Is The Thift Store Officially Dead for Finding Vinyl Records? 

This video has become one of my all-time favorites! Your storytelling skills are exceptional, and the way you weaved together information and personal anecdotes was brilliant. I found myself feeling motivated and empowered after watching. Your authenticity is refreshing, and it's clear that you genuinely want to make a positive impact on your audience. I'm grateful for this insightful video and can't wait to see more!

Brother just get an $18 Big Mac before going to the Thrift Store! You won’t be able to buy a record, but at least you’ll have “greasy fingers to smear their shabby clothes!”😉👌

The Goodwill well has completely dried up in Texas. I think you would be super lucky to find even a Croce or Beatles record at a Texas Goodwill. I think people have gotten smart about it and they're more apt to think they have some gold and sell it to a Half Price Books. At least that's the way it is in Houston.

I find I have better luck with CD’s in thrift stores. Since I’m not into Kate Smith, Andy Williams, or Lawrence Welk, vinyl is a no go😆

Enjoyed your video! It’s harder today to find decent records for a good price in the thrift stores My local Goodwill has nothing but the usual stuff you find but maybe put the best stuff online The best time to buy was probably before the vinyl surge when you could get some fantastic vinyl records for next to nothing!!

1. Looking/thinking about going through that Goodwill website LITERALLY made my stomach turn. Literally!! 2. You can't use JC as a model for thrift stores. JC has some sort of magical deal made out with the THRIFTING GODS and they give him things out of thrift stores that you would kill to find in your local record store lol. He such a cool dude I think the universe just consistently pays him back 100 fold \m/

You did well on the Steely Dan Aja. It's on the ABC label. MCA is the reissues. Peg is a great song. I don't thift in the town I live. We have 1 record store who buys collections. He only accepts records that sell. The rest go to the Goodwill and Bargains Galore. Nothing is VG. I was lucky 5 years ago. I went on a Sunday morning, right when the Goodwill and found someone donated an 80s CDs collection. I found some great stuff like Erasure, Squeeze, early U2 reissues and others. 2.99 each. I spent $25.

Great video, just subbed! I started my vinyl record obsession in May of 2022 thanks to a record I found at a local Goodwill store. I started collecting, and even started my channel. But due to the lack of finding anything worthwhile at Goodwill and thrift stores, I have been (happily!) going to record stores and scouring through their bargain bins. I think what really turned me off was what you pointed out, the Shop Goodwill website. Gonna check out your videos

My local Goodwill is still worth a flip for some decent 80's records but often what good stuff they have is in the back of the bins & often the jacket won't contain the record which was put in a dollar polka record. Back in the 90's when I managed a store we had to check every .99 cent cd as people unfortunately would put a top priced used cd in a budget bin cd & now they are doing with vinyl.

Used albums used to cost $4.99. $9.99 if it was mint condition with the jacket! I used to go to Cheapo in Minneapolis as a kid and I still have some VG albums that only cost a good $3.00.

It's mostly dead, but as soon as you've completely lost faith, then some gems show up. Found both 2LP and single LP Blue Note Horace Silver comps at one of the most hopeless GWs ever. Nothing like the old days, though.

My favorite part of this video was your incredibly accurate depiction of thrift stores. A crutch, golf clubs, grandpa's ashes, etc. I have not had luck at local thrift shops for quite some time. There's another vinyl collector in my small town who scours thrift and pawn shops religiously while I am at home sleeping. I don't stand a chance with that kind of go-getter. That Heintje record made me laugh! We know a certain ma'am who would love that! Great video, Chance.

So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance… Hell yeah, man! Nice little hall! Love the Sinatra!

Many thanks Buddie. Last record i bought like this was Don Johnson's Heartbeat 😁

"The THIFT is gone." - B.B. King (probably) I've never had much luck with that or garage sales. Same with antique shops. Im having a hard time finding USED records in VG+/VG+ condition record shops now.

