Alternative shopping
Students living on tight budgets find bargains
By Tasha E. Kelter
Staff Reporter
It’s no big news flash that most
students operate on a tight budget.
For some, unique clothing is a top
priority.
Many students reconcile these
conflicting circumstances by shop
pingat thrift and consignment stores.
And for those willing to spend a
little more, they may shop at vintage
clothing stores.
Lincoln’s downtown area has a
number of thrift stores, including
the Junior League Thrift Store,
Goodwill, Salvation Army, Ruby
Begonia’s and Mission Thrift Mart.
Uiloc ihurston, a sophomore
physics major, is a regular “thrifler.”
She tries to go thri fl-shopping twice
a week, and 80 percent of her shop
ping is done at thrift and consign
ment shops. Thurston said she ap
preciated the large selection of poly
ester that many thrift stores carried.
“You know that no one else is
going to be wearing what you’re
wearing,” Thurston said.
Dave Baker is a sophomore sec
ondary education major. He also
goes thrift-store shopping regularly
—every other Sunday.
“I like to make it a little habit —
it’s kind of a quirk of mine,” he said.
His best finds have been striped
shirts and extra-baggy pants.
“I like my stuff really baggy,”
Baker said, “and usually some big
old fat man left his clothes and 1 can
hook up with them.”
His favorite thrift stores are South
Side Thrift and Family Thrift.
“That whole 17th Street area is
pretty good,” he said.
One potential problem with thri ft
shopping was mentioned by
Thurston, who was a thrift store
employee.
“A lot of times, Japanese buyers
and vintage clothes store buyers
come and get it (quality donations)
all, so a lot of thrift stores are al
ready picked over.”
Buyers often would pay stores to
hold clothes for them, Thurston said.
One Lincoln store she’s found that
doesn’t seem to do this is the Salva
tion Army on 27th Street.
That is another well-known'
downtown thrift store, which ob
tains its clothes solely from dona
tions. It also has a large student
patronage, and it secs students buy
ing a little ol everything.
“We try to go with the season,”
she said of the store keeping up with
fashion trends. “If we’re over
stocked, we’ll run sales.”
The Junior League Thrift Store
gets its clothes both from donations
and consignment. The difference
between a thrift store and a consign
ment store, manager Gwen Gies said,
was that a thrift store took tax-de
ductible donations, while a consign
ment store paid the person giving
away the clothes half of what they
would sell for.
Their clientele ranged from “the
junior high kids to the retired,” Gies
said. Most college students, when
shopping in the store, bought both
career and weekend wear. A lot of
the students came in for professional
uuuua iu wtai iui juu um;i viuwa,
she said.
Around Halloween, many more
students eame to find possible cos
tumes.
The Junior League Thrift Store’s
selection was current with the sea
son, Gies said.
“We just restocked our store with
all the new spring fashions,” she
said. “All the stuffis really new.”
College students made up about
half of its clientele, said manager
Sandy Saunders. They generally buy
casual wear — shorts, jeans and T
shirts.
All of the thrift stores carry ac
cessories and novelty items like hats,
jewelry and sunglasses. Some have
vintage-style clothes and gloves. All
the stores have a large selection of
shoes.
Thrift stores arc only one place to
buy unique clothing. Vintage stores
are another type of shop in down
town Lincoln that offers alternative
shopping.
Two of the best-known vintage
stores are Rialto Extra and Ruby
Begonia’s.
Vintage stores often are confused
with thrift stores. The differences
between the two is that vintage stores
arc more selective of the clothing
they choose to sell, and their cloth
ing is much higher-priced. Some
students arc willing to compromise
the prices to get a special item.
4 “Vintage clothes arc collectible,”
said Mindy White, sales assistant at
Ruby Begonia’s. “They’re from the
’30s and ’40s. They have class and
style, and they can actually be worth
something.”
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Disabled American Veterans
Thrift Store
821 N. 27th
Family Thrift Center
1745 0 St.
Fredrick Oznam Thrift Shop
1911 R St.
Goodwill
1717 0 St.
Mission Thrift Mart
1825 0 St.
Salvation Army
737 P St.
The Classic Consignment
Boutique
4900 Dudley
Vintage
Ruby Begonias
1321 P. St.
Rialto Extra
1725 0 St.
Eric Aspengren, a sales clerk at Ruby Begonia, 1321 P. St.,
straightens a display of vintage hats.
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