"Where do you find this stuff?"

I get asked that questions a lot, right a long with requests for the detailed locations, complete with driving directions, of my favorite thrift shops. But I never tell.

There's an old rule among inveterate thrift shoppers that you never give up your best spots, because once you do, they get mined to death. Its a rule I still abide, and I realize that it tends to drive some of you mad. I get accused of hogging all the good stuff. But truthfully, that old rule is pointless these days. My continued adherence to it is sheer nostalgia. You see, in the old days, thrift stores were found through hard work and luck. You stumbled on them, mostly. And when you found one, nobody else knew. Those days are gone.

Yesterday, I hauled three big bags from three different stores, two of which I'd never heard of before. I found them using Google on a smart phone. Its that easy. There are even websites with directories on them where you only need the zip code or name of the town to find them. My adherence to an archaic rule may be silly, but so is asking me to hold your hand in finding these places. Its nothing short of a luxury to live in the information age, and I'm just old enough to remember what it was like before.

No, its not just because I know where these places are or how to find new ones that I do so well. It's about perseverance. Besides finding and visiting new stores yesterday, I also spent all morning in the highway far from home driving to them. I did this not knowing whether I'd find anything. Fortunately, I did, but I might just as easily have struck out. Good thing I enjoy the hunt almost as much as the kill. It simply does not work if you only pop into some place, and only one place, every now and again. You have to be crazy enough to give it a lot of your time. 

So that's "where I find this stuff". I hope this didn't come off all sour grapes, because that wasn't my intention. But seriously, begging me to tell you where the good thrift stores are and believing that if I don't you'll never find them is a silly as saying you'll never eat again unless I point you to the nearest pizza joint.

You gotta do your own homework.