About

Hi. I’m Nicole, and Thrift Store Confidential is a thing I’m pretty passionate about. I live in New York City in a small apartment full of strange little things. I adore the color orange, and yet my kitchen is pink. When I’m not writing about thrift stores, I’m a professional voiceover artist and narrator who dabbles in Soundpainting, where I conduct and perform with jazz orchestras. My Dad’s a fabulous artist, a painter, so I try too. I also love to travel, cook and do yoga, and if I’m feeling blue I buy myself white roses. Basically I try to eke out the most creative, fulfilled life I can while living in the margins. And you folks really keep me going. Thanks for stopping by.

About Thrift Store Confidential

Thrift Store Confidential’s motto is simple: Living in Fashion, Giving with Style.

We’re here for Americans who have fallen through the cracks of consumerism; neither supermodels nor billionaires, “haves” nor “have-nots,” we simply are. Whether we’re rolling in dough or scraping by as best we know how, the recession showed us how fragile our economy can be, and we’re learning to embrace thrift, in all its forms.

Our goal is to provide as much information as humanly possible to inspire you and show you how to free yourself from the overwhelming cost of clothing, accessories, furniture and housewares. We want you to engage your creativity and ingenuity. The bonus is that your fabulous finds not only help the environment, they provide vital support to the community; real people who have also fallen through the cracks.

We’ll provide a lot of fun advice about where to shop, how to shop, what to look for and how to make it work for you. We also work hard to bring home the human angle by spotlighting exactly where your dollars will go and how much good you can do.

Through regular posts and videos on subjects ranging from fashion, furniture and philosophy to store spotlights, laundry tips and creating your own signature style, the we’ll walk you through the nittygritty of second-hand delights. Special guests will include stylists, tailors, cobblers, and, importantly, real-life lovely people, just like you, who are living beautifully by embracing the enormous world outside of the mall.

Me, in my natural habitat...

Nicole

Hi. I’m Nicole Poole, and Thrift Store Confidential is my baby. I grew up in Oklahoma, raised by my grandmother, who lived through the Great Depression, and my mother, a single working woman with four children. Both women were strong as lye soap and remarkably inventive when it came to being frugal. Grandma made her own clothes and many of mine, and my Mom supplemented the rest through thrift stores. Mom and I used to have “cashmere races,” and from her tutelage, since the age of 4 I have been able to pick out cashmere faster than you can swipe a credit card.

My Pretty Mom & Me, Thrift Styling (She's in Lafayette 148, I'm in Armani)

Although we enjoyed finding such amazing things for so little money, at the time it was, sadly, a source of shame that we “had” to buy our clothes second-hand. We knew women who would rather die than be seen in a Goodwill or Salvation Army. And dollars to donuts, we were probably wearing their clothes. I’m working my butt off so that no one has to feel ashamed anymore, but the recession pretty well knocked that stigma out of the park.

The ugly truth is that almost everyone I know is in debt. Not just itty bitty debt, but DEBT. Each time I’m complemented on something I have on, I’ll proudly announce the paltry amount I paid for it, and where I got it. I’ve had hundreds of gorgeous people take me aside and ask me how I do it. It finally dawned on me that the need is here – this little skill set I grew up with is now, iroincally, in vogue.

I adore fashion, and I don’t always hit the mark, but I do try to make an effort. At least I know what’s good when I see it, and that’s part of the information I want to share. 90% of everything in my house and wardrobe comes from thrift stores. I’m talking about designers from Chanel, Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Valentino to J Crew, Elie Tahari, Calypso and Theory. That’s just to give you a little bit of intrigue, really, because it doesn’t matter what designer you wear. If you feel confident, you look good, and vice versa. And I’m confident I can help you look good by walking into a thrift store.

I began writing about thrift store shopping a couple of years ago, at the height of the recession, and of my own Great Depression. Circumstance found me fairly bereft of joy and income, and I spent a lot of time searching on the net for how to maintain a joyful standard of living when cash flow was at a standstill. Though there are some great sites out there (see “Links You’ll Love” in the sidebar), I thought I could add a few things with my own voice and expertise that some folks hadn’t heard before. Basically, I found myself writing to a faceless person, somewhere, searching for the same things I am.

