best and worst thrift store experience (please tell me your story)

[Taffeta]

Unless of course it is the kind of conversation that goes 'oh I see you are buying a pony, we have a big box of those just come in, would you like to look at them, if you buy them all we'll give you a discount' (this has never happened, but I live in hope! ).

Funny you say that, but it's amazing how the promise of ponies can suddenly make me want to communicate I haven't had this happen in a charity shop yet, but at a carboot sale, many times. It begins with...

"There's some more of those somewhere...hang on a minute..."

And that's me sold

[banditpony]

hm. My worst story is very WYP and not appropriate for PC.

My favorite find for sure is an orange space age flip clock.

flea markets tend to be more my thing rather then thrift stores.

Because I'm pretty shy and unsociable, my favourite kinds of shops are the ones where they just sell you things and don't make too much conversation . Unless of course it is the kind of conversation that goes 'oh I see you are buying a pony, we have a big box of those just come in, would you like to look at them, if you buy them all we'll give you a discount' (this has never happened, but I live in hope! ).

TBH if you are friendly enough, some places recognize you as a regular and will do that.

[Kiwi]

I'm not sure if I really have a worst experience (aside from days of just not finding anything). There's a couple bargain shops we've been too that were pretty yucky, so we've never been back - but they were more like liquidation stores.

Best experiences - finding Oakley in a bag of other random toys (just his face poking out between) and the Lullaby Nursery (with larger furniture) for $5.99.

[Baby Crumpet]

I don't think I've ever had a particularly bad experience in a charity shop. I know the people who run all of the ones near me, so usually it's just a nice catch up whilst I'm making a purchase.

I think my favourite finds that were non-pony was a gamecube for free (they said they didn't have the facilities to test it, so gave it to me!) and a megadrive with ten games for £25. I think I also got an N64 for £10 several years ago.

Pony wise, I've had a handful of G1s over the years for a pound or 50p each, and probably nearly a hundred G3s.

I usually get better finds in charity shops than carboot sales etc, that's for sure.

[BubbleTea]

Seeing the box for the Rainbow Wishes Amusement park, running up to it, and realizing it's empty. 

[EnaRocketQueen]

I'm an assistant manager at a very big Oxfam shop. My best and worst pony experiences are in the same story.

Someone donated a G3 lot which had lots of ponies I wanted: Dibble Dabble, Dream Blue, Tulip Twinkle and Wind Drifter. I was really happy to have them and bought them straight away in the middle of my shift. Because the shop was quite empty, I started brushing and styling their hair between customers. In charity shops this sort of thing is fine and a lot of volunteers read books etc whilst they are waiting on the till.

A customer comes up to me, laughing and says "oh those ponies aren't yours, are they?"
I laugh with her and explain that actually they are and I'm an adult collector. I tell her how happy I was to have found them, and put her things through the till. She pays for them and looks at the ponies and then to me again. She says "Aren't you a bit old for them though? I've always found something really creepy about those adults who collect things like my little pony and don't take them out of the boxes". It probably shouldn't have bothered me that much, but it did in the moment. Perhaps I should just have told her that they were for a fictitious little sister/cousin/daughter etc

[Eighties_Otaku]

I have way too many good stories since I've found almost all my collection at thrift stores over 20 years. I've found 57 ponies this past October,  another year found 30 ponies 6 were the MO sparkle set. I got a near complete paradise estate from an auction. I got satin lace and tux N tails, 5 of the pearly babies, adult seapony, baby sweet cake few months ago.

Worst was when I decided to go to another thrift store before my usual place and when I got there a re-seller had got to them first. The other bad was finding mimic with a chewed horn and foot. Also the time I saw a squished spider in a bag

[Broken Irishwoman]

I don't go to a lot of thrift stores, mainly because we don't have that many around here, but also because they never have ponies. I did find a Baby Bouncy (Surprise Newborn) for €0,50 once, but that was in The Hague (other side of the country for me). So I guess that's my best experience, pony-wise. I did have a lot of great non-pony experiences though! I often find beautiful witchy clothes for cheap, and last year I found a perfect cabinet for my beeswax collection.

