One of a Kind...Kind Of

When Macklemore's song Thrift Shop  became a sensational hit there was a wonder if it helped thrift stores increase sales. There actually was not in increase of sales and store owners stated that traffic was about the same in America. What about other countries like China? To my surprise, there are actually no thrift stores in China! What I found instead were "One of a Kind Shops."

These shops are mostly littered in shopping districts and they are small. The biggest one I have been in is maybe 15 feet by 10 feet (4.5 meters by 3 meters) but mostly they are 6 feet by 7 feet (1.8 meter by 2 meters). All of the stores advertise themselves as a one-of-a-kind shop and because of that the clothes are really expensive. Kid you not, they are about the same price as shopping in the mall. 

The first time I went shopping with a local Chinese person to these stores I was taken back when we were checking out and she was able to get the price down from 300 RMB for an outfit to about 150 RMB. When we left the store I asked how she could do that, all the clothes had price tags on them after all. She told me that all of the clothes are second-hand and the price tag was merely the starting bid for the clothes. This entire time I was paying full price for these clothes when they were second-hand!

I had two thoughts about these stores. 

First, I felt stupid for not realizing that these were overpriced thrift stores. The picture above is a real one-of-a-kind store and you can see that these aren't super fancy clothes. There is a sweater vest for Pete's Sake! I did notice that a lot of the clothes had English on them and somehow these stores were able to get these second-hand t-shirts and sweaters from western countries and sell them for 3 times as much in their stores. It explains why Looney Toon sweaters, which were big in the 90s and 00s in America, are now popular here. American thrift stores are selling their unwanted and unsaleable stuff to China. 

Second, the stores actively advertise themselves as these luxury brands and often point out, "If you don't buy it here, you won't find it anywhere else!" That is true. Go to any Goodwill in America, can you find the same exact t-shirt, sweater, shorts, or dress in that Goodwill? In one way I feel amazed that is how Chinese people are able to make a lot more money but at the same time feel like I'm being scammed. 

Macklemore's Thrift Shop song talks about how he can go in with $20 and come out with a cart full of stuff. You try the same thing in a Chinese thrift shop, you probably could come out with one t-shirt

Now that's what I called getting tricked by a business.