The Pound Store!!

Today I took Jason to the Tacoma pound store for the first time ever! Walking into the pound store is always a bit of a culture-shock for first timers (myself included).

I gave him these tips to help him keep from getting overwhelmed.

         #1. First thing, get a cart, then find a blanket, park your cart along the wall and cover the cart.

          #2. DO NOT take your cart down the aisles unless there are less than 12 people in the building. Do your digging and treasure-hunting, and take mini-trips back to your cart, and drop stuff off.

          #3. DIG!! Don't be afraid to dig, toss stuff out of the way, don't fixate on sizes of condition of the clothes, but if you like the look of it, grab it, toss it in your cart, then go back later, go through and purge. You want to get through the bins quickly but thoroughly.

          #4. If you are a germaphobe, or just have dust allergies, you can totally bring/wear a dust mask and or gloves. And I recommend headphones to listen to your favorite tunes. If you love the pound store, it just makes it that much more fun!



 

Here are my finds. I spent a grand total
of $4.62 on all 5 items! Score!!!

So, the breakdown of the store layout is..

Half the store is clothing, in rows of long, blue bins; 2x4 per row. The workers will start by taking away the picked-over bins, clearing that row. When they do this, you must clear the entire row, even if you are not standing within the taped area that the new bins will sit over. They will "yell" at you to clear the aisle if you don't get completely out of that space. Don't take it personally, just get out.



Sea foam-teal shirt with flirty elbow bow ties

The other half the stories purses, brick-a-brack, and furniture... all, totally chaotic, all in bins to literally DIG through. This place is NOT for the faint of heart, the germaphobes, or the "casual browsers". This place is awesome, but for the treasure-hunters!

Oh, and by the way, the pound store is aptly named because all items are sold, not individually,  but by weight!!

Grey tie-dye print tee with side gathers.
 Love it!


So, I had a blast! Jason; not so much. He has horrible dust allergies, so he could only handle about 45mins before he had to get some fresh air, and he likes the more established, organized, stores with racks. I, however, love this place!

Each item was pre-marked with Goodwill tags. Each shirt was marked $6.99 and the shoes were marked $7.99, so the in-store cost would have been $35.95.

I looked up certain items online, and the estimated total (since not all were per-item listed), or guestimate was about $250.
Guestimated online cost = $250         Savings $245.38
In-store goodwill cost    = $35.95       Savings $214.05
Price actually paid         = $4.62         Super SCORE!!!

Xhilaration pink/yellow/brown-flecked shrug
Super cute!!

My favorite find. "Life Stride" sandals;
Online $60, I paid $0.75!! Savings: $55.25

"Speigel" beaded blouse;
Online price $115, I paid $0.75, Savings $114.25