Things I’ve Found Lately (and why).

This week I go solo and show you some personal items I’ve recently nabbed. I cover what I look for in a thrift store, and what you should be keeping and eye out for when you’re out thrifting. Click the image above for the video.

I also posted a few shots from some other goods I picked up recently. Mostly books – as usual. All of the books were under a buck. The camera bag (shown in the video) was $2.99.

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* HEAD ON OVER: Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores & Donation Centers Opens in Saint Paul. Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores & Donation Centers will become a part of the rich retail history of White Bear Avenue with the opening of Arc’s fourth and largest Twin Cities store in the Hillcrest Shopping Center, 1650 White Bear Ave. N., St. Paul. Hillcrest Shopping Center is just south of Highway 36 on White Bear Avenue, near Aldrich Arena. The store will celebrate with a Grand Opening on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.

How To Start A Thrift Store With Culley Donovan

We check out Minneapolis’ newest thrift store Lost & Found. Co-owner Culley Donovan gives us the inside scoop on what it takes to start and get a thrift store off the ground and gives us an interesting in-store tour. Culley turned his passion for thrifting into one of the best thrift stores Minneapolis has to offer or that frankly, I’ve ever been in. It has a little bit of everything, all hand-picked gems by the man himself – check it out! See the video here. (18 mins.)

http://www.foundthrift.com

Don’t Dwell On It – Act On Your Passion!

EXTRA LIGHT THRIFTING week on my end. Lots of stuff going on this Fall. Fall is when most businesses slough off the last of their peeling suntans and kick it back into high gear. I managed to score a small stack of Dwell magazines for $2 each. It’s one of my top 3 favorite publications of all time. A little design, a little architecture, a little product design thrown in for good measure, just all around good, idea sparking reading. Check it out here and get a subscription whydont’cha.

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: I’d like to mention/PLUG something for all you readers. About 2 years ago I was laid off for a few months from my 9-5 design job and started just going to thrift stores. Simply because I had the time to do it and because I’m pretty keen on spotting shit that resells for good coin. I lived very comfortably doing this for a full time job those few months. That’s what initially spawned this blog. During that time, I also discovered a dude named Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary is this crazy, A.D.D. north-Jersey guy who has a great wine video blog (Vlog?). I can honestly say that Gary’s passion for his lo-fi Vlog helped keep me motivated to get going and act on my passion of kickin around thrift shops and supporting myself when I didn’t have steady income. It’s amazing what a person can find out about themselves when faced with a bout of unemployment. He’s recently come out with a book that I’m almost done reading called “CRUSH IT: Why Now Is Time To Cash In On Your Passion.” So far it’s exactly like Gary, direct, motivating, and funny. You can pick it up here from Amazon.com as well. It’s people like Gary that emit hustle and motivate followers to act on their passions in life. So as the nights get longer and the fleeting daylight sucks your energy level, pick up this lil’ book for a shot of literary espresso. You won’t be disappointed – trust me.

Noah Visits A Thrift Store (for the very first time)

MORE FRESH VIDEO GOODNESS to warm you up. My pal Noah and I visit a thrift store, so what – right? The thing is Noah has NEVER EVEN BEEN IN A THRIFT STORE. I know right?! This hit me as really odd. But he’s a good guy, so I took him to one, and here’s his before and after reaction. Enjoy.

Why Upcycling Is Better Than Recycling

Came across this post about upcycling instead of recycling on one of my favorite sites Planet Green. Seemed like a fitting post as its started to snow here in lovely Minneapolis. BRING FORTH the indoorsy wintertime activities!

Junky Styling: How To Remix Your Wardrobe

Check out this spot in London called Junky Styling. It features “original one-of-a-kind clothes made from hacking together thrift-store finds, salvaged textiles, and whatever happens to be lying around.” Read more about it here. It’s nice to see some thrift stuff from across the pond. Good work you Limey bastards. This great link was sent in to me by my good pal @Rustle Troyer. Be sure and check out his photo blog (phlog?) of “Alleged UFO Photos” good stuff.

