San Diego Thrift and Consignment
San Diego Thrift and Consignment
Objects In Motion
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San Diego is a great place to shop, but if you’re not interested in cheap Old Town souveniers, sidewalk bracelets or pricey things at Fashion Valley, why not try a more sustainable option - Thrift Shops! This is a list of thrift shops and consignment shops where you can find antiques, mid century modern furniture, upcycled items, and other treasures.
Many of these shops benefit charities and most have a military discount of up to 10% in addition to other promotions.
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Consignment Classics
@objectsinmotion
Prices: $$
Likely finds: Furniture of all styles
Level of chaos: Fairly organized
Parking: street parking
Fitting rooms?: No
This property is huge with housewares, lighting, 2 levels of furniture and an outdoor area with patio furniture and even plants. They definitely curate their wares, so if you’re looking for a well known brand don’t expect a screaming deal. But for no name housewares in good shape it’s fairly well priced compared to new. While I was here I found some great funky chairs, sets of china, and a beautiful wall mirror.
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Team Amvets Thrift Store
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Prices: $
Likely to find: clothes and kitchen electronics
Level of chaos: high
Parking: there is a small lot but it was NUTS and parking was being highly enforced on the street on a Saturday afternoon.
Fitting rooms?: No
This shop supports the American Veterans. It is a huge warehouse with products roughly organized into homewares, kitchen wares, men’s, women’s and kids clothes with a little bit of furniture thrown in too. Clothes are organized roughly into type, but not by size or color. They seem to have a few good items mixed in with the rest. When I was there found a J Crew cashmere sweater and 4 beautiful black velvet tufted couches! The prices overall seemed pretty comparable to goodwill.
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Father Joe's Villages Thrift Store & Donation Center
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Prices: $
Likely to find: a great new dress or cashmere sweater and a basket
Level of chaos: pretty organized
Parking: small lot
Fitting rooms?: Yes, although occasionally not offered
This shop is my go-to shop and I’ve found a number of great items here for awesome prices. They have a small parking lot if you turn right on Normal at University that usually has space on weekday afternoons. It is clean, bright and organized with clothes separated by gender, type and size. I’ve found many great clothing items and for the smaller amount of clothes they have I feel that they are better curated. They also have lots of glassware and silver platters. Being my favorite shop I’ve found 2 furs wraps, a number of cashmere or merino sweaters, a leather Eddie Bauer jacket, Ralph Lauren purse, and a breadmaker!
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Goodwill Retail Store and Donation Center
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Prices: $
Likely to find: jackets
Level of chaos: mildly organized
Parking: street parking
Fitting rooms?: Yes
This is right down the street from Father Joe’s and I sometimes hit this if I strike out at the first one. It has about the same level of organization as Father Joe’s, but I feel that they are less discriminating about what they put on the racks. Here I’ve found a nice blazer.
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Mid Century Store
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Prices: $$$
Likely to find: your dream MCM credenza and a desk lamp
Level of chaos: Chaos does not exist here. Very curated.
Parking: street
Fitting rooms: N/A
This shop is a well curated MCM shop, so maybe not quite a thrift shop. But if you’re looking for a vintage 50’s chair or a 70’s lamp that you just can’t find anywhere else, this shop will have it or be able to keep any eye out for you. We purchased a beautiful bar for our home from them and they had the same dining hutch that we purchased elsewhere when we visited recently. If you’re going to buy an Eames chair, you’re going to pay Eames chair prices, but they have other more affordable options for the same effect.
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Prices: $$
Likely to find: MCM furniture or a funky accessory for your home
Level of chaos: just enough to call it a consignment shop.
Parking: Street parking
Fitting rooms?: N/A
This spot is right across the street from Mid Century Store and has a similar, slightly more whimsical vibe. They have a lot more accessories and decor compared to MCS and in addition to the vintage items they do new and custom furniture. While we were there they had a lot of fun little glass sculptures, pottery, and a collections of large face card prints.
San Diego Vintage Market - More vintage market than thrift store, lots of vintage clothes of all sorts curated by individual sellers. Limited housewares and also a few candle and jewelry craftsmen. $1 entry for adults, kids are free
Prices: $$
Likely to find: A vintage Tshirt and a sweater
Level of Chaos: Pretty organized little market, each seller is organized differently though.
Parking: street parking in Normal Heights on a Saturday morning, ie not great.
Fitting rooms?: Non-existent
Veterans Thrift Store
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Navy Marine Corps Relief Society Thrift Shop
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Hospice of the North Coast Resale Shop
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This shop benefits the Hospice of North Coast.
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CRC Resale Store
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Lucky Street Antiques - Mid-Century
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Objects In Motion
Available for hire
I am a Southern California native, mother of two, military spouse and travel lover currently located in Naples, Italy. I’ve lived and visited many different places and I hope that my travels will help you plan your next great adventure! My guides focus on travel that the whole family can enjoy and feature some of the great places the military has sent us, as well as our own travels. Having lived in many different places, I have local knowledge of a wide variety of places.
Two of my favorite recent travels are a month long family trip to Australia and Singapore and a multi-generational Caribbean cruise. I love that some of my kids first core memories will be of our international travels. It is so heart warming to watch them make friends at a foreign playground and having an interaction with a person that doesn’t speak their same language.
Now, living in Italy we have many more opportunities for travel, both throughout Europe and locally near Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast. We have enjoyed discovering new foods, exploring language and culture. My youngest has an egg allergy that we manage so food and language intertwine often.
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