These days when so many people are tightening the belt, Ebay, as a source for getting cool Ghetto blasters, is seeming more and more expensive to me. Good Flea markets don't seem to come around my area too often. [Baltimore Maryland U.S.]
So now I'm a thrift store maniac. I check all 6 thrift stores in my area at least twice a week.
On my way to work, coming home and weekends.
I'm trying to figure out their pattern for when they put out stuff in the electronix Dept.
All because I enjoy the thrill of finding a box that is cool for an unbelievable price, enjoy the Zen of fixing it up and cleaning it, and most of all, I love the way tourists at the Harbor get out of my way when I'm blasting my music on a fresh spring day.
Anyone else out there live like this?
How often do you thrift a week?

Usually once or twice a week.

b4 i had my heart attack twice a week,now i've gone twice in 2.5 mths

I have just started, as advised by members here, but will most likely do once a week. They pull electronics on Thursdays here. I hit Cranberry Twp and Springdale, which are both here in Pitt. I will go to a few in the downtown area on the weekends. I did find a pretty cool 8mm movie projector here the other day for 7 bucks. Minolta, Sound 7000, looks brand new and has built in speaker. I think my Dad has some old movies he would like to convert to DVD so maybe this will work for that.

everyday.
there is four i go to on the way to practice and four i go to on the way to the remote studio where my band mate lives.
i get up get on the bus and hit one after the other.
both place i go have four between my house and here.
the bus comes every ten minutes and stops outside of each one.
i go in and by the time i am back at the bus stop there it is.
sometimes i even head out on the weekend to other places too. i find the best times for hitting thrift stores is first thing in the morning.
friday evenings are also very good right before closing time but i dont get out to a thrift store to often at that time.

if we take a trip out to the valley we hit every one on the way.
my bandmate is a thrift store scrounge too he looks for books tho.
so often we will pick something up for one or the other.
i get all my boomboxes from thrift stores.
i am lucky that my musical endeavors take me on those two routes pretty much five days a week. on days where i am not doing music i will ride the bike to the ones near enough for me to ride to. if i get something big and good i will lock up the bike bus back and grab the bus back up and ride back home.
the thing with boomboxes is that alot of thrift stores are now just selling all of there older electronics to the recyling depot up here for two dollars a pound or something like that.
recently i was at the main distribution center and well what i saw was quite hard to stomach.
pallettes of old electronics just being sent out to be torn apart to be turned into new electronics.
even tho i spoke with the guy there in length about the possible money to be made off of doing some more creative things,he would have nothing to do with it.
i mean there was no huge grails there that day but there was some really fantastic old amps and other stereo stuff.
they do not even check if they work it just comes in and goes onto a pallet when the pallet is filled they shrink wrap it and send it out.
other places are doing the same thing now which is very sad really. i mean the whole thing is really going to come back and bite the thrift store people on the behind.
i mean i have noticed them really jacking the prices lately,but honestly i understand why they would do that.
lets face it if we are getting a pc550 for seven dollars and a sanyo m9998k for the same price we are pretty much getting them for free.
i mean i have got some really nice big boomboxes for almost nothing from them in the past but now they are starting to get wiser and even small boomboxes sell for twenty odd dollars now.
i do think the days of the amazing thrift store deals are getting slimmer.
they are hip to ebay there now they will go online and see how much something is selling for.
sometimes tho they are not so smart or they price something just way out to lunch.
right now there is a absolutely pristine sony reel to reel sitting at the one by my place.
i would give them sixty bucks for it in a heart beat,but not 169.99.
i can pretty much gaurantee no one else would pay that much either. of course over the next few weeks it will get more and more beaten up and have parts scavenged off of it.
i seen stuff like that happen before.
i think tho i am going to stop my hunting tho.
i mean i have enough toys now to last the rest of my life.
i will still go every now and then.

i think tho i am going to stop my hunting tho.
i mean i have enough toys now to last the rest of my life.
i will still go every now and then.[/QUOTE]
Don't Quit Til You Find a Grundig 650 For me!

