I get so many questions about Vintage/thrift shopping that I figured I would round up my FAQ’s in a post!
First thing’s first don’t get overwhelmed, I feel like this is why people avoid thrift shopping in the first place but my advice for this is to go in knowing you’re going to sift through a bunch of shit. Basically get your mind right. Get a fat coffee if you have to. You might find nothing and you might find your new favorite bag for $20, you truly never know.
When I’m at bigger flea markets and know I won’t be able to hit every booth I choose based off of the looks. If it’s super curated and cute you can basically guarantee their prices will be pretty steep, as they’ve already done the digging/curating. Same goes for vintage stores. They’ll definitely have amazing pieces but it might cost you 5x what they actually paid at another booth down the way. I always look for the sketchy ones that I have to sift through especially since I’m trying to resell the majority of what I buy. These are where you find an old Led Zepplin Tee for $12 instead of $150. You can also tell by the people running the booth, if they’re young and trendy they probably know how much everything they have is worth whereas the older man a few booths down is just trying to make a quick buck and has zero clue what’s in his racks of goodies.
Always barter. The price you see or ask should never be the price you pay. This is also why you bring cash, majority of people now-a-days will take venmo but if you have cash you can normally get a better price. I also always try to bundle when I find something I like. The more you get the better your price for each item will be. For instance my favorite t-shirt spot at Rosebowl sells their tee’s for $20-25 but if I buy enough I can get them down to $12 each. The more you vintage shop the better understanding you’ll have for each items worth as well. That way you know when you’re being ripped off and can either work toward getting the price down or know that you can find something similar for a better price elsewhere.
Most of the stuff I source is from Melrose Trading Post and Rosebowl but in terms of finding vintage shops I either ask for recommendations or just go straight to Yelp. This is how I found all of the vintage shops I went to in Paris and I have truly never found better, more affordable, pieces. Europe is where it is atttt for vintage. Also, if you live in a bigger city you can found great pieces at Good Will and other places like it. The ones in LA are gold.
So these are really the basics but I would love to continue to share what I’ve learned if you guys have any other questions I didn’t touch on! Let me know! Also, don’t forget to always be checking back on High End Hippie Vintage! I normally add stuff weekly depending on my travels! XOXO
