Has this ever happened to you? (Thrift Store Rant)

Stender wrote:

hahaha! goosebumps...I totally remember reading those around 2nd or 3rd grade.

They're pretty cool aren't they? My son's about to start 2nd grade, he discovered the series via his school library about halfway thru 1st grade. I read him a couple of chapters before he goes to bed at night. Fortunately, none of them have given him nightmares... yet. Haha.

Right now we're in the middle of "Don't Go In the Basement," which has something to do with evil plant monsters snatching people and making copies of them. Very "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" inspired. Haha.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Yesterday I went back to the thrift store that I mentioned in my first post, for the first time in a couple of months. There was a pretty big stack of CDs sitting on a shelf (at least 100 of'em) but when I started rifling thru'em, at least half of them were empty cases, with no CDs in them. A lot of the ones that did have the CDs in them didn't have the back tray art, just the booklets. WTF?? I briefly considered mentioning the empty cases to the lady behind the counter, but decided it wasn't worth the trouble, because after my past couple of experiences it's become clear that they don't give a rat's ass, they just unpack the donation boxes and throw the stuff up on the shelves without looking at'em. Fortunately none of the "empties" were CDs that I would've been interested in anyway.

At least my 7 year old found a couple of books from the "Goosebumps" series that he hadn't read yet, so the trip wasn't a total waste of time.

the goodwills in my area have been better lately. They dont seem to have the problem - but now they dont have anything i want

People have been cleaning out the thrifts and pawn shops in my area for years. In the late 90's I could find lots of goodies. I ran into a guy buying a bunch at a pawn shop once and asked if he was really going to listen to them all? He told me he was putting them on ebay. The downside of online stores.

Had a new thrift store just open. They had a ton of cool sports memorabilia but were asking high end collectors prices for even the stuff that wasn't valuable. The cds were all in slimlines without cases and they were asking five bucks a piece. Good luck with that. I think they are just calling themselves a thrift store to lure in people.

The local goodwill does a pretty decent job with their cds. And just about the time I think it is pointless to keep checking, I'll hit some cool finds.

There is a new pawn shop that just opened in my area. going to go check it out soon.

Had this happen to me about 2 weeks ago at a Goodwill. Saw two Yngwie albums, I've never owned one so I was gonna get them both but one was missing the disc. Can't remember which it was but as it turned out it was supposed to be the better of the two.

Metal Misfit wrote:

Had this happen to me about 2 weeks ago at a Goodwill. Saw two Yngwie albums, I've never owned one so I was gonna get them both but one was missing the disc. Can't remember which it was but as it turned out it was supposed to be the better of the two.

Thats annoying. You get that moment of excitement only to have your hopes dashed quicker than a Brett Farve interception!

Gotta check to make sure they don't have a different CD in the case too.

Thought I was getting Use Your Illusion II, got some Great White album.

same just happened to me recently. Another thing I hate is when you get to a store and see a name that rings a bell but you can't remember what they sound like. Without internet in your hand, its impossible to decide if its worth it to get. I missed out on a kix cd because of that. I knew they sounded familiar but wasn't sure since I haven't followed that band. Also, you only expect to find one or two good cds there at the most but when you get there, you find five or six on the same trip but you don't have the cash to get them all. The next day they are gone.

gotta say there isnt much out there now...

Yeah chances of scoring a great cd are getting slimmer. They just end up being sold online.

I did my good music deed for the week at my Goodwill. They had the cds and cases all mixed up with each in the wrong case. They also had several discs stacked in single cases. I took them all out and put them in their proper places. And as I did this the thought occurred to me that Goodwill security may come calling. Too bad there was nothing that interested me and the one disc that did was beyond scratched. I'm not even sure you could destroy it that badly on purpose.

My Goodwill seems to get a lot of turnover but most of it is country and soul. I've missed out on a few discs waiting for the right color tag sale to hit.

Most of the Goowill stores in my neck of the woods are not selling cds anymore. They claim it is just a big hassle. Mostly due to folks taking the disc and leaving the case and patrons leaving the area a big mess.

The pawn shops are still gold for instruments and such at least........... Paul Stanley Iceman right across the street from work....they're asking too much considering the condition, but still. Always something cool no matter what shop you go to here, in terms of gear...

