I’ve been going to thrifts regularly for a couple years now, and I have no good stories to tell. Nothing at all involving ambulances, police or other oddities. Nothing worthy of people of walmart. Just general pleasantness, nice people, and they don’t even smell bad.
Well, wait – there is one story to tell!
An odd looking gothic fellow. I first saw him riding a bike down the street, catching my eye by his odd clothing choices. A black tutu, black fishnet stockings, upper half like a homeless Frank-n-Furter.
All of a sudden I see him everywhere, over and over again at various thrifts and record stores. He runs in, quickly scans the fronts of the racks – flipfliflfip – looking for new stuff, finds nothing and skiddadles away on his bike like a man possessed!
He always has the same goth/alice cooper/drag look going, though I don’t think I’ve seen the dress/tutu as much. It’s a smallish town, and one does not see guys like him often. It’s a treat, like “cool, man” moment.
It’s odd to see him so many times, as what are the odds really, that we would go to the same places at the same exact times? He’s only in a store for 1-2 minutes. And I’ve seen him 5-6 times in just a couple months. Most recent was the St Vinnies warehouse on W. Broadway. He literally came out of nowhere on his bike, as I was entering the gravel driveway in my car. He flies past me and gets off his bike before I can even park, which I quickly do so I can run after him and observe from afar. He is fast, though. And when I finally catch up and start browsing the racks a few feet away, watching him out of the corner of my eye wondering if I should say something… he’s outta there, no records purchased. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him pull a record.
Next time I see him, I’ll strike up a conversation, find out what he collects.
Update 5/17/16 – Haven’t seen him since.