Still finding good records at the car boot in England Co, Durham for 1-2 pounds, got a few today in great shape. The charity shops are catching on and want more for overpriced rubbish.

It’s been dead for years now in Michigan, I was in hobby in the 70s, when no one wanted to buy vinyl.

Los Angeles area. Stopped going a few years ago even before the vid. Out here Good Will was pricing records at almost $5 back then and it was crapola. I mainly go to estate or yard sales but there is still a lot of competition out here and a lolt of flippers/

You have better luck than I do! I have never had good luck at Goodwill.

my experience is that thrift stores have been jacking up the prices of vinyl lately because records are hip and cool nowadays. there's still good records to be found but one needs to be more selective, can't really gamble on interesting looking stuff the way I used to a few years ago when everything was generally cheaper. I'm still finding good CDs and movies from time to time, but still...

I constantly find people that have no idea that records are worth anything. I think because we are so into it and it has grown, we think everyone knows they are worth something. Basically, what I am trying to say is that people are just giving away records every day to get rid of them. I just got 16 Uhaul boxes of records donated to me. Although 14 of those are classical albums. But all of them are pristine and some sealed still. Tons of awesome soundtracks. Keep searching. Thrill of the hunt!

This is a fantastic video Chance. I thrift at least 4 times a week at a Savers & Salvation Army. Savers does raise prices on certain records if they do some research. Salvation Army went through a stage of pricing everything higher when vinyl hit the stage again. Tom Jones was priced at $12.99! I had a long talk with the manager as they know me from going all the time. They know nothing and are just trying to cash in on the game. Consistency is key & you gotta learn from your mistakes. I was buying everything when I first started collecting, now I’m all about condition & have no issue leaving an album if it’s trashed. I left a Sabbath Master of Reality not too long ago, it was destroyed. Keep on going and eventually you will cash in amigo 👊🏻

I started collecting CDs and Cassette Tapes because of what’s happened to Vinyl at the thrift store

I've never come across that first Dean Martin album Rachel would love Heintje Chance

The thrifting for me had dried up as well here in the Chicago area. Like you said 10-15 years ago I was picking up hand fulls or LPs for a $1 each at the thrift stores . Those times are gone for good , my record buying has slowed way down this year . I’ve gotten into buying a few cassettes lately to add to my collection.

when it comes to thrift stores it just depends, true more people donated records to thrift stores back in the early 1990's, cause thats when i started looking through them,, you can still find some intersting records in thrift stores, and sometimes there are dry spells, true.

Awesome video bro.

My daughter works at a local Goodwill. There are rarely a good amount of CDs and/or LPs to begin with, but even when there are some, there are a group of "regulars" shall we say that scoop them up as soon as they hit the floor. Anything of good value goes to the online store. How things are priced depends a little bit on the person doing the pricing which is why there is such a variance for example on the prices of CDs. The likelihood of finding a valuable LP at a Goodwill is very, very slim, but as Chance noted, you might just show up at the right time on the right day and find something.

Two of the thrift stores near me regularly have gems in their bins. While the well known names are usually behind the counter, quite often these shops don’t know what they have and lump it with the rest of the usual thrift store records. I’ve been lucky to find some great things in the bins, even some pretty obscure and awesome psych. I haven’t given up on thrift stores yet!

Matt Damon and Ben Afflect are writing the sequel as they watch this. Goodwill Humping, cuz they screwin’ everybody! It’s offensive what they’re doing. I don’t even give the corporate thrift stores ie. Goodwill, Salvation Army etc the time of day anymore. I still find some great deals at independent thrift stores and dealer antique malls. Great topic, Champ!

It’s been dead here in Chicago for years. I don’t even waste my time.