worry not i have said i am going to quit so many times now.
i mean my better half is pretty supportive of my habit.
you know the deals i get on stuff people seldom believe.
even the other day i got my better half a unworn brand new full length armani womans jacket with the tags on it for thirty bucks.
i checked the jacket out online and it was over a thousand.
i always find stuff that no one would think is worth anything,that turns out to be pretty valuable.
i am very efficient when i am looking.
i have three things i am looking for people here now.
your 650
one of those wierd old sanyos that look like they have a hoodscoop on them for ned209
and a sony fh215r for i think its ford93
and yes if i ever find another sk-95 for james67.

for me i make money from doing the thrift store thing. not a lot,but some off of old bikes.
i usually get them for twenty bucks put a honest days work into them and i get two hundred for a bike a build.
i dont make too much cash from that.
it has been enough tho to keep me getting by.
you know i have mentioned the terrible stuff that happened with my mom,but this last decade has been the hardest of my adult life by far.
thrift store scrounging kept me from totally loosing it completely.
i mean back in the time right after my moms suicide things were pretty bad.
i mean i had lost my job earlier that year and my band disintergrated.
it took almost two years before i started to get back into doing music again.
so hitting the thrift store to scrounge up whatever i could find to sell to supplement our income was pretty much all i did.
i mean my better half makes good money so i didnt have to do much.
i still will hit them thrift stores but my route might change.

btw i kinda fibbed a little about how often i go right now.

some days
i do the route on the way to rehersals and recording....
and on the way back

It's 9:00 am...I'm going Thrifting. wish me luck.

may the force be strong with you.

Good thread... very interesting.

I went for a while, faithfully... but found zilch.

Oh sure, the occasional early 90's black, 3pc stuff.

I stopped in to a thrift store last week that Ive seen high end home gear at in the past, and finally found something. A Sharp QT-77 for $7.99.

Not a grail, but at least its something! Hope that even I, in my city can find a box.

I have found more in old warehouses, etc. Still faithfully pounding out the classic rock station, year after year. In most cases, it has been the same thing... if I replace it with something new (from Walmart) I can take the crusty old radio... usually with a 'why on Earth would you want that?!'

Maybe I'll hit up a few thrift stores today!

Silly question:
What is a thrift store?
A second hand shop or something like that?
Is a "goodwill" the same?

Here's what I found today at GoodWill

and here's what I found 2 days ago at Value Village. going in the morning is key. beacause Value Village is acrooss the street from an Arts College and Art students grab a boom box straight away.

quote:

Originally posted by ViennaSound:
Silly question:
What is a thrift store?
A second hand shop or something like that?
Is a "goodwill" the same?

Yes, in German speaking countries you would call all of these types of stores Zweiter-Hand Laden. (second-hand shops)

Thrift store is a generic name that applies to all of these types of stores.

Goodwill, Salvation Army and Hospice stores are thrift Stores that are owned and operated by specific charitable organizations. People donate goods to these stores rather than throw them in the trash, or if they cannot sell them... Donating goods in this manner allows you to declare a small amount at charitible contributions on your taxes. Therefore, these stores are relatively popular and get many items. Goodwill and Salvation Army (or SA, as its often referred to on this site) are all across the USA, that's why they are mentioned so often.

A pawn ahop is also a type of second hand store, but it is where people bring in goods as collateral to borrow money with very high interst rates. If they don't pay back the money as agreed with the store, the store can sell the goods. These stores are also found all over the USA, often times in the less-glamourous parts of a city or town. In Germany (or Austria & Switzerland) you would call a pawn shop a "Pfand-Laden."

I hope this helps.

I hit pawn shops and thrift stores whenever I see one, assuming I'm not in a hurry. Seldom do I ever go out and specifically "make the rounds" as the thrifts are very picked over, and the pawn shops all seem to have eBay-plus pricing nowadays. The pawn-shop-good-deal era ended around 2002 in this neck of the woods.

Yes. the Zweiter-hand laden are still some what ignorant to what a boombox is worth.
they tend to over price cheap crappy art and musical instruments though.
here is the best I've ever gotten at a thrift.

