Retro Memories of mine: The Beauty Of Thrift Shops

I haven't been to thrifts shop in a while. I suppose it's because of low funds and that I ran out of room to store things. When my oldest daughter came home from Goodwill the other day with a present for me it brought back my interest in shopping there. Back in the 80's, we had a tiny Goodwill store on our main street. As a kid I was intrigued by their sign with the half smiling face. It seemed mysterious because the face was hiding a little but at the same time it had to be good because it was smiling. I would beg my grandma to take me in there but that was unheard of to her. To have her baby buy something second hand? Oh no, Granny didn't play that. My dad was a pretty carefree guy and gladly took me there and bought me a hat I wanted. I thought the hat was gorgeous itself. It looked like some kind of hat a women would have wore on Easter Sunday or something. However when I took it home my mom forbid me to wear it saying the previous owner of the hat might have had lice. That was the end of Goodwill until I stumbled into it's doors during my mid teen drug daze years. The boyfriend I was with at the time must have had a few dollars left after buying the necessities of that time,(you know, cigarettes, heroin, crack cocaine, ...things of that nature.) and bought me a Victoria secret silk robe for three dollars. I owned that robe for years thinking it was a great bargain even though the person that bought it ended by nauseating me. Then, the Goodwill in town closed down. A lot of stores around my small town of Hammonton were closing in the mid 90's, including the old Superfresh store which was reopened to a bigger and new location. Years later, a new Goodwill opened in the old Superfresh's building and is where I usually lurk in. My Grandma never really excepted the second hand stuff but my mom grew a great liking to it. Even my grandfather brings my daughter in there to shop, and that's when she came home with this for me.

She brought me home a 1988 Puffalump and it only cost her 99 cents! It brought me back some hope that there is some good retro junk still floating around in thrift stores. I started my retro collection a few years ago as my love for the 80's and early 90's grew as I got older. I began searching thrift stores but all in all I felt like I wasn't finding anything worth while so I gave it up. Now that my oldest brought me this little piece of history and I looked back on some of things I bought in thrift stores, I really think I must have been crazy to give it up. I've gotten some really good things that added to my collection from Goodwills and Thrift shops.

"Ecto-1"

I bought Ecto-1 at a thrift store about 20 minutes away from my house. I found it on the bottom of the toy shelf buried in the back. Despite from it being a little dirty and missing a door, I seemed in good shaped for 4.95$! That's pretty good considering they go for anywhere between 15 to 45 dollars on ebay!

"Teddy Ruxpin"

I found him at a Goodwill but not in my town. He was at the bottom of a stuffed animal bid. After searching around in some junk bins in the aisles, I also found a few cassettes tapes for him too! He was only 4.99. He didn't work at first, but after a few minor adjusts my husband fixed it. Not bad since on ebay one seller was selling him for 99.99!

"Furskins"

I found quite a few of these guys. One brand new in the box even!

"Kissyfur"

I found him on the shelf at yet another Goodwill.(I know almost every Goodwill in South Jersey.) There he stood with his original booklet tag still attached! I bought him for around 4 dollars. At the time of this post, there was only one of these dolls being sold on ebay for 34 dollars.

"Snoopy"

I can't really remember where I found Snoopy at, but I do know it was at one of those Thrift Shops around me. I don't know if he's really from the 80's. His tag says 1968, though that just may be the Peanuts copyright. The coolest thing about this Snoopy is that it's the same one from the "Walking on Sunshine" dance scene from the movie "Look Who's Talking." You see Snoopy dancing at the top of the table with John Travolta's help. (Check out all the other Puffalumps next to Mikey in the first shots too!)

"Holiday Kermit Muppet Baby"

I found this Kermit at a Goodwill near the shore where my Dad used to live. I got him for something ridiculous like 50 cents or something. I used to have him when I was little along with the Fozzy and Miss Piggy. During one Christmas season in the 80's, Mcdonald's was selling the three Holiday Muppet Babies for a limited time for a cheaper price when you bought some kind of meal.

"Garfield"
I found quite a few Garfield's at thrift stores. A Garfield bank, a few suction cup Garfield's, and an original Garfield complete with his tag!

"Old Glasses and Cups"
For some reason I grew an obsession with old glasses. I guess it's because my family once owned them all at one time and having them around again just makes me happy. Besides, I found that they are the easiest thing to find in those stores!

Above is one of those frosted Coca Cola glasses that they were selling at Burger King in the early 90's.

These are collectible glasses from Mcdonald's. They might be from the 70's but I'm not sure. I found them in Goodwill being sold all together for a cheap price.

Here's another collectible glass from Mcdonald's. I'm sure if you were a kid in the 80's, you knew someone who had these Snoopy glasses. Almost everyone I knew had at least one of these in their house!

Here's more from Mcdonald's, this time Garfield. I found some at a thrift shop, and my mom found me a whole bag of them at Goodwill.

Here's a Twinkie Glass. I miss those Hostess Mascots.

Here's some more stuff...

This Labyrinth game was just sitting alone on a shelf.

I'm not quite sure what this was, but it said 1985 "Piggy Belly." I'm guessing there was candy inside his stomach at one time.

The magic eight ball I previously owned as well, though we threw it out once their was too many bubbles inside and you couldn't read your future. Recently I asked it, "Am I crazy?" It said, "All signs are pointing to Yes."

I was always more of a Mcdonald's person, even back then, but I did belong to the Burger King Kids Club. If you remember, the commercials advertised the Kids Club with some cartoons, all with their own name. Well, I ended up recognizing them in the shape of Kids meal toys inside a plastic bag at Goodwill.

This 1985 Playmates crawling doll still works!

Chibbles was a part of those Chubbles toys that their eyes blinked and they made a noise. I never owned the Chubble, just the Chibble I think. I loved this furry little guy and missed him so when he was thrown away. I found him in a pile of stuffed animals.

Lurky, the bad boy from Rainbow Brite, added nicely to my collection.

This little statue is a "Human Bean." I think Hallmark may have made them, but back in the 80's they were all over the place.(toys, desk ornaments, mugs, ..etc.)

Two little old Mcdonald's happy meal toys of Fraggles in their cars.

I found these "Li'l Tuppers School Yard" still in the box at one of those church thrift shops. After opening it, I found some other extra things inside that didn't belong with the set.(Like happy meal toys.)