what I want as well. So I always have a list of things I'm looking for. So I'll be like okay, I'm looking for a black skirt today, so I'm just going to go to the skirt section, devote all my energy there and look through every single skirt and I know that that sounds crazy, but other thrifters will understand it's like the best place for us. It's like my Zen place. It's when I'm in a bad spot mentally, I tell my husband I'm going to a thrift store.
Speaker 2:So for somebody that's listening, that's not a thrifter, that you know. Maybe on the outside, looking in, they think, ah, still not for me. Convince us, like you did me. What are some bargains? What are the deep discounts? What really makes a good thrifting day for you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, okay. So I mean I have so many stories, you know, you know a lot of my stories, but actually the other day I went to Goodwill and I bought a Madewell dress, which everyone you know probably is familiar with the brand Madewell. They have it here in Baton Rouge, it's right, by the Trader Joe's and by the Lululemon. Typically, the items can range, without any sale or discount, from 80 to over a hundred dollars. It was a simple white dress, um New, with the tags on it no stains, no issues, so brand new for all intents and purposes, and I got it for $6. $118, originally, never worn by anybody. I'm going to be hard pressed to go pay $118 for that dress in store Because I know that if I just put in that elbow grease, that dedication that those items are out there, I mean, if you think about yourself, how many times have you bought something and you didn't wear it?
Speaker 4:Or you bought something and you ended up not fitting it? You order it online and it doesn't fit. I know so many people who don't return things, which is also crazy to me because I return everything, but if it's not working for me but I know a lot of people who don't and then they just have that stuff in their closet and then eventually they just donate it, and so it's like why wouldn't I want to reap the benefits of, kind of those situations? So I think, if you think that it's all just musty, crusty, dusty, there's actually gems hidden in there. And I have my other little special story where I went to another thrift store, found a teapot and I just looked at it and it looked really unique. I bought it for $2. I sold it on eBay for $300.
Speaker 2:Wow. And for those of you that are listening and wondering, are there other aspects of thrifting? There are, and that's going to be part two. We're actually going to have Betty come back and another professional expert and then we're going to be talking about thrifting for income. But for now, you mentioned Betty. Sometimes things don't fit. So I want to ask you, steve, what type of return policy? I would almost assume and I was wrong that if you bought something secondhand or from a secondhand store, all sales were final. But that's not the actual case, right.
Speaker 3:Well, America's Drift has an industry standard return policy. So if you purchase something today, you have up to 30 days. As long as the tag is on and you have your receipt, you could either exchange it or bring it back for a store credit. That's on any clothing items or warrantied electronics it could be brought back. So it's a win-win for the customer. And just to piggyback on what Betty said, our average customer could be in the store between two and four hours.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:You know this last sale we had, we had people waiting at the door and I had a regular customer. She walked in the door at eight o'clock in the morning, walked out at a quarter to one in the afternoon and filled an entire buggy of clothing and only spent $130. Wow.
Speaker 2:And are there sales associates there to help out?
Speaker 3:I always have sales associates on the floor. I'm on the floor, my assistants are on the floor, my supervisors are out there. If any customer ever needs help, we're there to help them.
Speaker 2:Now I know you mentioned that there are different discounts that you offer for seniors and other people. Is there any price haggling If I see a shirt or if I see an item and I want for a little less than what it is? Are the prices hey, it is what's marked or is there an opportunity for me to?
Speaker 3:have. It is what's marked on there. Our prices are quite low, to start with Children's clothing, infants will range between ninety nine cents and a dollar ninety nine for an outfit. I don't think there's any place out there where you can buy a onesie for a newborn for ninety nine cents.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:So seasonal. Do you see any changes from season to season? Do you get those items? You know people like to shop the day after Christmas and buy their Christmas stuff for the next year. Can we come to a thrift store and find those seasonal items?
Speaker 3:Oh, definitely. So yeah, every season is going to be a little bit different. We try to set it about six weeks ahead of time.