Buffalo Exchange Thrift Store: A Quick Chat With Katrina

AS I PROMISED TO DELIVER MONTHS AGO – This week we come correct with a quick video treat for you all! We caught up with store manager Katrina Haugen who runs uptown Minneapolis’ newest thrift store sensation: Buffalo Exchange.  Katrina gives us some quick insight into opening, running, and operating a thrift store. She also gives us some good advice from a first hand thrift enthusiast. Before the interview (which takes place outside the store) we checked out the shop and found it to be suuuper organized, clean, and it has a great selection and variety of items. Literally something for everyone (yes, even dudes.) They have shoes, sweaters, pants, buttons, pins, costumes, wigs, artwork, etc.  They also buy quality items on the spot.You can check out their website here for more details, or follow them on Twitter: @buffaloexchange

Check out the VIDEO INTERVIEW and be sure to stop in and say hello to Katrina!

1 Year Anniversary Post!

Ladies and gentleman, IT’S ALREADY BEEN 1 FULL YEAR since starting this blog! Can you believe it? It’s been really fun so far. Some humble advice  - start a blog, any blog about the subject or activity that interests you. It’s just that easy.

So as a mini-self-celebration of this blog I hit up a Salvation Army store. I never notice that they have a particular color tag sale every day but today was a good day. I quickly found these 3 great mugs and brought them to the register for purchase. The man ringing me up mumbled something joyful about my tags being yellow and long story short – all 3 mugs ran me a whopping $1.14, no lie. There’s that colorful hot air balloon ceramic mug that I posted on Etsy for sale here. The other 2 mugs were my favorite GlasBake/Pyrex. One says “Sale Away” (intentional grammar mistake?) and the other one (my personal favorite) is a vintage 70’s one with a nice light peanut butter color and symmetrical floral design on it. In fact, the pattern on the mug reminds me of one of my favorite artists Dan Funderburgh.

Cheers to all my thifting peeps, and thanks for reading this blog and all of your support.

Shop Goodwill – Online.

Came across this site recently. Goodwill affiliates doing a non-profit eBay sort of thing. It’s sort of clunky to use off the bat, but I can see this improving and getting pretty cool.

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/

Eco-Pioneer Readings and Thrifting at a Flea Market.

Hey folks, it’s been an good thrifting month. I hit up that new Savers store (again) in Apple Valley and a really great flea market in Medina, MN (next to the famous Medina Ballroom.) Fall always gets me thinking about nature and green stuff turning different colors, chlorophyl, all that leafy kind of stuff. In high school ecology class we read Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac.” Man, that book messed up my head real good. If you want to learn more about the basic facets of the green movement from one of the cornerstone founding fathers of ecology I’d suggest you read Leopold’s publishing’s. That very Sand County he’s talking about happens to be right where I grew up. I picked up that hardcover biography on him for $2.99. It has lots of great old photos and insider stuff about his life. An odd time to grow up if you ask me. Simpler times, in  a lot of ways - must’ve been pretty nice.

Also picked up another classic from one of my favorite authors Jack Kerouac. The only title I didnt have from him for $1.99. OH and a rad old copy of an ecology textbook/manual that has the best illustrations in it. FREE IDEA FOR ALL YOU SNAKES: Someone should take these old diagrams and print them on t-shirts, this is something I would definitely buy. Just the diagrams, no lame quotes, no Brooklyn hipster day-glo graffiti splatter bullshit, just smart, interesting shirts for nerds and designers (arguably the same thing).

Also, check out the random old product pics I shot at the flea market. WAYYY too much cool graphic designy stuff at those things. Picked up that big plastic seed filler thing for $2 flat, don’t ask what I’m gonna use it for – it’s still a secret. WE FOUND that “Game Of the States” for $5, offered the jabba-the-hut looking vendor guy $3 but he wouldn’t take it or counter offer so I bought it anyways. It has some killer graphics on it and is sorta fun to play. Flea markets are interesting venues. Expect a sole blog post about the basic tenets of thrifting at a flea market real soon. You all should just go take a look at the place yourself. Its about 15 mins west on Hwy 55 from the Twin Cities, hell, theres even a meat raffle. The flea market goes all summer and ends in late October or as one of the old lady vendors put it  ”until it gets pretty cold ya know”.

Speaking of green things, Oregon – I’ll see you real soon.