Twin Cities' Secondhand Clothes Shopping Guide

Deprive the Monster! Buy used! Here's something to help if you're in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) area =D.

Thrift Stores:

Earth Exchange (Maple Grove)--This is a small business in Maple Grove. I don't know that they support any charities directly, but the staff are nice and they've got a vegan/environmentalist bent to them, so it's still a cool place. They're great for furniture as well as clothes.

Arc's Value Village (Brooklyn Center)--There's more than one location, but Brooklyn Center is my favorite. I've found some pretty awesome garments and accessories there, and they are a charity that does good work from what I've heard.

Goodwill (Champlin and other locations)--Has a nice selection of clothing, but at the same time this chain has exhibited a tendency to use some of their employees' disabilities as an excuse to pay them ridiculously low wages. But if you're looking for nice clothes and haven't found what you're looking for at the other thrift stores in the area, you might find what you need here.

Salvation Army (downtown Minneapolis and other locations)--I also have reservations about the Salvation Army because even if their overall policy is to not discriminate against queer and trans* people, some of the people who work for them still do it. Nonetheless, they do actually use a lot of the money they get to help people in need from what I hear. The downtown location is pretty huge, at any rate, so if you don't share my reservations by all means check it out.

Steeple People (South Minneapolis)--This one is the smallest of the thrift stores I'm mentioning here, but I've found some good stuff there and their stock rotates pretty quickly, so I highly recommend it. (Also, the church that runs it is a Reconciling Congregation.)

Secondhand Clothing:

Ragstock (various locations)--There are a bunch of locations. None of them are all that great in my experience and some of them focus on the cheap new shit more than the "recycled" goods, but sometimes you find good stuff. They're pretty much the only place I know of here that has secondhand Japanese traditional wear on a regular basis (although a lot of it's in crappy shape, so it's also kind of horrifying to dig through sometimes.) Their recycled goods tend to be cheaper than the secondhand clothes at the other stores I'm mentioning, but they can also be in kind of gross condition. You get what you pay for, I guess. My favorite locations are Uptown and Golden Valley. I have very fond memories of the Warehouse location near downtown Minneapolis, but that's been cleared out to make room for a Metro Transit garage since then. Makes for a lovely nostalgic patina over all my memories of it since it wasn't there long enough for teenage-me to get tired of it.

My Sister's Closet (Uptown)--A consignment store. Pretty much only sells clothes made with women in mind. Especially caters to older women and yuppies. Still has some good stuff, though, including some vintage clothes. They also have a nice selection of shoes. There's a location in St. Paul, too, but I haven't been there.

Everyday People (St. Paul)--Caters to people of either sex. Vaguely alternative, or at least seems to be aimed at people in their teens, twenties, and thirties. Carries both vintage and more recent clothes. They have a pretty well-curated selection.

Buffalo Exchange (South Minneapolis)--I only went here once and wasn't all that impressed. They mostly carry newer clothes aimed at younger people, and the prices felt a touch high for my taste. Still probably cheaper than buying new. I was only there once, so take what I say about this place with a grain of salt. You might find something awesome there--they've got a lot of stock to look through.

Vintage:

Via's Vintage (South Minneapolis)--Great source of vintage formal wear, especially if you're looking for a dress (although there's some nifty mens' formal wear as well.) They also carry petticoats, including the voluminous Malco Modes 582 that works great with lolita (or so I hear--I prefer the A-line 580, which they don't carry. Also known as Vivcore's fluffy petticoat.) Probably has some loliable accessories and blouses if you're going for a classic look with a vintage touch.

Blacklist Vintage (South Minneapolis)--Has a very well-curated variety of vintage clothes. Not as expensive/formal as Via's, either. Carries a pretty wide variety of garments and accessories.

B-squad Vintage (South Minneapolis)--In about the same price range as Blacklist Vintage, perhaps a little bit less expensive in some cases. Has some really interesting, distinctive pieces. My floral suitcase/briefcase is from there, and it was only eight dollars (although the handle broke and that cost eighteen dollars to replace, but I consider that to be my fault since I was stuffing it with textbooks and my laptop four days a week. It was good quality for what it was meant to be used for.)

Tatters (South Minneapolis)--Has a lot of stock, but it tends to fall into hippie/military/western categories. They have a lot of sunglasses, too (I think they were mostly new, but there may or may not have been some vintage in there, too. It's been awhile.)

Rewind Vintage (North Minneapolis)--I've also only been here once, but I was particularly impressed with their collection of accessories. They also have a store in South Minneapolis that I haven't checked yet.