Speaker 2:So for somebody that's listening, of course we're talking about trying to stretch that dollar on average. What type of savings can a person expect, whether it's from household items, Do you have furniture?
Speaker 3:We do carry furniture when it's donated to us. We have several people who buy out storage units and a lot of times we'll get an entire U-Haul truck of furniture in Our prices, even on furniture, is extremely low. You can buy a three-piece sectional when we get it for less than $250. Wow, we carry a full line of mattresses, from twin all the way up to king, three different brands, all brand new. But they start at 209 and go up to 529, just depending on what size you want or what quality you want. But that's a brand new mattress. I don't think there's any place around there you could buy a brand new twin mattress for $209.
Speaker 2:I don't think so, unless you're sleeping on thin ice.
Speaker 3:You're sleeping on a piece of wood.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you can really stretch your dollar. And again, something that Betty said, I was never a thrifter until I started working for a thrift company and I've traveled a lot of the stores between Mississippi, alabama, up into Birmingham where our corporate offices are, to our wholesale warehouse, to our distribution center and just loved everybody that I met. But I used to buy shirt I'm wearing right now. I used to buy at Walmart. They'd cost me $25 a piece. When we get them in I can't buy them the same day, but if they're still there the next day they're like $4.49 a piece.
Speaker 2:So from $25 to $4.49,.
Speaker 3:it's 20% of what you would pay retail and I could buy four or five shirts. They last me four months. It's not a big deal at $5 a piece, but when you're spending $25 a shirt every four months, you're putting out $125. So it's a very good savings. Being a thrifter, you could really stretch your dollar. A lot of our clientele they have children. They come in for their school uniforms because they're a lot less than anyplace else. They can outfit their entire family for under $100.
Speaker 2:So tell me, what do you think is the biggest misconception people may have about thrifting? I'll let each one of you answer that question.
Speaker 4:I mean, I think that if someone isn't familiar with thrifting, they may assume that it is for lower income people. They may assume that that's really the only people who are meant to shop there, and that's just not true. They also may think, oh, it's like dirty, it's nasty. But you know, it's interesting because in typical like retail, you know it's like that clothing gets shipped from often overseas, right, and it gets put in boxes and it gets put in containers. That clothing gets shipped from often overseas, right, and it gets put in boxes and it gets put in, uh, containers that get shipped across the ocean and that doesn't get washed before it gets put up on, you know, the rack at jc penny. Not to not to shame jc penny, because I shop there too, but, um, but so it's like the assumption that, like you know, mainstream retail is clean and nice.
Speaker 4:I mean, obviously the stores can sometimes be nicer, um, you know, and and retail differently, but it's ultimately, at the end of the day, it's stuff, it's stuff and it's stuff we need and um, and and for me I just there is such a joy, I guess, in in thrifting because you know's like the, the thrill of the hunt and it's like a treasure hunt and also, you know, knowing that I can provide for my family, um, in a way that that leaves room a mermaid exhibit at the Audubon Zoo, right, and so it's like, via me being frugal in this way, you know, we're able to then get us an Audubon Zoo membership, you know, right, and so it's like thinking about it in the in the whole, like holistically for your family, at least for me, via doing this, where I'm not spending tons and tons of money for the clothing that me and my family wear, we can save and do the other experiences that we want to do, and I just it's fun.
Speaker 2:What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about thrifting?
Speaker 3:is that it's either old or secondhand, and I think a lot of people used to look at it that it was secondhand clothing. But if you think back to when we were children, we had hand-me-downs. Our older brother would hand us down a pair of pants and we wore them basically until we wore them out, because money was tight back then. It's the same thing today. Money is tight with people and we deal with a lot of new customers all the time. As both of you know, I walk my store constantly and I have a lot of customers say I'm a first time in the store, first time in the store, and that's well, that's great.
Speaker 3:What brought you in? I'm on a budget and I need to stretch that dollar, or you know I'm not making as much as I used to make, but it's just thrifting is? It is definitely a way to stretch your budget, to give you that the extra dollars to do the little things you want to do, or that extra little. My son or my daughter has a school trip to go on, so I saved $20 because I was thrifting. Now I have the $20 to use for that.
