The secret to finding the best vintage
How to score great vintage? Invest your time, or pay a reseller for their own. Our top tips on how to build in more of a thrifter’s most precious resource
Vintage dealers know that one of the most frequently asked questions in the vintage retail space is: “where do you get all this stuff?”
There's no secret thrift shop that steadily restocks grail items at low prices. To find the treasure, you’ve got to hunt.
To most vintage collectors — whether they are resellers or not — hunting is the fun part.
The thrill is in stumbling upon a dust-encrusted lucite lamp in an off-the-beaten-path thrift shop, winning a bid on a piece of art at auction, and finding the vintage coat of your dreams at an estate sale — and it fits like it was made for you.
It’s about seeing the potential value — monetary or otherwise — in objects others have passed over or discarded. It’s like being in a secret club.
But the only secret to finding great vintage is time.
While some thrifters will swear by certain locations they like to keep to themselves, you don’t need a secret location to find great vintage.
What you need is a willingness to go off the beaten path, to make connections with other people in the industry, and to, well, go into strangers’ homes. Quite often, actually.
Not everybody has the time, or the soft skills, to do this. When you shop retail vintage, it’s a big part of what’s included in the price.
Vintage resellers are like miners; we dig up the gold so you don’t have to get your hands dirty (sometimes literally).
How to source vintage when you’re short on time
Whether you’re a reseller or just a collector addicted to the thrill of the chase, here are some tips and tricks for sourcing vintage when you’re short on time.
1. Location, location, location.
Avid thrifters know there is value in the road less travelled when it comes to thrifting.
If you have transportation, try to get out of the big city centres if you can. Obviously, driving outside of the city is a hugely time-consuming endeavour.
But doubling up on errands that are already taking you out of your way, or turning thrifting into a social activity with a friend can allow you to live your life while still constantly thrifting.
If you do decide to travel, whether it’s 20 minutes or two hours, plan your journey with multiple stops in mind, whether they be thrift shops, estate sales or garage sales. You might be travelling far, but you can maximize your shopping time if you plan in advance.
2. Short, frequent trips.
If you can’t afford the time it takes (or don’t have the means) to travel around, take short, frequent trips to your local thrift store.
Go a few times over the course of a week or two, and you’ll get a good sense of what their baseline inventory looks like, and you’ll also be able to spot the restocks much more easily.
Bonus points if you can strike up a friendly relationship with some of the staff — who knows if they might be able to help you find that wish list item when it finally comes through?
3. Timing is everything.
You’re almost guaranteed to turn up better results thrifting on weekdays instead of weekends when the stores are busiest. But work and family life can make it harder to get away.
Maybe you have an hour for lunch, or 45 minutes before you have to meet a friend for dinner. Some thrift stores are just black holes for time. But try setting a timer on your phone.
If you have an hour for your lunch break, put 30 minutes on the clock the second you walk in the doors. As soon as the timer goes off, walk to the checkout with what you have and ignore the rest of the store.
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Sometimes it helps to constrain yourself to one section of the store. If you’re looking for clothes, look through dresses one day, sweaters the next. Or look at glassware and furniture, and peruse the books another time.
4. Build relationships.
If you scored a cool vintage piece from someone selling it on Facebook Marketplace, do you pick it up, hand them the cash, and walk away? Maybe instead, try striking up a conversation. Oftentimes, people looking to downsize or offload items have a few things they’re trying to get rid of, and just haven’t gotten around to listing yet.
If you’re a reseller or just a collector, be upfront with them and let them know that you think what they have is worth something to you.
Offering a fair and reasonable price for items — while acknowledging that you still need to have room for profit, or that you’re constrained by a budget — instead of trying to squeeze the best deal out of someone, might prompt them to contact you directly the next time they come across old treasure in their basement.
5. ABL: Always Be Looking.
Avid thrifters know they never know when they’ll find the next big thing, even when you aren’t looking.
Joy Zubair, the founder of vintage collective Boho Chachkies in Toronto, recently posted an Instagram reel about scoring a rare vintage dancing shelf while on a mundane trip to the dentist.
ABL means constantly looking for new opportunities to hunt beyond your usual stomping ground.
Going to visit your family in another town? Hit up the local thrift shops, or go garage sale-ing with your grandma. Going to another country on vacation? Take a few minutes to research the best flea markets in advance, and build your shopping time into your itinerary.
But you don’t always have to leave the house to score the good stuff. Facebook Marketplace follows the same logic as any thrift store: the good stuff at the right price goes quickly. Scroll online listings there, or on online auction sites like MaxSold.com, from the comfort of your couch.
And if you really don’t have the time…
That’s what resellers are here for! They spend hours upon hours searching for the goods, let alone processing them for resale. Their time, expertise, and relationship-building skills are all part of what you’re paying for when you buy retail vintage.
A lot of vintage resellers source, stock and sell vintage as a side hustle. Many of us have other full-time or part-time jobs in addition to running our businesses, so time is a precious commodity.
Everyone’s process is different, but some part-time vintage resellers tell The Vintage Seeker they spend anywhere between two to 10 hours per week just on in-person sourcing.
Elizabeth Bissonnette, the founder of vintage and upcycled clothing shop Dead Lady Things Vintage, says she might spend four hours in-person sourcing per week, and also peruses Facebook Marketplace for about 30 minutes per day.
If vintage is your full-time gig, you can invest much more than that.
Meg Halisky, the co-founder of Grey House Treasures, says in her peak sourcing season (the winter months, when she’s not vending at markets as often), she might try to get to more than 15 stores per week for about an hour and a half each time, and spends around an hour a day browsing online listings.
Other days, she might only have 15 minutes to spare, but she’ll still spend it seeking out the best finds.
Meanwhile, Julia Difederico, who runs the online and pop-up vintage clothing shop Baroque Vintage, says she spends about 10 hours per week just in-person sourcing at thrift shops, garage sales, estate sales and elsewhere.
Time spent sourcing is just a small amount of the total time it takes to run a vintage business, Julia points out.
“Sorting, washing, pilling, steaming, pricing and packing — the time for all of that behind the scenes work feels infinite,” she says.
Developing an eye for great vintage finds is a skill, but giving yourself the opportunity to do that? All it takes is time.
Chelsea Nash is a freelance writer and owner of Curious Times Vintage.
