Remember that song by Macklemore – “Thrift Shop”? The hit was all about those strange, intriguing stores with second hand, used articles of just about every category you can imagine. If you like sweet deals and you’re okay with items having a second life with you, you’re in luck!
Leonie Reinders, director of the Branche Organisation for Thrift Stores Netherlands (BKN), confirms that the annual boom is happening again. After Kings Day, particularly one like last Thursday with crappy weather, many people are stuck with items they didn’t sell – given that most of the items come from up in the attic or the basement, there’s usually no intention to bring them home. Not permanently at least.
And so comes in thrift store, the perfect place to dump all the stuff that is still in working condition, wearable or otherwise re-usable and that you’d feel bad about just dumping in the trash. As a result there’s now a supply boom at thrift stores nation wide, storage is being filled to the roof and items will be hitting shelves real soon, maybe even with even extra discount?
If you’re like me, a cheap piece of sh-, this means paradise. Why? Because there’s an endless line of products that are ‘unique’, the store doesn’t have 600 of these cups, or that steak knife, that self-made painting of Oprah and a Wolf or that counterfeit backpack of the North Face branded “the Mouth Face” make every trip worth something. And the Dutch, being thrifty to begin with, love giving their discarded items a second chance. So be sure to hit those stores near you, there’s almost 200 of them all throughout the nation.
Have you ever been to a Dutch “Kringloopwinkel” thrift store? What’s your best buy or funniest item you’ve spotted? Oh, and in case you thought I was kidding about Oprah and the Mouth Face…