Speaker 2:How to financially thrive in 2025. So you know, you took us home and talked about oh my God, you know we used to do hand-me-downs how has thrifting since both of you seem to have been doing it for quite a while how has thrifting changed over the years? I mean, for me personally, I see that there are stores everywhere and I know when Betty and I were doing our little research and she was showing me around thrifting, every store that we went in there were tons of people. It was like being at the mall. So how have you seen thrifting change over the decades?
Speaker 3:you've seen thrifting change over the decades. I think most people are on a budget now and are very cash conscious and trying to stretch that dollar as far as they can go with it. With fuel prices going up or your rent going up, groceries going up, they know when they come into the thrift store they're going to have that bargain and, like any other business, prices're going to have that bargain and, like any other business, prices are going to go up a little bit. But where JCPenney's or any of your major department stores or your big box operations, if they raise a price, it might be $1 to $5. If we raise a price, it might be 10 cents.
Speaker 2:I like that yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's not going to go up that much. But like any thrift store, we're a business. We yes, we give a lot back to the community. We keep the items out of the landfill, but we recycle every item that comes in. We don't want to go into the landfill. So if it's an item that we cannot sell as long as it's not holy, has stains, mildew or anything along that line, and we cannot put it on the floor, then we bail that item and those bails actually go to make rags. So even those items are recycled again. Oh wow, so it's a win-win for the customer. It's a win-win for the customer. It's a win-win for the business. But back to your question we don't raise our prices very much.
Speaker 2:So if you're trying to avoid inflation, it sounds like the thrift store is the way to go. How have you seen it change over the years?
Speaker 4:Betty, it's changed a lot since I was a teen, shopping at the very same thrift stores. I bought this actually last week at Goodwill on college and that was one of the thrift stores I frequented as a 15 year old Right, so I definitely can say that it's a lot more picked over. I think thrifting has just really really grown in popularity and especially kind of since COVID and stuff and like the economy change and also just younger shoppers are actually leaning more towards thrifting because of sustainability and kind of like what Steve was saying about recycling everything. I think you know kind of people in their teens and 20s now a lot of them do feel passionate about sustainability, and not just, you know, the rise of fast fashion really came hard and strong, but it is one of the biggest polluters in the world Sheen and all those companies. They dump a lot of the inventory that they make because they produce inventory at such a crazy pace, and so I think a lot of younger people have kind of like become conscious of that. And so, man, I tell you what those college kids they come and they pick through the thrift store and it's like stop, I can't go during the day, like you. So you know that is one big thing. It's like you find that, that, you know, between young people and resellers.
Speaker 4:Another big thing is the reselling community has just again since the pandemic, I think just really really kicked up, because people are trying to find those alternate forms of income.
Speaker 4:And I am a reseller myself an amateur reseller not, you know, full time by any means, but you know it's a way that I get an additional income as well, you know it's a way that I get an additional income as well, you know. So I definitely see those two groups as really really being in the in the thrifting world in a big way. But also, I find that I'm always thrifting alongside a lot of like middle aged women, and it's like middle aged women who seem like they're, you know, middle class, middle aged women, which I don't think in the past is typically who you would think of as a thrift customer, but but those are the ladies that I'm chit chatting with when I'm going through the racks on the weekend. So, yeah, it's definitely. It feels like there's a place. This is going to sound cheesy, but there's a place for everybody at the thrift store. We all, we all fam in the thrift store.
