How to Take a Thrift Store Road Trip
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The only thing better than a road trip is a road trip focused on THRIFTING. No matter where I travel, going to thrift stores while is very high on the priority list. It’s a great way to get souvenirs of your trip cheaply and to find pieces that aren’t local to your area. Some of the best Pyrex I’ve ever found was on my Canada and New England road trip. Different things are common in different regions, so you never know what you’ll find. But how do you know what thrift shops to check out if you’ve never been to the area? Let me show you how I plan my thrift store vacations trips.
The Tools I Use
Google and Google Maps are your most important assets for going on a thrift store trip
Planning Ahead
I’m driving from Michigan to Florida and stopping halfway in Tennessee. I pick out my thrift stores by using Google Maps on my phone and typing in my route from Michigan to my hotel in Nashville. Once I’ve started the directions I can “Search along route” and type in thrift stores. Google maps will search for thrift stores along your route and tell you how many minutes it will add to your trip. It makes things SO much simpler that I don’t have to do all the searching manually.
You can search for all kinds of things with the search along route feature. Try searching for antique stores and see what you find!
When I find some thrift stores I’m interested in I’ll Google them, read the reviews and browse the photos. I like to shop for inexpensive vintage items, housewares and furniture. I’m not interested in kids stuff or new clothing. I’m keeping that in mind while I check out the photos and see if any of the reviews indicate if the store is overpriced.
Unique Thrift Store in Nashville has photos of furniture and vintage looking decor, so I’ll be stopping there!
Before leaving on your trip be sure to create your thrift list. A list on your phone (Mine’s in my Notes app) of all the things I’m looking for. When you’re traveling it’s easy to have other things on your mind and to forget to check the shoe section for your dream pair of go-go boots!
What to pack
-You’re going to want to bring a lot of reusable bags to store your items in your trunk. Plus I like to use reusable bags whenever I go into stores anyway to save on plastic.
-Pack boxes or clear plastic bins WITH LIDS to pack all your finds in
-A tape measure (I always keep one of these round retractable tape measures in my purse and in my car)
-Hand sanitizer
-Emergency snacks in case you find a good thrift shop and spend hours there!
-Packing material and blankets
On the road
If you’re lucky enough to be the passenger and not the driver you can search for thrift shops along the way. My wife Cally is always the driver so I’m busy on my phone planning out the shops we go to. I don’t normally even plan ahead because I can pick out the thrift shops I want while we drive. I like to be a bit more spontaneous and figure it out the morning of because then I can strategically plan on when I want to thrift shop. For instance, if we are eating our sandwiches out of our cooler around 11:30AM then I’ll plan a thrift shop stop around 10:00AM to stretch our legs and 11:00AM so we can grab our sandwiches out of the cooler after we shop.
Things to remember
Do NOT count on thrift shops to have bathrooms! Think about planning a thrift shop stop with a gas station stop so you can use their bathroom.
During COVID 2022 I’ve still seen a lot of thrift stores with their fitting rooms closed. Bring a tape measure to measure clothing and see if it fits you without trying it on. Or wear a tank top under your clothes so you can try on stuff without using a fitting room.
Don’t get discouraged by duds! I’ve stopped at my share of TERRIBLE thrift stores on my road trips and sometimes it makes you not want to try again. But you never know, the next exit might have a Goodwill with your dream pink Pyrex! If you hit enough thrift shops you will absolutely get lucky. I visit up around 5 thrift stores on driving/travel days. My trip to Florida I had four road trip days and one dedicated thrift store day while I was in Florida. So that’s 25 thrift stores, of course I found lots of good stuff!
Don’t forget to search for flea markets too while you travel. I visited a flea market in Florida and found a bunch of great stuff.
Stopping at thrift stores while you’re on the road is a great way to break up your long trip. Give it a try next time! Have you stopped at thrift stores along the way? Do you have any tips that I missed? Best sure to check out my Best West Michigan Thrift Store Guide if you want to take a trip to Michigan.
