Church Rummage Sales

My haul: Two vintage Hillary hiking backpacks with aluminum frames, vintage Thermos, blue Pyrex casserole dish, glass canister, hand painted birch nesting boxes, walnut wood serving bowl, vintage flower frog

I love a good garage sale and regularly hit up Goodwills and second hand stores just for fun, but nothing ever compares to the treasures I find at church rummage sales. At first I thought it was just coincidence. But this weekend while I was scooping up everything you see in the photo above for a mere $16.75, I developed an entirely (un)scientific argument as to why church rummage sales are the pinnacle of thrifting.

1. Stock.

Most churches do rummage sales as a special event once a year. Members know it is coming and they start putting their items aside months in advance. Then on the day of the sale it all hits the floor at once. Thrift stores are open every day so they can be a little picked over, it is kind of like going to a store and trying to find something good on a clearance rack. But going to a church rummage sale is like hitting your favorite retailer the first day a new season starts. There is plenty of stock on the floor.

2. Variety.

At any given thrift store or rummage sale you'll find good stuff, and you'll find bad stuff. Face it, not everything people are selling is worth buying. But unlike garage sales, churches have lots of members who donated items to their sales. More people means there will be more of their good stuff to choose from.

A few bonus items I found in the side pocket of the hiking pack

3. Price.
Thrift and vintage stores can afford to be a little more conservative with their pricing. If you won't pay for it, they can wait for someone who will, they have the luxury of retail space and time. But not at a church rummage sale. Most of these events are 1-3 days, and everything they don't sell is something they will have to box up and deal with, so stuff is priced to move. For example, the one I went to this weekend ran for 5 hours. 2 hours before closing all the prices were slashed in half, 1 hour before closing you bought a bag and anything you could fit into it was yours.

4. Demographics.
This last one isn't a hard and fast rule, but I've noticed churches sometimes (though not always) tend to have a high concentration of older parishioners. This is great for rummage sales because these are the people who have real vintage goods, and that is definitely the stuff I'm looking for.

See? Nothing beats a good church rummage sale. Just make sure to get there early. Seriously.