Speaker 2:I agree, and so I want to talk a little bit about decorum, because I actually bought a couple of items that I just want to kind of feature in terms of, even if you're just trying to decorate, you know, maybe you don't want to find your clothes, maybe you don't want to find your shoes at the thrift store, but maybe you want to just add that little accent piece to your home, and I mean, of course, this is so close to Fleur de Lis, louisiana. I mean maybe you don't want to put the Saints up right now, but I mean matching little art pieces $3 a piece at the thrift store. Think about this in your home and how much you would have to pay over $45 if you went to somewhere you know like a home accent store. So tell us a little bit more about, maybe, what you've experienced in terms of home decorum and things that you can use in the house.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just I just kind of redid my daughter's bathroom this weekend and I did it because I actually bought a beautiful watercolor, a really large piece oh gosh, sorry About this big for fifteen dollars at America's Thrift, and that's lately been kind of more. My thing I've been focusing on is art pieces, you know, and I'm not necessarily looking for anybody famous or anything. I'm just looking for something that speaks to me and it was really beautiful watercolor with palm trees and kind of an island vibe and it's just beautiful. And I thought, oh, like, I think this would be really nice in my daughter's bathroom. And that then kind of inspired us to be like oh, let's kind of add pink accents to your bathroom, you know. And ultimately it's like we went and bought some towels. We did buy those at JCPenney. Shout out, jcpenney does have good deals too and, don't get me wrong, I am on a retail situation when I need to be, but they have a lot of coupons and you know I don't shop without coupons.
Speaker 2:That's another episode, that's another episode, but period, I don't shop without a coupon if I'm shopping regular retail.
Speaker 4:But yeah, I mean, between that photo and then all the other pictures I had kind of amassed from, look a free pile on the side of the road, I'll always stop as well. The side of the on the side of the road, I'll always stop as well. But a lot of the the art in her bathroom is pictures that I took or, um, you know, or items that I got at the thrift store and or gifts, and it just feels unique and it feels like you can, over time, collect pieces that really speak to you, as opposed to just going to like a bed, bath and beyond or a Marshall's and getting like just something that's there because you need something to fill that space. You know, and I was looking for some scrapbooks recently and I went to Michael's and full price the scrapbooks ranged anywhere from $12.99 to $25.99. And I found two brand new ones at America's Thrift for $2.99 each.
Speaker 2:All right. So before we get ready to wrap up, I want to know what's been the most unique thing, especially you, steve, since you say it's a new store every day, so I imagine you see hundreds and thousands of things. What's the most unique thing that's come across the store in the years that you've been thrifting or working for America's Thrift?
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, there are so many items. Matter of fact, we had a lot of very high-end handbags come across. A lot of china sets were donated about a month and a half ago. Where this is, I mean full china sets. I think they came from an estate sale and they weren't able to be sold, so they donated them into the store. We just had a Prada handbag come through. A lot of items like that. If they're really high end items, we send those up to Birmingham and they're put on our online store, our e-commerce.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you if there's an online platform.
Speaker 3:We do. We actually have with America's Strip, it's actually four stores in one. Okay, we have our processing and then our retail departments in the store. We have our e-commerce and we also have our wholesale division. So if it's an item when we talked about earlier about everything is recycled. If we cannot sell it in the store and what we call drop it, we pull it back off the floor. It actually goes into Gaylord's and is shipped back to Birmingham as wholesale. What Birmingham does when it goes to our wholesale warehouse is they repackage it into small bales and those items actually get brokered overseas. So it's never a loss. But there's so many unique items that come through, especially when we're talking about artwork. I probably have at any given time, about 200 pieces of artwork in the store and it's donated all the time. You could find a lot of little trinkets or you could, although we go up to a four by five painting that are coming in.
Speaker 3:We found some that are from great artists and we found some that are done by kids. But it just depends what someone is looking for. If they're trying to redo a playroom, some of that little finger painting art actually falls into play and looks really nice and you can pick them up from anywhere from about $299 to about $2499. There was a mirror that came in the other day and we do the research, we do Google it to see what it sells for on eBay, and on eBay this mirror was sold for over $200. And we had a price tag of $24.99 on it. Wow, and it went very quickly. I wish I could have bought it from my house, but I didn't have room to put it.
