Latest news with #thriftstore
The Sun
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
The secret part of the charity shop you're forgetting to check for unique buys – I found a perfect dress in mine for £2
EVERYONE knows to check the bags and shoes section in charity shops for some amazing bargains. But there's a hidden section of thrift stores that people are forgetting to look in, and they're missing some incredible purchases. 6 6 6 6 Even Els, who's a pro at stumbling across hidden gems, admitted that she's never looked in the fancy dress section before. But she said in the video on her TikTok page that she's glad she did - as she ended up finding a one-of-a-kind, handmade gold dress for just £2. "Today I learned to never skip the Halloween costumes section," she wrote over the top of the clip, which showed her coming across the stunning outfit. The dress appeared to be leopard-print with gold detailing, with carefully encrusted gem cups and draped sections to make it even more flattering. The bottom was also embroidered with sparkling gem flowers - and Els managed to get the dress for just four Canadian dollars, the equivalent of £2. "Still in shock!" she captioned the video. She added in response to one question: "There is no tag, it looks handmade & the dress is not for sale, I'm sorryyy!" And the comments section was immediately filled with remarks from people stunned by her incredible purchase. "Looks very Roberto Cavalli," one said. "This is a professional belly dance costume, they cost hundreds of dollars!" another wrote. We went hunting in the charity shop's 'rag house' and were stunned by our discoveries - we found a £80 bag & £600 shirt As a third added: "I think this is ballroom Latin costume. "Look them up. They are soooo expensive!" "That and sunset pics at the beach would eatttt!" someone else suggested. While others shared their own similar finds in charity shops and on secondhand apps and websites. "Someone listed once listed a Emilio Pucci set as a clown Halloween set on Poshmark for $25," one wrote. "It haunts me to this day someone got so lucky lol!" Top charity shop tips for bagging a bargain Ross Dutton has been a manager for Crisis's charity shops for four years and currently runs the charity's Finsbury Park shop in London. Choose your area - As a rule of thumb, the posher the area, the better quality the clothes that are donated. Don't hang around - If you see something you like, buy it, as it'll likely be gone when you come back Look out for cut-off labels - Some of your favourite high street stores will have deals with local charity shops to donate stock that isn't sold during their own sales. Often part of the deal is that they need to cut the labels off the clothes. Stay at home - While some charities have their own site, like Oxfam and Crisis. many also sell from dedicated eBay stores, such as British Heart Foundation and Scope. You won't get the range of bargains that you would get in a physical store, but if you're looking for something specific it may be worth checking online too. "My fave dress was in the Halloween section," another added. "It's technically a black bird costume, but it's just a black dress with a strapless off the shoulder black feathered neckline. "I always check now!" "I worked at the thrift and everything fun/fur/sparkly/leather/baddie went into Halloween cause they didn't think it would sell," a third revealed. "Omg the shoessss too - there's so many good ones at Halloween!" "Halloween season is truly thrifting heaven!" someone else said. Els modelled the dress in another video, showing that it clung to her enviable figure and fit her like a glove. "Belly dance costume dress! It was made for you!" one gushed. "OHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDD!!! IT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN I IMAGINED!" another added. "You're not wearing the dress, the dress is wearing you - stunning!" a third commented. 6 6
CBC
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Metro Vancouver non-profit thrift stores say they're facing tough times as rents continue to rise
Social Sharing The operators of non-profit thrift stores in Metro Vancouver say the region's expensive real estate market is making it difficult for them to make money, and that's keeping them from being able to help their communities. Burnaby Association for South East Side (BASES) Family Thrift Store in Burnaby, B.C., says it will soon have to close because of increasingly unaffordable rent. "We know we can run a successful business. We've done it for 12 years and we certainly can continue that," said BASES president Peggy Woodruff. "But we just can't afford the rent." Woodruff says her thrift store has raised more than $1 million for children and families in her community. But after all these years, she's getting ready to close the store's doors. Rent for the store started at $10 a square foot when it first opened more than a decade ago, she says. It's now being raised to $40 a square foot. WATCH | Thrift stores face eviction amid rent hikes: Metro Vancouver's soaring rents forcing non-profits out of business 10 hours ago Duration 2:17 A beloved Burnaby, B.C., thrift store is getting set to close up shop amid a major rent hike. It joins a long list of establishments struggling to stay afloat amid Metro Vancouver's real estate crisis. Sohrab Sandhu reports. Woodruff says for the last 18 months her organization has tried looking for another space to operate its business. But so far, the search has not been successful. "We've looked at over probably 80 properties in Burnaby," she said. "The retail space is very, very tight." 