40 Bizarre Treasures That Could Only Be Found In Secondhand Shops, As Shared On “Charity Shop Stuff”

I have been an avid thrift store shopper for as long as I can remember, pandas. My mother raised me taking me along to various secondhand shops, helping me find the best deals and instilling in me the importance of finding treasures that have been pre-loved. Gently used clothing items and household objects have much more character than something straight out of a factory, and they tend to be much more budget-friendly as well. Why wear the exact same clothes everyone else at school is bound to have when you could find a spectacular piece from the 80’s that will have you receiving compliments left and right?

And even if you’re not interested in purchasing anything at a thrift store, you might still want to visit one purely for entertainment purposes! Groups like Charity Shop [Stuff] show just how wild and amusing secondhand shops can be. This community, which was created in January 2022, has already amassed an impressive 20k members and has countless photos that might pique your curiosity. Who previously owned these things? Who decided to donate them? Will anyone else buy them? Strolling through a thrift store is like going on a treasure hunt, and lucky for us, the members of this group have already found some of the most intriguing pieces of gold! 

To learn more about thrifting from an expert, we reached out to Dina Younis of Dina’s Days, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. First, we wanted to know how Dina got into secondhand shopping. “My love for making old things new again started at an early age when I was living in Amman, Jordan,” she shared. “Not having access to many affordable malls or retail stores in Amman in the 1990s, I quickly learned that the best way to fulfill all of my pre-teen interests was to find a way to stretch my limited allowance.”

“I’d spend hours circling, highlighting, documenting, and caressing each page of the Delia’s catalog my cousin would mail us from the United States,” Dina explained. “Afterwards, I would budget my allowance and visit the thrift store to hunt for my favorite things, attempting to replicate the looks I’d dream about in the Delia’s catalog.This lifestyle continued with me as an adult. When I moved to the United States, I was really introduced to the world of thrifting. Places like Goodwill became my go-to destinations to spend my paycheck in high school. Today, nearly 95% of my wardrobe is secondhand. I believe in thrifting because it’s affordable, great for the environment, and promotes individuality and creativity.”

We also asked Dina why we should all be doing more of our shopping through secondhand sources. “It's sustainable, affordable, and promotes individuality and creativity,” she noted. “There is already SO MUCH stuff in circulation. If there's something you need, there's a pretty good chance you can find it secondhand - whether from a traditional thrift store, online thrift store or Facebook groups/Marketplace.” 

And when it comes to Dina's favorite things to thrift, she shared that she's partial to furniture and large home décor items like artwork. “One of my favorite recent finds is an Art Deco wood cabinet in excellent condition for $50!” she told Bored Panda.