Speaker 3:But just so many unique items. We've had bicycles come in, racing bikes, yeah. Old desks, old sewing machines. Just so many different bows for hunting have come into the store. A lot of musical instruments. The list is just so long when I say we just 10,000 items going out a week. 10,000 items go out on that floor a week and it's just, it's always new. You never know what you're going to find. Sometimes you could just be digging through some of our miscellaneous items back in housewares or the wall art and you come across something and go, wow, where did this come from? Who donated this? I don't think they really knew what they were donating when they donated it and it's just amazing, amazing finds.
Speaker 2:So, betty, for somebody that's listening and they're like, hey, I want to be able to financially thrive in 2025, but they may feel a little overwhelmed. I mean, listen to Steve saying all the thousands of pieces of merchandise they have. What's your advice? Where do we get started? Is there a best time, a peak time? Is Saturday better than Wednesday? What's your advice? How do we really maximize the thrifting potential to help us out financially?
Speaker 4:So I would say, probably my number one tip is start with smaller stores. America's Thrift is, I want to say, the biggest thrift store, like square footage wise, in Baton Rouge. I've been in all of them. It's very large. You went and I even, you know, saw your face. You walked in and you felt a little overwhelmed. I mean it's huge, it's huge, it's overhead like fluorescent lighting. So I would say number one is start small, like in Baton Rouge.
Speaker 4:Locally, st Vincent de Paul is a great store to start at because their stores are much smaller, so you don't feel that same overwhelm. The amount of racks is less, the square footage is less, the ceilings are lower and it's the lighting's a little different. And I know that that sounds kind of like inconsequential, but if you don't know what you're doing, those things can kind of make you feel a little more comfortable, like you're not like walking in and being like, oh my god, like you can go through all the racks in there in an hour easily, um, and so I would say saman's in appalachian starring. I love that spot, um, and also I love it because that area, for whatever reason, they get a lot of items donated that seem to be from estate sales and things, so you just get those items that just are not even that used. Um, I've gotten a lot of great things there and nothing feels particularly like worn in and they actually have a lot of furniture in the back as well.
Speaker 4:I would say then that's my next step, to recommend going out and not going for clothes right off the bat, going for those housewares and going for furniture items and things like that. You need to like build those wins so you can really get in your comfort zone. And so I would say, looking at the home things you know, even like kitchen items, like plates and cups, things like that, is a great way to go. And then you know I hate to say this, I hate to put it out there, but ask your thrifting friend, they'll take you and they probably will, and you know they can kind of show you the ropes and if you need me, call me.
Speaker 2:And so, steve, for you, for those that are semi-pros or pros like Betty right, is there a peak time to find the goods at American Thrift? Tell us about your hours.
Speaker 3:Actually, any day is a good time to come in the shop. We're open from 8 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday. Sunday is from 11 to 7. We run new product to the floor Monday through Friday. So come Friday afternoon about four o'clock every item that we've processed for the week is out on the floor fresh and ready to go. Every item that we've processed for the week is out on the floor fresh and ready to go.
Speaker 3:There's not a bad time to come in. There's not a day that's going to be extremely busier than the next. I know weekends we do get busier because of a lot of people are not working or the children are out of school, but there's not a bad time to come in. I'm there all the time. I get there at seven o'clock in the morning. I walk out at 5 o'clock at night. Anyone that wants to come in, you snag me. I'll take you around the store. If you're a first-time thrifter, if you've been doing it for multiple years, if you can't find something, grab myself, grab one of my associates and we'll be happy to help you out.
Speaker 2:Well, there you have it folks. Well there you have it folks. I mean, if you are serious about stretching your dollar in 2025, if you have goals and you need to get more but pay less, it sounds like thrifting is the way. I want to thank our guests, betty and Steve. Thank, you. Thank you so much for joining us. Look for more. There's so much more that we're going to cover in 2025, because we want you to thrive.
Speaker 1:So until next time, I'm Kim Chapman with Money Matters. It's time for Blueprint Building Blocks Small changes that lead to big financial wins. Let's stack up for success.
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Speaker 1:That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building Blocks. Stay on track with your financial journey. Subscribe to the Money Matters podcast and visit neighborsfcuorg slash financial wellness for more tools to help you build a strong financial future.