Chance, I guess I come here as the voice of reason...which makes sense, as I'm a proud "CD Guy." You know why the thrift stores have raised their prices? One word: "FLIPPERS." I'm sorry the days of buying a record for $1 at Goodwill, then flipping it on Discogs or eBay for $30-50, have come to an end. Knowing that the proceeds from most thrift stores go to charitable causes, I find it very selfish for VC members to complain that these stores are now asking $5-15 dollars for those same titles. TOO F**KIN' BAD! You want cheap records to flip, put in the work that The Waxed does, check out estate and garage sales...but remember, anyone can check prices on Discogs, so don't be surprised as the prices rise there as well. END RANT.

Goodwill has been good-won’t for me for a long time. Maybe you have to be in the ritzie neighborhoods?

I found an Animal's record at Goodwill without a sleeve.😂😅

Gave up on records, but finding cds somewhat often.

While it’s so dry now a days yes, “teeny bopper collections” are real. I got Of Monsters And Men, Halsey, and Zeppelin Physical Graffiti nice 2010s reissue for 1$ each. So if you happen to be the first one to see what someone happened to donate that day I mean anything’s possible. I just don’t count on it in any capacity

One can thank the eBay people who flap records help put a end good thing

Are these Goodwill stores you see selling on eBay part of that online website you showed? They've always been high-priced on the items I've looked at. I've only bought one or two albums from them via eBay and I wasn't really happy in the end. I definitely didn't get a good enough price break but it was more of a condition issue with what I got that left me unhappy I don't really get the opportunity to check out thrift stores too often due to the lack of transportation where I live. I felt kind of bad about it for a while, but after a lot of the videos I've seen discussing just how bad the stores have gotten, I don't feel so bad nowadays :-) Brian in Fort Worth 🎶

Here someone put Goodwill under contract to get first Dibs on all records donated to their organization

I score at Savers all the time. Goodwill sucks

Goodwill is overpriced and they pick out the good ones that are worth anything and sell them on line. You can now buy them cheaper at the record stores.

I gave up on Thrift Stores. In NYC they have essentially records that people put out on the sidewalk on garbage night. If you see a Barry Manilow or Barbra Streisand in one of these stores you’ve struck gold! 😂

The Goodwill here in Kentucky is depressing. Lol. Maybe Florida will be better. The Sinatra records are worth every penny you paid. ♥️🤗 Take care.

I’m just not going to do goodwill unless I really have a lot of time to waste. I just hate untidy stores, that is the retailer in me. I have checked out the thrift stores once in awhile more as a joke video. Kind of like an antique shop, no clue on how to price them

i can't stand goodwill on many levels. one they pay employees dirt, their executives make 2-300 k a year they get all the stuff for nothing and the sale close to retail. they have destoryed themselves in my opinion i no longer go in any of them Salvation army is not as bad if they can avoid the goodwill greed. St Vincent de Paul in the pittsburgh area are very nice and prices are good i have good luck with CD's DVD's not so much with vinyl anymore i used to go to Habitat for Humanity and they were very nice lots of books and records its hit and miss with them

If you are looking fo vinyl records forr dollar, you cant find that anymore, if you want to collect you have to spend money

How very dare you Chance...flimsy UK sleeves? I'll have you know those are the finest sleeves ever manufactured in the UK 😄. Joking aside, Capitol was part of the EMI group in the UK so sleeves printed by Garrod & Lofthouse also manufactured The Beatles sleeves in the 60s (along with The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, Manfred Mann, Pink Floyd etc). Admittedly they aren't the heavy pasted card that the US used but with the lovely laminated fronts and flipbacks they don't tend to suffer ringwear or seam splits. The equivalent to Goodwill in the UK would be our charity shops that every town in the UK has multiples of. Like the US the prices can be insane priced by a volunteer who doesn't know anything about records. But people still score, especially if you do them daily. Like you and most normal people I haven't got time to do that but will have a look every few weeks. Keep on looking though mate. You never know when that unassuming private press hard psych rock rarity may go under the radar of the staff and other grippers and awaits you there 🙂. All the best... Nige