They just opened a new Dirt Cheap in town.
Was looking around and found a home brewing beer kit.
Never tried that but I do like a different beer every once in awhile. I'm one to buy those sampler packs from all over the world.

What is your favorite craft item you ever found in a deep discount salvage store?

Big Lots/Odd Lots is one example other than Dirt Cheap.
We also have a store in Gulfport called Treasure Hunt.

Do you have a salvage store that you frequent?

Salvage stores are scratch & dent shops that resell merchandise that can't be sold at retail value by the store (like after a fire or flood).
Sometimes, you can get real quality stuff at a fraction of the cost but you gotta be careful and inspect it well first.

We have the Dirt Cheap Stores here as well.. I ended getting me a 5 x 7 rug for like $15 everyone else the same size rug was $60 -$100 you have to dig around there at times but can find some good bargains..

When I painted my shed the first two gallons of paint I bought paid like $30 each went to the Restore Store we have Habitat runs it and got 2 more gallons for $13 each to finish my shed with...

Oh wow, yeah, I saw a whole bunch of rugs there - can always use a new rug, thanx!

Goodwill and Salvation Army are great to buy clothes, household items and electronics. I also frequent flea markets and garage sales.

I hit up the goodwill stores but we don't have salvation army stores around here. Down here, flea markets are year round and yard sales are sporatic in the winter but everywhere in the spring, summer and fall.

I did notice when I lived in Pennsylvania, there were not many salvage stores besides Big Lots. Salvage stores and big indoor flea markets are big business down here, have been for a long time.

We don't have any of those here in Jersey.. that I know of, but we do have a big indoor flea market. a few hundred stalls. I but tools there and stuff like work gloves. The sell most everything in that place. A lot of it is stolen stuff.

Here we call that " it fell off the back of the truck" stuff.

which then makes it ... o.k.

Once in awhile the local cops make a bust there, but only a symbolic one.

I used to live in upstate New York.
That was a common phrase used at "trunk sales".
Its amazing how much stuff people can fit in the trunk of a car.

When I was stationed here in the 80s (pre-Katrina) there were large tracts of undeveloped land where people would erect shanties and sell their crafts and what-nots.

Some of the older outdated warehouses were converted into barrel stores where they bought scratch & dents by the truckload and put them in wooden barrels. The inventory was constantly changing and it was no refunds/let the buyer beware type of business.
Post-Katrina, those big warehouses and truckload sales are gone.

Around here, nearly any second hand store is considered a flea market or thrift store. They are everywhere. Many have packaged products, some sell expired medicine and foods while others have farmers produuce and snack bars.

We also have an abundance of pawn shops. Some pawn brokers stock their shelves with products in packages they buy in bulk from the flea markets and deep discount stores. There isn't many gun shops around here. The pawn shops also carry new and used guns and hunting gear. The big chain sports stores Like Academy also sell retail price guns and ammo but its all new.

Down here, the pawn shops even sell used cars, campers, boats and I've even seen a bus. They are a decent source of tools and audio/video equipment but we also have Harbor Freight stores for deep discount new tools.

When I go shopping for some things, I check retail online to get an idea of pristine value then comb the salvage stores and pawn shops for a deal.

let's see up here the two biggest dent and scratch shops are biglots and ocean state job lots. the most common second hand chains are goodwill and savers. piles of second or antique type places. only a couple of indoor flea markets mostly out door ones. so they are a bit seasonal here.

Yes.. "it fell off the back of the truck" phase is widely used here.

Growing up in a house with 8 kids, every Christmas me and my 3 brothers always asked for bikes. each year my Mom and Dad would say stuff like " no, Santa doesn't have any this year". One year we ask and Dad said.. well... maybe.
Sure enough Christmas morning under the tree was 4 brand new gold Schwinn bikes ( the Cadillac of bikes back then)

Dad was a longshoreman.. worked on the NYC piers.

We got dressed as fast as we could and started riding around the neighborhood. Everyone who's father was a longshoreman had a brand new gold Schwinn bike

Yep... fell off the truck.. The Schwinn truck never got to its final destination that year ;)

While living in Newport News, I found a solid wooden bunk bed. Huge monstrosity. One small dent... Bought for $50. Sold for $150 in stores.

I think I bought it from Unclaimed Freight.

Habitat for Humanity has a huge Restore store here they just opened. Full of everything.. A lot of its new, surplus they couldn't use when building homes. Great stuff at great prices..

When I was living in the St. Louis area there is a chain of stores called Hoods. I found a Hoods here on the South coast in Gulfport.
Hoods is like a Home Depo/Lowes deep discount store.
They sell nearly any remodeling product.
Additionally you can buy cut-offs, cut-outs and mis-cuts.
I bought a chunk of 2 inch black granite cut from someone's custom countertop. I paid $0.50 for a 2x8x22, finished on two sides.
I use it on my granite island to as a shelf, raised by fence capstans.
They also sell packaged new that are no longer carried in the large chain stores. Some products are broken (incomplete) which allows you to find new replacement parts, cheap.
Need one ceiling fan blade, go to Hood's.
http://hoodshomecenters.com/#
Sadly, their website is not set up for online browsing of their salvage.

I've heard of Unclaimed Freight but never bought anything.
There is also Unclaimed Baggage where airports (mostly airports) sell stuff from unclaimed baggage.
http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/

HforH opened a Restore here in Oregon on the coast.
We walk in and the mate just starts laughing..and laughing,
all through the store..finally I say, "What's so funny?"

He can't stop laughing because he is from Texas which apparently
has ReStores larger than football stadiums and he is tickled
this wee ReStore has such pretensions.

Some good finds there though, just had a friend build an entire
shed from $5 French glass doors she bought from the ReStore in Texas.

I remember laughing quite hard the first time I saw a Volvo with headlight wipers.
Iwas looking at the cars that still needed to come into the shop for service and among all the "normal" cars was this one Volvo with headlight wipers. It was a in-shop joke from that time on that this car was important but not as important as a Volvo.
The other cars in the lot must have 'felt' inferior because they didn't have wipers on their headlight...

haven't made it in to the habitat stores up here yet thay are kind of new here.

i prefer poking around in the second hand shops. you never know what you'll find in them

I agree on the second hand shops.. Love poking around in them. We have a huge Goodwill were they have a bunch of huge bins full of stuff to paw in.. Never know what you'll find there.

goodwill here in town has gotten real hit or miss tho and they are starting to push way more mew retail import junk

Really? That's strange...

yep savers over in manchester is way better these days