Ever wondered where the best thrift stores are? Here are 60+ favorite spots across North America and Europe!

So you need some pretty fabric for a skirt, a pair of size 7 knitting needles, or a few glass jars to try etching your brand-new designs onto. Stop by a thrift store before you buy spendy new stuff. Thrift stores can be an incredible source of clothes, furniture, fabric, yarn, craft supplies, books–pretty much anything and everything, from 1960s party invitations still in the package to rick-rack in every color! As Jean says in Get Crafty, “Thrifting is one of the great pleasures of the crafty life.”

I think one of the best things about secondhand shopping is the serendipitousness of what you find. The day you’re desperately looking for a pink blazer is when you come home with a 1970s Pfaff sewing machine with all the original accessories, for $10. Then again, the afternoon you really want a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird, there’s one on the shelf waiting for you for 69 cents. Maybe you spot a pillowcase from the set you had (and loved!) as a little kid, or a vintage Lilly Pulitzer dress in your size with a half-off tag. Some days you might not see anything good, or you might spot something awesome out of the corner of your eye… in someone else’s shopping cart. Bummer.

The golden (pre-eBay and Antiques Roadshow, sigh) age of thrift stores may be on the wane, but you can still find incredible things if you’re persistent. Independent charity shops in smaller towns can be a gold mine of cool stuff, and are usually far less picked over than chain stores in bigger cities.

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up over the years:

-Wear a skirt. It’s much easier to change out of quickly in a dressing room than pants are!

-A quick and fairly accurate way to judge if a waistband will fit you is to hold it up to your neck and see if it wraps around. If it does with a little to spare, it will most likely fit your waist.

-Bring cash. Some thrift stores take credit cards or checks, but it is brutal to find incredible stuff and then realize you have no way of paying for it.

-Don’t overpay. Some stores (I’m looking at you, Goodwill) have really started raising their prices, so a t-shirt or book is about as much as it would be new. Look for sales or try other, smaller shops that don’t gouge you! Look for half-off-everything day, or fill a grocery bag for $2.

-If you’re traveling, look in the phone book (or if you’re in a smaller town, ask around or look in the main part of downtown) for thrift stores. My husband and I stopped at a few places along the Oregon coast this summer and found amazing stuff–a vintage Lacoste dress for me, a bunch of great 1940s baseball cards for him.

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I asked a bunch of cool crafty women where their favorite thrift and affordable vintage stores were, and got plenty of recommendations. Here they are, sorted by location. I’d love to include yours, just comment with it and I’ll add it on!

East Coast

Standish, ME:
Goodwill (with cheap LL Bean returns!)

Boston and Cambridge, MA:
The Garment District
Salvation Army
Saugus
Second Time Around

New York, NY:
Alice Underground
Beacon’s Closet
Centricity
Goodwill
Housing Works
Salvation Army

Philadephia, PA:
New to Nearly New
Junior League Shop

Baltimore, MD:
Value Village

Laurel, MD:
Village Thrift

Catonsville, MD:
Salvation Army As-Is department

Berkeley Springs, WV:
R.A.G. (Recycled American Goods)

Richmond, VA:
Nonesuch

Virginia Beach, VA:
Salvation Army (and lots of others along Virginia Beach Blvd.)

Raleigh, NC:
American Way

Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC:
PTA Thrift Shop (3 locations, also in Pittsboro)
Club Nova

Durham, NC:
Thrift World

Athens, GA:
Potter’s House

St. Pete, FL:
Sunshine Thrift

The Midwest

Chicago, IL:
The Brown Elephant
Hollywood Mirror
Ragstock
Unique Thrift
Village Discount

Aurora, IL:
Community Thrift Store
Village Thrift

Columbus, OH:
State of Ohio
Village Thrift Store (also throughout the Midwest)

Cleveland, OH:
Unique Thrift Store

St. Louis, MO:
Feed My People

Denver, CO:
The Arc
Savers
Unique Thrift Store

Boulder, CO:
Goodwill
Salvation Army

Austin, TX:
New Bohemia

West Coast

Seattle, WA:
Red Light
Vintage Voola

Olympia, WA:
Goodwill

Portland, OR:
Goodwill Bins
Red, White, and Blue

Beaverton, OR:
Goodwill

Tigard and Salem, OR:
Value Village

Yreka, CA:
Hospice Shop

San Francisco, CA:
Buffalo Exchange
Cross Roads
Goodwill Superstore
Thrift Town
Wasteland

Berkeley, CA:
Stop the Clock

San Jose, CA:
Savers

Los Gatos, CA:
The Happy Dragon

Ventura, CA:
Assistance League
Battered Women’s Thrift Store
Goodwill
Humane Society Thrift Shop

Los Angeles, CA:
Children’s Hospital Thrift Shop
Out of the Closet
St. Vincent DePaul

UK

London:
Absolute Vintage
Oxfam
All the shops along Walthamstow High Street

Glasgow:
Salvation Army

Europe

Paris:
Kilowatch
Lots of shops along the Boulevard de Clichy

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Thanks so much to the indiebrides and craftistas who shared their favorites!!

Susan Beal is a crafty writer and jewelry designer who absolutely loves thrift store shopping.