Does anyone have any info on this one?
I call it my UGLYBOX.
I opened it up and it was practically empty.
I mean you could pack a lunch in there.
But as chincy and light as it is, it actually sounds pretty good. no whoomp, but definetly some thump.

heres a few things people dont know about thrift stores.
well at least up here.
for example if you are thinking going to a rich nieghbourhood vs a poor one is always going to be a safer bet its not true.
most bigger thrift stores like, the salvation army and value village and savers have a main distribution branch.
the bulk of the donations go there right off the bat. many people who have family who die just give everything to charity.
also thrift stores use inventory tracking so they know what sells good at one store and not another.
often what will happen due to this,certain stores will have a bigger selection of certain items than others.
for example there is one salvation army that almost always has only televisions in there electronic dept.
another one here has more electronic musical instruments than others.
this being said it is still a real crap shoot if you are going to get anything,we have one guy up here called the captian he is out every day in his van hitting one store after the other,and well it is his full time job so he does pretty good at it.
smaller thrift stores in the suburbs are a pretty good bet especially ones where there is lots of older people.
church sales are fantastic i have a friend who left with a the 7979 from one of them in near perfect condition for ten dollars.
allthough i have never got a boombox from a church sale i have got many other vintage electronic things for almost free.
a few things about flea markets.
sometimes a legitimate item pops up there and it can be great i got my robo disco from one flea market and i got another one from another flea market a couple of months later.
the thing with flea markets is tho alot of the stuff there is pretty battered not always but a lot of it is.
the other thing about flea market stuff is some of it does for sure come from thrift shops when people drop off things outside when they are closed there is people who troll by there at night and just take the stuff.
i used to go a lot to the flea markets and i lived right by a thrift store i would see the same guy picking through the donations outside the door then on the weekend selling the stuff at the flea market.
i have got more than a couple of what i would consider grails from thrift stores.
some people might not consider a unused sk-95 a grail but i sure do.
some might not consider a m9998k a grail but for sure i do too. the pc550 i had came from a thrift store for under ten bucks and it was pretty nice.
always look down as well at eye level at a thrift shop.
so much of the stuff i have scored was hidden on the bottom shelf behind something.
sometimes people go in there and dont have the cash so they will hide things.
sometimes the employees will put something out and hide it behind something,they are allowed to buy things but they have to do it on there break or when there shift ends.
the smaller thrift stores like hospice stores ect are less organised,those too you have to look a little sometimes.
there has been more than a few times i have walked right past something without even having it register in my brain what i was seeing.
the sk-95 is a good case of that. i was so hypnotised by the pioneer reciever on the shelf that i almost completely missed that sk-95 right besides me on a chair.
i almost always find something worth having when i am out. today i found a super rare crumar synth i was almost at the point of taking it,but it was heavy and i was lazy.
happy hunting to all.

I also have been lucky, a few PC-55's a high end Sony FH 909...I just picked up another M70 very cheaply, and now the local unloader person saves them for me and calls me! Its a great deal, and they cost $10-20! I will have some parts ones very soon as I feel obliged to but everything right now, I love the 7979! Bill we need to hang out again soon! I will come on your route and you can come on mine!

James, when can I see pics of these thrift store finds?
Are you Pittsburgh too?

Naw, I am in Vancouver Canada! Left coast!

! Bill we need to hang out again soon! I will come on your route and you can come on mine![/QUOTE]

sounds great man lets make plans to get together soon.

Thanks for the discription of the stores.
Very interesting!

Too sad, in austria there nearly no of this stores any more.
I never found a box in such shop.

Here goes nearly everything over the flea.... or direct to dump.

Only "Caritas", "Würfel" or "Humana" has such stores. But without interesting electronics.

@Scott: I like the "ugly" GPX !

Thrift stores are a waste of time for boomboxes,
if they are worth more than $10 our local ones put them on Eghey,you best bet is estate sales in areas where seniors live 8^)...thankx to the interwebz bargainz are a thing of the past.

quote:

Thrift stores are a waste of time for boomboxes,
if they are worth more than $10 our local ones put them on Eghey,you best bet is estate sales in areas where seniors live 8^)...thankx to the interwebz bargainz are a thing of the past.

Well in that case I'm curious. Fellow thrift store scroungers, please post a picture of your best thrift store find as of late.


*thanx for the feedback VienaSound, I'm a fan of the yellow collection"

I check my stores usually once a week.