Just came back from a jaunt to the local thrift store. Rooting through the piles of junk my heart skipped a beat when I saw a couple of those old school "three drawer" CD storage cases in a corner, and it looked like they were all full of discs... I was sure that I was in for some primo CD pickin' but... NOPE. Every damn CD was either classical or Christmas music.

DENIED!! I hate when that happens...

Kind of related to the original problem on this thread, I had the opposite happen recently. I bought Lamb of God Wrath (£3 closing down sale) and when I got it home it had the correct CD plus



An Aloe Bloc CD!!  

Funny thing is I think that I like the Aloe Bloc CD more than the LoG one, but I couldn't help but think that if the shop had checked, I could have been accused of shoplifting or something!!  

In my experience, thrift stores are the most frustrating treasure hunts available.

My last trip was a week ago. While I could have made out with the entire Audio Adrenaline catalog for two bucks, there was nothing of substance worth spending a quarter on.

The missing CD's is a problem as well.

One of the Goodwills here had a massive vinyl over-shipment. I was there for THREE HOURS and found a Gaither Trio album for my grandma. Nothing else.

I used to frequent thrift stores in my twenties, it was the only place I bought clothes for a long time. I have probably three CD's and a dozen vinyl I picked up during the course of that time.

Frankly, I'd rather look through my local record store bin and spend a little extra on five good albums than go through five trips to Goodwill to find one mediocre CD in bad shape.

I'll still look when I'm there, but I stopped going out of my way just to find music a long time ago.

I can't remember the last time I bought a CD from a brick and mortar store and it makes me sad. I used to love going to "listening posts" at my favorite record stores to discover a band I'd never heard of.

Now I buy almost everything online after reading reviews and listening to samples. And I (sadly) find myself buying downloads more and more because it's just a lot cheaper.

I saw the case for Nocturnus - The Key at a used goods store once, and would have bought the CD, but they didn't have the CD, only the case.

Required Fields wrote:

I saw the case for Nocturnus - The Key at a used goods store once, and would have bought the CD, but they didn't have the CD, only the case.

That CD is one of those holy grail CD's for me, used to see them play live several times in the 90's, and had that album on vinyl, til I got rid of it for some reason

Required Fields wrote:

I saw the case for Nocturnus - The Key at a used goods store once, and would have bought the CD, but they didn't have the CD, only the case.

Now that would have been annoying, that CD is really hard to get at a non crazy price (although I think that it has recently been re released.

Fat Freddy wrote:

jstate wrote:

Sucks either way, those were some cool potential finds.

Yea, I was particularly ticked off about that Salty Dog disc not being in the case. I only remember hearing one song off of that on MTV years ago but liking it, so here I was thinking "Oh cool, I'll finally get to hear more of this band!"... aaaaaand, crushing disappointment. Ack.

 If you like Salty Dog, you would love Salty Dogs bass player has a band that kills. Imagine Ted Nugent, Motorhead & The Godz all in a blender with a dose of Early Skynyrd. Worth checking out. I love em. The band is called American Dog

bass63 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

jstate wrote:

Sucks either way, those were some cool potential finds.

Yea, I was particularly ticked off about that Salty Dog disc not being in the case. I only remember hearing one song off of that on MTV years ago but liking it, so here I was thinking "Oh cool, I'll finally get to hear more of this band!"... aaaaaand, crushing disappointment. Ack.

 If you like Salty Dog, you would love Salty Dogs bass player has a band that kills. Imagine Ted Nugent, Motorhead & The Godz all in a blender with a dose of Early Skynyrd. Worth checking out. I love em. The band is called American Dog

American Dog is a great band, very gritty stuff.

I remember hearing Salty Dog on the radio late at night and thinking " I NEED this album." When I finally saved up money for it, I couldn't find it. Very strange.

both of the goodwills around me a pretty lousy again. For a time they had some good stuff but now its lousy.

My Goodwills have been barren too. I kept hoping that would mean a good haul was coming or that stuff was getting picked over. But with each visit it's getting worse. Great while it lasted though. And I'll always be eternally grateful for the Johnny Crash disc I got for a 1.50.