Everything Old is New Again: Thrift Store Collecting

• In Event: Collecting as a Hobby

Abstract

Thrift stores are retail organizations dedicated to the resale of a variety of donated used goods to raise money for stated charitable causes. Thrift stores in America have a long history associated mainly with providing material goods that meet the needs of cost-conscious or cost-constrained consumers. These material goods are imbued with cultural significances related to both the material objects themselves, as well as the culture and class of consumers who have built the thrift store economy. The material culture of thrifting has historically been shaped by poverty, social stigma, and material needs. However, more recently, the thrift store has become an emergent locus for a new type of consumer - the collector. This paper examines thrifting - both the process and the product - as conspicuous consumption, the display of wealth as an expression of economic power, as opposed to a pathway for meeting basic needs in the face of scarcity. In doing so, this paper will take a critical approach to understanding the meaning and culture of thrifting from an autoethnographic perspective. It is suggested that certain types of thrift store finds may display meaning and value that transcend their monetary cost while also shaping the identity of a new economy of conspicuous collectors. This paper contributes to emergent research in Science, Technology, and Society examining collecting as practice and product.

Author

• Dawn Neill, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo