Romance of the Stars, or, What’s wrong with thrift stores?
Posted: December 17, 2013 Filed under: Fun Finds, Placesettings | Tags: fine china, Romance of the Stars, thrift shopping 6 CommentsMy heart got broken by Romance of the Stars. (Pass the Kleenex! Cue weepy Hungarian violin in a minor key!)
What’s so wonderful about Romance of the Stars?
<sigh>
Ah, it’s a fantabulous mid-century atomic starburst pattern! It was love at first sight!
Romance of the Stars! How I admire your bone-colored background with black-and-white dots and stars. Platinum trim! What’s not to love? (Okay, “hand wash only” isn’t optimal, but I’d work around it.)
I found it in a local thrift store and would have taken it home with me right then and there if the price had been right.
It wasn’t.
Someone in the back room decided to look up the pattern on Replacements Ltd. and price it accordingly. You’ll notice that it’s now “on sale” for the paltry, bargain price of $325.
Hello?
Better sets have sold for a fraction of this price on eBay. And I wouldn’t even pay eBay price plus shipping.
Did they honestly expect someone to get all excited and pull $423.70 out of their wallet? (Don’t you just love the 70 cents?) In a thrift store?!
How about move the decimal point over to the left? There weren’t even any teacups!
This isn’t the only ridiculously overpriced item I’ve seen lately. A growing percentage of thrift store managers seem to think they’re curating the Antiquities Department of Sotheby’s.
What’s up with that? Will this trend fizzle out or will it only get worse?
luray
janeray
dish sisters vintage home and housewares 
Every morning I look to see what you have written. Love your posts.
Thank you so much, Pamela! We hope we’re fun and interesting–at least most of the time!
I’m finding the same thing around here. My local thrift (I found out) SAVES things for certain customers so the rest of us miss out. I was there the other day when the worker lady brought out 5 vintage tablecloths and handed them to a customer. Ughhhh I would have liked a chance at some. Other things are so over priced…maybe due to the fact they go on Ebay and Etsy and price them according to those prices. Ughhh
No!! I would go nuts if I saw some other customer getting their privately picked goodies. It probably happens here, too, I’ve just never witnessed it. How does one get to be that special person? I also go nuts when there are piles of untagged items sitting out, in plain sight, but completely unavailable for purchase. There’s no use coming back later–it’s always gone.
Agreed! While the Internet is a wonderful thing it has done us thrift shoppers in.
Probably all those cable TV shows haven’t helped, either.