I had kept my eye out for several years, just casually looking, I did get get lucky once, and it's how I got my first box. Last summer at Goodwill, I go inside the loading dock to drop off a box of unwanted stuff, and when I come back outside, I see a large blaster sitting on the curb next to a guy unloading office chairs from his car. I ask him "Can I buy this from you?" and he responded "No. You can have it." I thanked him graciously and loaded this Crown 950F into the back seat.



Everything works great, pots a little scratchy, and a couple minor cosmetic flaws, but even both antenna are intact. I have been hooked ever since.

There are boxes out there, and just because you haven't found anything the last 50 times you've looked doesn't mean this time you won't find your grail. Keep looking!

Xyc0n, that's a great story! Oh, and welcome aboard!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!
That's like the dream I keep having and you lived it!
Thanx for sharing.
OSS

welcome to s2g and may I say that is a very nice find but most important best deal in town FREE

i find so many kool boxes @ the flea market its krazy!!! i go about 5 times a week now that i dont have a job i never really find stuff @ thrift stores anymore but i hit them about once a month.

quote:

Originally posted by Old School Scott:

quote:

Thrift stores are a waste of time for boomboxes,
if they are worth more than $10 our local ones put them on Eghey,you best bet is estate sales in areas where seniors live 8^)...thankx to the interwebz bargainz are a thing of the past.

Well in that case I'm curious. Fellow thrift store scroungers, please post a picture of your best thrift store find as of late.


*thanx for the feedback VienaSound, I'm a fan of the yellow collection"

thrift stores a waste of time...

hell no

little noodleshop second hand store
boxed sony dd walkman unused 5 bucks


m80 in really nice shape
20 bucks


sanyo m9998k
seven bucks


pioneer sk-95 pretty much brand new 20 bucks



not a boombox but a really valuable old radio
5 dollars

was offered 600 us for it but turned it down.

trk5140 monobox
five bucks
this box is really rare


this was a two buck radio

this was a two dollar radio


this was a seven dollar radio


those are just some of the thrift store boomboxes i have gotten.
i have lots of other stuff from the junk stores too.
i mean this room with the excpetion of the new kaboom is all second hand shop and pretty much all of it was under twenty bucks a pop even the recievers for the most part.

Dam Bill. Canada is obviously way better than anything I have in my area. Nice cheap pick ups.

you would be surprised what shows up in thrift stores.
the old telescope was also real cheap too.
i mean sometimes i just think about how much this stuff was all new.


btw the top shelf kaboom wich works perfect by the way came from a dumpster behind my bands old jamspace

Thank you. you've made me so happy seeing your pics.
Of course! All I have to do is visit Pittsburgh for the good thrift finds.
Some day my Grail will come.

oh thats just part of it.
i have another room in the house filled with other thrift store finds non boombox ones.
that would be the synth room.

No wonder Gordie can have 57 mint Conions/Clairtones.

If, and that's a BIG IF, that $2 JVC P-Compo was in a thrift store in Middle Tennessee, it would have been priced at least $49.99 (yes, they are some greedy sumbiatches here).

quote:

Originally posted by ash25:
Dam Bill. Canada is obviously way better than anything I have in my area. Nice cheap pick ups.

Same thing here,a mint Sansui 5000x and the rear amplifier in excellent condition were for sale here for $79 a piece.All our stores look for what it goes for on ebay and price it close to that

so if the price more than 2-3 bucks you guys won't collect, right?

Personally if I were to find something on my list, I'd spend all the money I had on me, plus beg borrow or steal to buy it unless it was totally outrageously priced.

quote:

Originally posted by metad:
so if the price more than 2-3 bucks you guys won't collect, right?

i try to keep my limit to twenty dollars.
i am no fool tho if i came across a nice big grail for a price i thought was a good deal i would buy it.
i would never pay ebay prices for anything tho.
i mean for me ebay is the retail price for a boombox.
i mean for me ebay is the highest price one can pay.

quote:

Originally posted by thaedra:

quote:

Originally posted by ash25:
Dam Bill. Canada is obviously way better than anything I have in my area. Nice cheap pick ups.

Same thing here,a mint Sansui 5000x and the rear amplifier in excellent condition were for sale here for $79 a piece.All our stores look for what it goes for on ebay and price it close to that

i got a pretty much like new 5000x for forty bucks up here.
you can catch a glimpse of it in the pictures i have here.