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Business & Tech

Shopping For A Good Cause

Valley thrift stores offer great deals.

I know some people balk at the idea of owning used things but I have a list of pros about the whole experience including:

  • Buying used items eases the conscious about not contributing more to our country's overgrown obsession with packaging, production and consumption.
  • Buying used means walking into a store without knowing what you will find turning the experience into a virtual treasure hunt.
  • Sometimes buying used means buying "new." I always find designer clothes with tags still on them, never worn at all by their original owners
  • Buying used oftentimes means spending over 50 percent less than you normally would on something.
  • Buying used allows you to build up your own personal style while avoiding mainstream trends and fads.
  • Buying from thrift stores allows you to support charities that you believe in.

When my daughter was young, she had so much fun school shopping at thrift stores because she could buy double what other kids did and look individualized when others were all wearing the same thing.

When I need a good gala dress for an event but don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars, I can typically find something half the price and not be prone to showing up on the red carpet looking exactly like somebody else.

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I furnished an entire apartment one time with vintage furniture from a Palm Desert thrift shop for $500.

We are lucky in the desert to have a great assortment of thrift shops at our disposal.

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Angel View's Prestige Boutique in Palm Springs on Indian Canyon Drive is where I go to find great vintage clothes because most of the donations come from the Las Palmas society ladies who cast things off from their closet after a couple wears.

The Eisenhower Thrift Shop on Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage has a great backroom for couture style finds and formals.

Revivals Thrift Stores valley wide are great for funky furniture finds, kitschy artwork and frames. Indio is full of old thrift shops that look dilapidated on the outside but burst with unique items on the inside.

I have found antique velvet paintings, hearty wooden rocking chairs, old cameras, and vintage roller skates in places there. And Southwest Community Church's Thrift Store in Palm Desert always has a great assortment of colored glass vases, and other tchotchkes.

Happy Hunting!

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