Baker’s guide to thrifting in Oklahoma City

By Baker Pitts

There’s nothing worse than an outdated wardrobe. Unless, of course, your wardrobe is purposefully outdated. Enter, the thrift store; a magical place where one can purchase previously owned clothes and trinkets at an extremely low price. And I am here to help you, dear readers, learn about the best places to thrift here in our fair city.

I am an avid thrift store shopper with at least 75 to 80 percent of my clothing having been purchased from one thrift store or another. But despite the low price tag and convenience of thrift shopping, it often amazes me how few people take advantage of these wonderful stores. In an attempt to rectify this, I will be giving some info on a few of my favorite thrift stores, their location, the best types of items to look for and any other special features they may boast.

The closest thrift store of note is the Goodwill in the shopping center at MacArthur and 50th St.  The main good finds you’ll come across here is clothing, but every once in awhile you can find a real gem, such as my autographed picture of Tom Selleck, which I found at that very store. They also have a constant sale which offers half-off items marked with a certain colored tag.

A personal favorite of mine, Community Thrift, which is located at the intersection of MacArthur and 23rd St., is another great place to find clothes and housewares. Community Thrift has a much larger selection of women’s clothing than men’s. That doesn’t mean the selection of the guys is bad, I very rarely walk out of there with less than two bags full of clothes. Also, it should be noted that this is one of the only stores that I have found overalls on almost every visit, which is a good thing to know on that rare occasion you need a cheap pair of overalls, fast.

The next three stores are more recent finds for myself, but they have quickly become staples for my shopping sprees. Their extreme close proximity to one another make it an ideal thrifting circuit for the shopper who doesn’t want to drive around a ton. The circuit starts on the far end of a shopping center located at 16th St. and Meridian at a shop called Rewind. Rewind pushes the boundary between thrift and antique store, and would probably fall into the latter if not for their dollar room. You read correctly, I said dollar room, a room in which everything is a dollar. I have found everything from boots to jackets to hats in this room. Even without the dollar room, Rewind is a great thrift shop because of the uniqueness of the items they stock, and they get donations so regularly that the store changes drastically from week to week.

A short walk around the shopping center from Rewind lies the simply named Thrift Store. Run by an incredibly kind and talkative Mexican lady, this shop offers a constant half-off on everything in the store. This store boasts an impressive display of both clothing and furniture. And with the constant half-off, it is an ideal place to go to pick up some dorm furniture.

Right across the street from the shopping center is Bargain Thrift, which may be one of the largest thrift shops in the area. A giant warehouse that holds the amount and variety of items that you would expect from a shop of its size. And with a sale system that offers up to 75 percent off on items with the corresponding color tag, it is very possible to walk away with a large amount of items for a small price. I have seen a golf bag with 10 clubs purchased for about six dollars due to the color of the tags.

As you can see, the thrifting scene here in the Bethany/OKC area is truly a great one and it is incredibly easy to get some great clothes for super cheap. Now that you know where to look, don’t be afraid to get out and explore some new thrift stores and make fashion out of the unfashionable.