I went today to the Goodwill Outlet, which is tucked away right off Territorial Road, just east of 280. (The website says its on University Ave, which is total BS. Its on the back side of the building.) Id never been before, but Im looking for some things I could use as a base for costumes for Molly and Kiera for MarsCon. Im not much of a sewer, plus fabric at a fabric store is expensive. And honestly, thrift shops have gotten sort of ridiculously expensive in the last few years. The Goodwill Outlet sells by the pound. Clothing is $1.49/pound, for instance. It was sort of fascinating but a little stressful in terms of being somewhere that there were clearly a bunch of rules I had to figure out. People grab carts and park them against the wall on the perimeter of the room, and take stuff theyve grabbed to their cart to sort through during lulls, so that was the first thing: figuring out what was up with the carts. (Theyre mostly being left unattended so I was trying to figure out if they were bins of merchandise, or ... nope, that stuff is taken.) There are eight long tables. Every 15 minutes, the staff clears off four of the tables, boxing up the untaken merchandise and putting it off to the side. Then they bring out four fresh boxes on pallets with forklifts. (The boxes are huge, fyi. The size of appliance boxes, or possibly larger.) Then they flip the boxes to spill the contents onto the table, and spread it out a bit. While this is happening, customers start to cluster by the tables, but there is a very clear understanding that you (a) stay out of the way of the staff and (b) you do not touch anything until the signal. The first time, I totally missed the signal. (Someone says thank you over the PA system, but it was so quiet I almost missed it the second time, too.) I knew it had been given because other people started energetically rooting through the fresh merchandise. The first time, there was also a box that people realized was mostly full of shoes, and that table had a particularly large crowd. (Not me. I was not at all interested in shoes.) The expert customers were fast. I am not sure what other people were looking for, exactly, but they would plow through without a lot of careful consideration. During the lull, after theyd combed through all four tables and were waiting for the next batch to come out, they might pick through more carefully over at their cart, and toss the stuff they didnt want back on the tables. I did not find much. I came home with some pleather (Mollys costume could definitely use some leather on it) and a red bedsheet that could be cut down and used for material. And this little pink scarf with skulls and crossbones on it, which pleased Kiera immensely. Purses, bags, toys, all the stuff like that, were off in a different section which also periodically got refreshed. I will say, the constant inflow of new merchandise made it a lot more interesting. Anyway. What I really needed was something like a black trenchcoat made from sturdy yet lightweight material (so, not a wool coat; a raincoat might work), and I had no luck. I think coats rarely make it, or else Goodwill isnt moving out their coats yet. (I dont want this for a coat; I want to use it as a base for a costume.) I may throw in the towel and buy some black fabric to try sewing this.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:26:06 +0000
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