I do this with what free time I have, on my own nickel (for now) because I want, very much, for people to know that there’s a life outside of the mall, and luxury to be had outside of the box that we’ve been in for so long. And we’re helping real people by making the choice to shop in thrift stores.

Responses started coming in faster than I could keep up with them, so here we are. Thanks to you, Thrift Store Confidential is growing. I’m playing catchup with technology at the same time that I’m writing, producing and researching for the site (in addition to trying to earn a living with my career), so please forgive me if a few things are clunky here and there. Regardless, I feel you’ll find a wealth of information here that might just help you live the good life, trust fund or no.

There is joy here.

My Team

What began as a kind of lonely little venture has evolved into a community of hundreds of like-minded souls, with whom I am proud to walk.

Ian Bjorklund

A childhood performing in theatre made Ian a thrift shopper from a young age. Discovering a character by finding his wardrobe turned him into a life-long store browser and shopper. While not thrifting, Ian has worked in advertising, corporate communications, press representation for Broadway shows, as a professional actor, casting director, and a decade as the Company Director for a children’s theatre in Manhattan. He is a graduate of New York University and is thrilled to be working with the TSC team. THRIFT ON!

John Painz

Originally a graphic designer, John left the industry to pursue his love of film. He’s an illustrator, a writer, a painter, a director (of sorts), and now he’s a camera guy. He does what he can to show off the best side of his actors. He co-owns Soapier.com, lives in Battery Park with his girlfriend and two cats, and you can find him most days at the World Financial Center food court, drinking coffee and trying to write, or playing Call of Duty on his x-box. Or napping.

John is a swell guy, and works as our director, cameraman, writer, and overall ball-buster. Not only are his ideas and advice genius, he’s one of the few people I know that will tell me if what I’m doing is crap. He runs a company called Soapier that you should absolutely check out. He and his mom make a living by making soap. Please support them if you ever get dirty.

Extended Family

Our extended family includes stylists, actresses, jewelry designers, arts administrators and the amazing people I’ve met on this journey, most of whom are included in our “Links You’ll Love” section. So you absolutely should check out thrift stores – all the cool kids are doing it.

Making an Impact

One of my favorite places to shop is a lovely organization called Housing Works. Proceeds from Housing Works thrift stores benefit men and women living with AIDS – for me, this one’s personal. My sister, Alexis, died in 1993 at the height of the epidemic, and anything that makes life better for people who suffer from this terrible disease is a top priority in my book. Almost all thrift stores benefit some charitable or community organization. Though some don’t – if you have a choice, please visit non-profit thirft stores! From Goodwill and the Salvation Army to local stores like Angel Street, Spence Chapin, Cancer Care, St. Vincent de Paul, Cure, Arthritis Foundation, City Opera Thrift Store, Cause for Pawz (I could go on) – down to your local hospital or church thrift store …they all provide vital service and support to underfunded causes, and they put my hard-earned money to good use.

Finally, by shopping in thrift stores, you also help out local business owners; cleaners, tailors and cobblers. For pennies on the dollar, you can tailor and refurbish high quality items exactly to your liking, and they will last you years longer than spur-of-the-moment impulse items that fall apart after one season.

Now don’t get me wrong; our big chain stores are fantastic, but I reserve them for things like bedding and lingerie (and with the money I save on clothing, I can afford to treat myself to little luxuries from time to time!). However, Thrift Store Confidential is all about keeping it local and supporting Mom & Pop businesses and community organizations in your area, so ditch the mall for a while, and come play with us! Your pocketbook, and your local economy, will thank you!

Connect

Please take a moment to subscribe to Thrift Store Confidential, add us to your RSS feeds, join us on Facebook and Twitter and share the information with your friends. Each new hit, like, friend, tweep, follower and subscriber we get helps make us more attractive to advertisers, and will help keep us going. Importantly, however, you’ll be spreading good knowledge to those you love. Together, we might just be able to help turn things around – for ourselves, and for this lovely country that needs a little home-grown care.

Thanks a bunch.
All our very best,

Nicole and the Thrift Store Confidential Team