Monday, November 15, 2010

A 50% Off Day at Value Village

Value Village is a big chain of second-hand shops in Canada. It has housewares and books as well as clothing. They take some donations, but mostly they buy from non-profits such as the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Periodically they have sales days: 50% off all their clothing, shoes, accessories, and bed and bath. A few years ago they used to have the discount on everything in the store, but they've limited it now.

Today was the pre-holiday one (they also had one at the end of August -- pre-school, I guess). They open two hours early on sale days, so I got there shortly after 8 am. I was interested in a pair of neoprene shoes I'd seen there last week. I figured if they were still there, my name was on them. They were!

I had looked at hats before too, looking for a good wool felt for winter. Lo and behold, I found a Tilley winter hat in my size! I've coveted one of these for years, but I always found the price too high. The original Value Village price was less than a third of the retail price -- and today I got it for half that. Just the savings in that one item (the hat was new enough to still have its owner manual) more than covered all my other purchases.

Matching the hat was an L.L. Bean wool cardigan. I didn't get it off the rack. Another woman was using the mirror I was checking hats in and she had the sweater in her basket but thought it'd be too large for her daughter who takes a size small. The size was marked as medium but the shoulder seams fell off my shoulders too, but not too much. Enough room to layer another, lighter sweater underneath it. The woman showed me a white cashmere sweater she had found for her daughter -- that she was definitely keeping.

I looked though the men's sweater and casual top section but I didn't find anything for my son or husband. I did find a Columbia micro-fleece top in my size though.

Nothing really appealed to me in the pajama section -- what I have right now will suffice. But I did want to get some elastic waist pants with pockets to see me through the next year of weight reduction. I found a brown corduroy and bright tuorquoise cotton that fit well. Coming out of the fitting booth, I saw an Eddie Bauer heavy corduroy shirt in a flower print on the reject rack. I tried it on: it fit and went with the cords I was wearing today. Its colours will also go with my jeans and some other pants I have. It's a "nice casual" and a good addition to my wardrobe.

I found a pair of nylon shorts and a tank top for summer wear as well.

A very successful day bargain-hunting!

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