As for my worst... I don't have one specific experience, but there's this thrift store in a village nearby where they are always incredibly rude. The store is run by a group of rigid, ill-tempered oldsters with no life. They enjoy watching your every move, and butt in whenever they can. Usually to imply/flat out tell you that you are too fat to fit into the item your were looking at, and to make sure you put it back so someone worthy can buy it.

My other story is that I went into a consignment shop for toys and the lady asked if I had my parent with me...I told her "I'm an adult." They didn't have ponies that day anyway...

I was once given a lollipop at a Chinese restaurant... When I was 20. 

[Featherwurm]

Let's see... I've never found any ponies while thrifting (I don't do it very often, but I have tried in the past)

On the positive, at the flea market I've found some really cute vintage stuffed animals for pretty much nothing (the tiger and lion, the panther was my mom's):

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As well as some great records, odd action figures, and some pretty good vintage clothes.

On the negative... there's not much to thrift at around here, she major brand thrift stores are... honestly pretty sad here and I don't care to go in them if I don't have to.  The antique malls do have a couple of sellers that sell ponies - for way too much!  One sells poor condition common G1s for $50 bucks a pop, another tries to sell very common (like Sunny Daze) G3s for the same price or more.  The same ones have been sitting in both of their cases for years.

[Tracks]

I was at a local thrift store with a cart full of ponies and was asked of i was asked the age of my child
I don't even have kids lol

I have a phantom Little Niece for situations like this! 

[brightberry]

I'm an assistant manager at a very big Oxfam shop. My best and worst pony experiences are in the same story.

Someone donated a G3 lot which had lots of ponies I wanted: Dibble Dabble, Dream Blue, Tulip Twinkle and Wind Drifter. I was really happy to have them and bought them straight away in the middle of my shift. Because the shop was quite empty, I started brushing and styling their hair between customers. In charity shops this sort of thing is fine and a lot of volunteers read books etc whilst they are waiting on the till.

A customer comes up to me, laughing and says "oh those ponies aren't yours, are they?"
I laugh with her and explain that actually they are and I'm an adult collector. I tell her how happy I was to have found them, and put her things through the till. She pays for them and looks at the ponies and then to me again. She says "Aren't you a bit old for them though? I've always found something really creepy about those adults who collect things like my little pony and don't take them out of the boxes". It probably shouldn't have bothered me that much, but it did in the moment. Perhaps I should just have told her that they were for a fictitious little sister/cousin/daughter etc

Yikes! It’s actually creepy she goes around calling strangers creepy.  What good did she think would come of that statement?

[MerryAnvil]

I was at a local thrift store with a cart full of ponies and was asked of i was asked the age of my child
I don't even have kids lol

I have a phantom Little Niece for situations like this! 

I say they're for my 'little' sister (*cough*who's18yearsoldnow*cough*). I feel bad about it but...it's kinda hard to explain an adult buying a whole bunch of toys to some people. Although occasionally depending on my mood and if the person seems nice enough, I'll say something to the effect of 'I collect and restore old toys'. I find people who shame others for their hobbies to be sad, boring individuals. Some people knit, others like to garden, party or go to bars with friends, I collect colorful plastic equines *shrugs* To each his own.

Best thrift experience:

I mean I could talk about the Rosey Posey thing again but I feel like I've told that story way too often already so...

Finding a Starshine plush in a bin at our local Goodwill in a tiny town in Vermont when I was little. I had wanted a G1 plush for awhile (I loved G1s and a soft G1 I could cuddle? Ultimate life goal for young me) and finding one on my own in the wild was a coolest freaking thing EVER. I still remember the excitement I felt when I saw her hooves and tail and I was like 'oh my gosh that's a pony plush!'

My worst thrift store experience, hmm...

Probably when I was probably 7 or 8 (my little sister was maybe 3 or 4 at the time) and an old man came into the thrift store, grabbed a whole armful of plushies, and then turned to me and my little sis and gave us this nasty grin and proceeded to describe, in detail, how exactly his dog tears them to pieces. It was really disturbing for two young kids, and entirely unnecessary. I do not understand why people feel the need to do this.

