I don’t mean Etsy or Ebay or all of the fabulous vintage sites out there–I mean local brick-and-mortar thrift stores reselling cheap used stuff that for some strange reason now have a meaty online presence.

Why is this so strange to me? I suppose the whole point of thrifting, to me, is sorting through the piles/racks of discarded clothes or goodies to find what I might consider a treasure. Vintage sites, Etsy, and Ebay have already done the sorting for you and offer up their treasures–a great resource, but different in my mind.

So when my friend sent me the link to Wisconsin chain Value Village (a store I have frequented growing up and pretty much every time I go back to visit) I was amazed–not only do they post the expected info, such as Red Tag day or Half Off Clothing day, but they sell items from the stores AND have an “In Season” section, where the latest fashion trends–and how to find them at the thrifts–are discussed (and here I thought that was MY idea!).

When I was visiting Missouri recently, I stopped in a Red Racks Thrift Store, also a chain with a website. The store was nicely arranged, a good size with reasonable prices, and I found a couple of good treasures (as did my son!). The website is charming, and covers most of the basics: Super Sunday Sale, .98 cents days, and where new stores are opening up–not much else.

Goodwill and Salvation Army have sites that are more like I’d expect, discussing the organization’s goals, job opportunities, who they serve, store locations, a few thrifting tips–more-or-less business-oriented. (Though I was intrigued by a Goodwill blog post by Jenna and went to check out her fun-looking site/project, All Thrifty States, where she visits thrift stores across the country in order to learn more about America. I’ll definitely be checking it out more!)

Is this a trend? I know everybody’s on the web these days–I was just surprised at the depth of the presence from some of these shops. Has thrifting become trendy? Is online thrifting a “thing”? What has your experience been–would you do your thrifting from your couch?