'The profit is completely gone' In Surrey, SEVA Thrift Foundation board member Raj Arneja says the SEVA Thrift Store donated more than $100,000 to the community in its first seven years of operation. But the store's rent has nearly tripled since it first opened, and it hasn't had any extra money to hand out in the last two years. "The profit is completely gone," Arneja said. To help, the store became a non-profit-organization and last year it was granted charity status. Arneja says she hopes that can help them access grants. She says business has been picking up, and she's hopeful for the future. She says the store doesn't just give money, it also offers a valuable space for its 60 or so volunteers to gain work experience and build community. "It's like a nice stepping stone, volunteering with us — a stepping stone into any kind of career," Arneja said. Rent control vs. creating more supply Last year a city councillor in New Westminster proposed special economic zones to help small businesses amid rapid development, increasing land values and rising commercial rents. But Andrey Pavlov, a finance professor at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business, says commercial rent control is not a solution — the focus should be increasing the real estate supply. "We need to make it easy and fast and safe to invest in commercial, residential real estate so that people do that in large numbers," Pavlov said. "And then we build a lot more than we currently have."
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Metro Vancouver's soaring rents forcing non-profits out of business
A beloved Burnaby, B.C., thrift store is getting set to close up shop amid a major rent hike. It joins a long list of establishments struggling to stay afloat amid Metro Vancouver's real estate crisis. Sohrab Sandhu reports.
CBC
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Metro Vancouver's soaring rents forcing non-profits out of business
A beloved Burnaby, B.C., thrift store is getting set to close up shop amid a major rent hike. It joins a long list of establishments struggling to stay afloat amid Metro Vancouver's real estate crisis. Sohrab Sandhu reports.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Underconsumption Core' Is Going Viral On TikTok. Here's Why Gen Z Can't Get Enough.
On TikTok, most people's feeds are flooded with product reviews that encourage impulse buying: 'This Amazon bodysuit on sale is a must-buy.' 'This cult-favorite travel pillow is worth the hype!' 'Yes, it's $600 but this Dyson blow-dryer will change your life.' Then there's 'underconsumption core,' the viral trend on TikTok that encourages consumers to be a little less spend-happy and more conscientious about what they bring into their homes. It's garnered plenty of attention off-platform, too: Google searches for 'underconsumption core' have surged by 1,150% in just few weeks last year, according to the digital marketing firm Webbee. April Silva, a TikTok user and lifelong thrift store fan, is a big proponent of underconsumption core. She defines it as a more minimal approach to shopping: You don't need five winter coats when you have one perfectly good one. You don't need every color of Stanley cup or 'massive Shein hauls just for content,' she said. 'Most of the clothing you see in people's clothing haul are just trend pieces and it won't hold up in your closet over time, and I say this as someone who likes fashion,' Silva told HuffPost. 'What I choose to spend my hard-earned money on matters and I try to be smarter about it every day, and that's what this trend is about for me.' Instead of pressing 'buy now' on hyped products, underconsumption-core adherents lean into capsule wardrobes (basically, buying pieces of clothing and accessories that are easy to mix and match), using makeup until it's 'down to pan' (finishing the entirety of the product until you hit the pan of the compact), and shopping secondhand whenever possible. In many ways, underconsumption core is the spiritual sister of another recent trend: deinfluencing, where social media influencers try to dissuade followers from buying cult-favorite products they've had lackluster experiences with. Both fall into what might be called 'recession-core influencing': When money is tight and the costs of living and rent are going up, who can stomach buying a $42 highlighter? (As one person joked on TikTok: 'Underconsumption core but it's actually the reality of living under the poverty line.') Shelby Orme, a sustainable living influencer from Austin, Texas, thinks the trend is '100%' a direct response to our current economic situation. 'I think it's that and a response to the constant exposure to perfectly curated homes and wardrobes all over our For You pages,' she said. 