Michele Longo gets your thrift
Like, the brand, not the adjective.
PW Style’s resident thriftmonger Michele Longo heads out in search of inexpensive, well-made treasure at three Bargain Thrift locations.
5245 germantown ave
215.849.3225
Clothing, house wares, jewelry, vintage
5261 germantown ave
215.849.4440
furniture & appliance
4530 germantown ave
215.843.1300
bulk clothing warehouse
As you walk in the door of Bargain Thrift’s main location filled with earthy house wares & a spectacular vintage section, it’s like stepping out of a bad dream and into a heaven of cheap, beautiful things.
This store is truly a jewel in a location that’s a bit uninviting. I have shopped at many, many thrift stores and I have never seen such a well-merchandised warehouse of second-hand things with Salvation Army prices as here.
The walls are clean and painted in soft colors. The displays are organized and functioning. It’s an extremely enjoyable and comfortable experience. And the vintage section is probably the largest of any typical thrift store in the area.
I usually go to Salvation Army and Goodwill specifically to sift through and find the vintage goodies that are as inexpensively priced as the rest of the plain old clothes & accessories. Bargain Thrift has already done the sifting for you.
There is a whole section of clear cube shelves that neatly showcase beaded clutches & costume jewelry. These one-of-a-kind vintage handbags can sell in boutiques for much more than their $8 price tag.
The silk scarves included some old Vera and Liberty of London, both priced $6 and under.
The shoe selection wasn’t huge, but there were some really unique pairs. And although I can never find a neat pair of vintage shoes larger than size 5 ½, I actually found a pair that fit me.
I didn’t even get to venture around to the non-vintage sections of clothes, because I spent all my time indulging in the colors and patterns of past eras, but the warehouse is pretty enormous. The entire back room is filled with children’s clothes and toys plus more house wares and men’s items. Each section of racks is clearly marked with big signs above.
The displays of house wares are funky and organic. It isn’t just a bunch of junk taking over, as I was actually overwhelmed with how many great things there are.
The purses are a fun mix of granny handbags and beautiful hand-embroidered clutches, with glitzy 70s-80s bags.
There are also two organized corners filled with books and albums. They may include the similar stack of undesirable albums, but the display is inviting and the price can pull you in to look anyway.
Just as I couldn’t wait to try on my basket full of clothes, I asked if there was a fitting room. This is definitely the downfall of the whole place. There wasn’t one. I resorted to matching up the seams on a pair of pants to the ones I was wearing. I wouldn’t consider this such a terrible thing though, because everything I bought fit great. I also got two new great silk scarves and a costume necklace with large coral flowers for $3.
There are two other locations belonging to Bargain Thrift in the same neighborhood. Unfortunately, they were closed while I was in the area. But I drove by the huge warehouse of furniture just a few blocks from the main location, which I can only imagine what great things were in there. I also saw the Bargain Thrift bulk clothing warehouse.
The sign out front caught my eye as it said something about two clothing pieces for a dollar … I’ll be back.