This is my new project, and I am really looking forward to it! I am a woman on a mission to find out the best and worst thrift stores out there in Chicagoland.
My plan is simple: Visit one thrift store every week and review it. I'm beginning with Village Discount Outlet chain. Every week I'll post a new location, so any suggestions on where to review are welcome!
So....my first stop, Village Discount Outlet located at 6419 S.Kedzie.
This thrift store is one of my favorites. Really there's so much to love about it where do I begin? First of all they have a website, yay for that! Here's the website:
http://www.vdoil.com
Pros:
First off, it's got a great selection of clothing, especially Women's clothing, and has many name-brand labels including Ann Taylor, New York and Company, INC, (you know the ones that make you do a double take). I'll admit, this is where I spend most of my time, haha. I also love that there are sizes that fit a wide range of shapes, since I usually wear a large/size 12 and I frequently walk out of this store with nice fitting shirts and pants that often times will look brand new or close to it.
But the men's and children's clothing are definitely nice for a thrift store, and there is even a separate area for toddler clothing, although I am not a fan of the back of the store, it seems a bit creepy back there. This back area also has several shelves of trickets, glasses, kitchen stuff, and some decorating items. Here's a pic of one of the extremely full shelves of trinkets. (These are taken from my phone, so they aren't the clearest, but you get the idea).
The linens are back here in this section also and although there's alot of sleeping bags and well worn bedding, they do have some blankets worth digging for. The store is well organized and ususally has pretty clean aisles. Plus, you've got a good chance at finding a big piece of furniture like an entertainment center or a desk, as a bonus, when you get tired there's usually couches you can pass out on, yes! I also love the amount of shoes, there's a ton of them. I could just go shoe shopping here! There's frequent holiday sales :D For instance, this weekend is a Mother's Day sale on Saturday and Sunday.
The jewelry counter is an interesting stop. The selection of jewelry is bigger than some of the other stores I've been to, and they also have those little "extras" behind the counter, such as knick knacks, purses, shoes that are of a better quality than what's available on the sales floor. And here, one more picture of the long aisle
(See that red dot I circled? That's the other end of the store!)Cons:
The parking lot is pretty small, so there's a chance you will have to street park (ugh). Plus, the nicer clothes are priced higher with white tags and grouped together in their newer section, so be prepared to pay more (and sometimes ALOT more) for that top from Banana Republic. You could expect to pay anywhere from $7 to $12 for an average piece of clothing in this section with the white tags, whereas the other items might average $3-$5 per piece.
Also, I feel that the store should probably get rid of a good portion of their inventory, since some of it is very old and I've seen on repeat visits, prompting me to hold up many of these shirts just to bask in the ambiance of sequence and chiffon. This seems to be most true for the Women's tops and the purses they have on display.
This is a great store, and I will continue to shop here. Definitely glad I found this one!
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