Tahoe Forest Gift and Thrift shop in Truckee

Thrifting in Truckee

I do read the reviews on the thrift stores I'm going to visit just to get an idea on what I'll be walking into. I know it's very hard  for resellers to find anything to flip with thrifting being a very trendy thing to do now days. 

The only real thrift store in Truckee is called the Tahoe Forest Gift and Thrift Hospice. It doesn't get good reviews, mainly because of the high prices but I still had to check it out.  

Having managed a thrift store I know what it takes to run a store and price things to move but still make a profit. First off, if you're going to charge over retail for almost everything, then the store should at least be clean and well organized. The store had no traffic flow, narrow aisles (ADA will get them sooner or later) everything was dirty and the place had a terrible smell, even for a thrift store. Things were just thrown up on the racks, old kitchen equipment had prime eye level space in the center of the store but a platter priced at $65 (really only worth $20 new) was thrown on top of a broken metal platter at the bottom of the rack. Just because it's selling for a high price on eBay doesn't mean you will get the same price at a thrift store. OK my rant is over. 

After my first walk around the store, I looked for the diamonds in the rough. I realized the only things that were even close to being able to flip for a profit were the things not easy to find with a quick google search. I'm sure who ever is doing the pricing is checking eBay. The 6 plates at first glance looked like candle holders but having round bottoms and having that many didn't make sense. I did do a quick search on them while at the store but nothing came up. Being priced at .50 each I decided to bring them home just to find out what they were for. Turns out to be egg cups made in England. I would have gotten the matching platter and serving bowl but at $25 each, there was no room for profit. I'll flip the whole set for $12.

I thought the flat fish plates (circa 1970's) were funny and with my blog being called Flatfish I had to get them. Priced at $3 each it was just a little high for me but I'll flip them for $5.99, not a money spinner for sure. I'm in search for a fourth one to make an American set (Japanese sets are never in sets of four) but so far anything I can find online is price well over $12 each. That's not the sale price, just what someone thinks they can get for it. 

The sugar and creamer were a $1.00 each and are mid century modern in both color and form. The matching plates and bowls were price around $8 each, which didn't make sense to me. Serving pieces, because less of them were made are worth more than the plates. Plus some people only want the sugar and creamer as accent pieces so much easier to sell. 

The small tulip dish is very heavy and well made. It has age spots like sun spots on us old people but no maker's mark but I still think it's vintage. I paid $2 and I think I can flip it for $12.00. It also was something not easy to find the price online.