pacific beach + thrift crawl

I decided to host a thrift crawl in Pacific Beach, CA.  Why not meet new ladies with a similar passion, and at the same time, do what I do best— thrift!  I called it a thrift crawl because just like a club or pub crawl, the goal is to sample some thrift stores in walking distance from each other.  Many of the ladies had never been thrifting before, and some had tried it once or twice but did not find it too rewarding.

We met bright and early at Buffalo Exchange in Pacific Beach at 10am.  I know it’s early, but…hey, that is what you do when you are a true thriftaholic.  Another reason for that early start was to see if we could partake in Buffalo Exchanges dollar sale that happens, I believe once a year.  At this location, they brought out a few carts of clothing (men and women) and emptied it out on a tarp on the sidewalk outside of the store, handed each eagerly waiting customer a large white bag and at the stroke of 10am, each person was allowed to fill their bag with clothing for $1 a piece.  Within about five minutes, and I am being generous there, the entire sidewalk was near empty.  People grabbed every and anything without inspection, and stuffed it into their bags.  I unfortunately could not bring myself to get this aggressive over used clothing.  This was probably the first time that I have ever walked away from an awesome deal.  However, the thought of grabbing clothes that may or may not fit me, simply because it was $1 is not my idea of a great thrift experience.

Thankfully, this did not dissuade us from our day of thrifting.  We simple bypassed the melee on the sidewalk and entered the store.  Buffalo Exchange is a privately owned, family-operated fashion resale retailer that buys and resells used clothing.  It is not your typical thrift store, per se, as they are very picky with what they sell on the racks.  You can get cash or trade on the spot for clothes from your closet.  Their prices are not “thrift” store prices, but very reasonable as there is a lot of designer clothes at very discounted prices.  For example, at our thrift crawl we found a Tory Burch blazer in excellent condition for $40.  Now, that is a score!   There are two locations in the San Diego area, and after visiting both, I am never disappointed with my shopping experience at these stores.  We shopped for about an hour and a half and everyone walked out the doors with great scores.  I will surely update you in another blog posting about some of the great finds.

Once we left Buffalo Exchange, we walked down as a group to the next store on the hit list, Thrift Traders.  Thrift Traders buys, sells, and trades cds, dvds, LP’s,clothes, books, accessories in and around San Diego, CA.  To be honest, I have never ventured past the clothing section at either the El Cajon or Pacific Beach location.  However, it would appear that there are huge music selections to be had.  Their pricing is very simple.  Everything in the store with a few exceptions, is $5.99 or 4 for $20.  Thrift Traders will remind you more of a thrift store, with clothes packed into the racks.  Here, the real thrifting in you will be born.  You do need to hunt through the racks, but there are some awesome finds and a feeling of exhilaration when you find that one piece… like one of the ladies on the thrift crawl.  I can’t wait to see how she rocks that blazer!

After Thrift Traders, we took a break for lunch and drinks and got to know each other a little better.  Refueling for the next thrift stores on the crawl.  After lunch and drinks, we hit the Goodwill and the United Cerebral Palsy Thrift both right next door to each other.  Once again, some great finds at both.  The day ended around 5pm.  Whew…a full day of shopping.  I got a few awesome pieces (about 13), which I will style and show in future blogs.  However, I did not spend over $100.  I enjoyed meeting the ladies and we have already spoken about another thrift crawl in the near future!  All in all, a great day Thrift Crawling in San Diego.  Hope you can join us on our next thrift crawl.