"This isn't Thrifting, This is Dumpster Diving"

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Via the Racked tip line, we just learned that some crazy people, in fact some mid-century modern and vintage lifestyle store owners get up and wait in line at Unique Thrift Stores at 5:45AM. Thats right, this industry secret happens every Monday morning when people wait in line for the store to open and like cartoon characters fight tooth and nail to hoard things because the entire store is 50% off. Our tipster goes on to say that this isn't your traditional thrifting experience, this is gritty competitive dumpster diving for treasure. All 13 locations in Illinois do this with the exception of the Bricktown location where everything is 33% or 66%. Our tipster tells us the first department to hit is glassware, then sweaters then cloth then furniture - in that order.
· Unique Thrift Store [Official Site]