'I would also add that the insidious introduction of TikTok Shop [which lets brands and sellers sell directly on the platform] has added to the frustration.' Trends like these tend to be cyclical, said Jessie Kosak, an instructor at Arizona State University's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. (Remember a few years ago, when everyone was into Marie Kondo and trashing items that didn't 'spark joy'?) Kosak, a millennial, remembers a version of underconsumption core that was simply called 'minimalism.' 'That was admittedly was flawed from the start, because it implies a specific aesthetic that becomes more and more difficult to adhere to,' she said. 'With trends like this, people sometimes swap one form of consumption for another.' Kosak isn't surprised that Gen Z, a demographic whose members grew up inundated with ads for stuff they didn't need, is embracing a 'consume only what you need' mindset. 'They're constantly targeted by advertising and conditioned to want more stuff, but I think as each generation grows, they realize they just don't need all of it,' Kosak said. Gen Z is also keenly aware of environmental issues that fast fashion plays a direct role in, like greenhouse gas emissions and garment manufacturing processes that harm wildlife, degrade land and pollute soil and water. That's a huge deal for Gen Zers: A recent Pew study shows that 76% of Gen Zers are worried about climate change, with 37% saying it's their biggest concern of all. Jennifer Bertling, who runs a TikTok account about her Chihuahua mix Milly, also thinks Gen Z is leading the charge. That said, she told HuffPost that her boomer parents practiced what might now be called underconsumption core, moving their family to a self-sustaining off-grid farm run entirely on wind and solar power on Canada's Prince Edward Island when Bertling was a teenager. Now, living in Los Angeles with Milly, Bertling said she tries to live simply, and takes satisfaction in giving things a second life. 'Especially here in L.A., which is a transient city that people are constantly moving into and out of places, there's very little need to buy new,' Bertling said, adding that she's part of several local 'Buy Nothing' groups on Facebook. 'Another example is, my elderly neighbor was moving out and he told me his biggest fear was for his things to end up discarded on the sidewalk in a pile,' she said. 'I took a leather couch off his hands, and it brings me great joy to have given this couch another life.' Bertling also tries to limit her food waste as much as possible, using leftover scraps to make vegetable or bone broth and freezing anything that's about to expire for a later meal. Even Milly still has the same blanket she got when she was first brought home. 'It's not aesthetic, but it's hers,' Bertling said in an 'Underconsumption Core: Dog Mom edition' video on TikTok. Christina Mychaskiw, a content creator and co-host of the 'Sustain This!' podcast, said she appreciates the latest 'less is more' trend because she knows the toll that addictive shopping can take on young people. Online, Mychaskiw is open about how difficult it was to get out from under her student debt because of her emotional spending habits. On her YouTube channel, she chronicled her 'no buy' year, a period when she only bought essentials: food and certain items of clothing when necessary. In that year, she learned that, like many people, she was consuming more than she really needed, spending emotionally to relieve things like boredom, and shopping for an idealized 'fantasy' version of herself, rather than for who she was in the moment. 'I think this trend speaks to that,' Mychaskiw said. 'What you should be doing is curating your life with the things you love, buying things with intention and being mindful of what you bring in next.' As underconsumption core has taken off, Mychaskiw thinks this aspect of the trend has gotten away from people. Some TikTok users are making it a competition about who can live the most bare-bones life. 'I've seen some videos of things where I'm like, 'Hm, maybe that's a fire hazard to not replace that thing,'' she said. 'There's a video of a woman sharing her sustainable life, and people were like, 'Well, your fridge is so full so you're not underconsumption core,' and 'You have kids so you're not underconsumption core.'' 'We all have our version of how to be a better consumer,' Mychaskiw said. 'It's not about getting rid of everything for the sake of getting rid of things.' Kosak agrees that just chucking all your stuff into a donation bin isn't the goal. Instead, she hopes people use the underconsumption core trend as a catalyst to examine their needs and gravitate toward pieces that are emotionally durable ― purchases that are meant to be cherished and kept, thus reducing consumption and waste of natural resources. It's not necessarily easy to make that kind of shift in your relationship with shopping. But Kosak said it's worth it. 'We are constantly conditioned to compare ourselves to others, and on some level it's easier than looking inward for self-actualization,' she said. 'Whether it's a sweater that we see on an influencer or a new trend on TikTok, rather than jumping all in, I think it's always better to step back and ask yourself: 'What part of this is appealing to me, and why?'' Deinfluencing: The TikTok Trend Taking Influencers Down A Slippery Slope This Insidious Spending Trend Is Probably Making You Lose A Lot Of Money 'It Doesn't Save Me Any Money': People Are Sharing The Frugal Lifestyle Tweaks That Simply Don't Work For Them