Other than that...this isn't a thrift store but at a garage sale once (again I was around 7 or 8), I was looking through a box of toys and this nasty older lady came up, snatched the box, and glared at me while shouting about how they were hers and I shouldn't touch other people's things. There was no 'sold' sign on it and she was nowhere near the box at the time that I was looking at it. How the heck was I supposed to know she'd bought the whole darn box?

*shakes head* People can be unbelievably rude sometimes.

[EnaRocketQueen]

I'm an assistant manager at a very big Oxfam shop. My best and worst pony experiences are in the same story.

Someone donated a G3 lot which had lots of ponies I wanted: Dibble Dabble, Dream Blue, Tulip Twinkle and Wind Drifter. I was really happy to have them and bought them straight away in the middle of my shift. Because the shop was quite empty, I started brushing and styling their hair between customers. In charity shops this sort of thing is fine and a lot of volunteers read books etc whilst they are waiting on the till.

A customer comes up to me, laughing and says "oh those ponies aren't yours, are they?"
I laugh with her and explain that actually they are and I'm an adult collector. I tell her how happy I was to have found them, and put her things through the till. She pays for them and looks at the ponies and then to me again. She says "Aren't you a bit old for them though? I've always found something really creepy about those adults who collect things like my little pony and don't take them out of the boxes". It probably shouldn't have bothered me that much, but it did in the moment. Perhaps I should just have told her that they were for a fictitious little sister/cousin/daughter etc

Yikes! It’s actually creepy she goes around calling strangers creepy.  What good did she think would come of that statement?

The ponies I had weren't even in the boxes as well. A completely useless and unnecessary comment if you ask me, she should have kept her mouth shut

[Taffeta]

I'm an assistant manager at a very big Oxfam shop. My best and worst pony experiences are in the same story.

Someone donated a G3 lot which had lots of ponies I wanted: Dibble Dabble, Dream Blue, Tulip Twinkle and Wind Drifter. I was really happy to have them and bought them straight away in the middle of my shift. Because the shop was quite empty, I started brushing and styling their hair between customers. In charity shops this sort of thing is fine and a lot of volunteers read books etc whilst they are waiting on the till.

A customer comes up to me, laughing and says "oh those ponies aren't yours, are they?"
I laugh with her and explain that actually they are and I'm an adult collector. I tell her how happy I was to have found them, and put her things through the till. She pays for them and looks at the ponies and then to me again. She says "Aren't you a bit old for them though? I've always found something really creepy about those adults who collect things like my little pony and don't take them out of the boxes". It probably shouldn't have bothered me that much, but it did in the moment. Perhaps I should just have told her that they were for a fictitious little sister/cousin/daughter etc

Yikes! It’s actually creepy she goes around calling strangers creepy.  What good did she think would come of that statement?

The ponies I had weren't even in the boxes as well. A completely useless and unnecessary comment if you ask me, she should have kept her mouth shut

Would have been so tempted to say that I find it creepier that people think they have the right to pass judgement on other people's lives like that. I mean, it might be one thing if you are a family member and your loved one is in debt because all they do is buy ponies, but judging someone you've never seen before like that is way worse in my view than having a harmless interest.

Creepy people are everywhere. They're mainstream...

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

New worst thrift store experience from a few days back, entirely unrelated to ponies or anything really, but it happened in a thrift store. It was at a Goodwill that I'd only been to once or twice before, it was on Thursday. There was this old man yelling at like, everybody, from other customers who dared to be near him and at an employee after he told him to leave the store since he was yelling at people for no reason. The employee yelled at him to quote "get out of my store" (maybe he was the manager then?) and this old dude was yelling like directly in his face, he was forced out of the store. You could tell from the way he acted and sounded that he was definitely under the influence of something. After he left for awhile and my mom and I were checking out we heard from another employee who went out of the store to see what happened after he was forced out that he then was in the parking lot (or another lot?) near some fast food place surrounded by police and he got himself arrested. According to her, he got high on aerosol in the men's bathroom at the Goodwill or something and then started yelling at people when he got out. I guess he had a knife on him and was using it around the police in the parking lot? Wild.