As summer approaches, many students look for places to shop for new clothes. However, stores in Palo Alto are not very affordable. Luckily, there is an alternate option for cheap, high quality clothing: thrift shopping. Thrift stores offer a wide variety of items in all different styles and sizes. Each store has a unique selection and prices are guaranteed to be much cheaper than regular stores. Verde checked out some thrift stores to find the best deals.   

Thrift Town (2101 Mission St., San Francisco) [star rating=”3.5″]

On a busy street corner in the Mission District of San Francisco, a massive building stands with a sign reading “Thrift Town.” Upon stepping foot into the store, it becomes clear that we really are entering a whole town, not just a store. Hundreds of racks of quirky clothing occupy the large space, leaving little room to move between the garments.  

We started by going through the women’s clothing. As we made our way through an aisle of identical jeans, with the exception of a few pairs that had interesting details like unique stitching patterns, our eyes were drawn across the aisle to a rack of long, brightly colored dresses swaying in the breeze of a nearby fan. Most of the dresses had little to no holes, rips or stains and were very affordable.

As we moved on, we were thankful for the well-labeled sections that made the store much easier to navigate. The men’s section, though smaller than the women’s, also had everything from swimwear to sport coats.

Savers (875 Main St., Redwood City) [star rating=”3″]

Inside Savers, we were surrounded by home decor, kitchenware, electronics and garments. The many racks of clothing had a number of statement pieces. In the men’s section, we discovered a surprisingly high quality plaid sport coat at a very low price. As we continued to look, we found a few good menswear pieces, but it took a lot of digging through damaged pieces.The women’s section had similar quality clothing to the men’s with a few formal dresses on the back wall. The dresses were very well priced considering their value.

In the home decor and electronics section, we found a few unique things, but not all of them were great quality – some were damaged or broken. The section that seemed to have the best selection of items turned out to be the movie and book aisle. We were surprised by the number of movies that were cheap and in good condition.

Buffalo Exchange (1555 Haight St., San Francisco) [star rating=”4″]

As we entered the Buffalo Exchange, we were greeted by a cheery “hello!” from one of the sales associates. At first glance, the store seemed normal, but upon taking another look we realized that the layout of the store was quite odd. There was one register right next to the door and another in the back. As we flipped through the racks, we noticed modern clothes mixed in with the rare ‘80s or ‘90s piece. All of the pieces were in good condition, with little to no holes, rips or stains. The men’s section was slightly on the small side, however the selection for both men and women was fantastic. This store was a little more pricey, often ranging from about seven to $40.

This store also allowed customers to sell old clothes, provided that they are still fashionable and in good condition.