Thrift Shopping Faves, West Toronto

I've been promising to share some of my thrift shopping faves for a while now and will make an effort to post thrift shop reviews once weekly.

As I've said in a previous post, integrating thrift shopping into your daily life is a good strategy is it helps you keep on top of constantly rotating stock in the thrift stores AND has the added bonus of honing your thrift shopping eye!

I have a fave suite of shops I try my best to check out regularly on my way home from work, all on Bloor St. West in Toronto in between the Dufferin and Landsdowne subway stations.

FLORAL MAXI DRESS FOR $7.50 AT 69 VINTAGE BY-THE-POUND

Needless to say, the Salvation Army Thrift Store (1219 Bloor St. West, 416 533-9553 www.tstores.ca) is a regular stop and a hidden gem in Toronto - pretty much anything you see on this website that's tagged Salvation Army is from this location. Dresses for $3.99, rings for the same price, capris for $5.99 and tees for a few bucks - you can find it all here. There's a housewares and furniture section as well, and some electronics and more valued items under glass (though I only look at the jewellery under glass). For some reason there's hardly been any jewellery of late but I always keep my eyes peeled. The goods at this location aren't as junky as other locations.

BLACK COTTON 'MARILYN MONROE' DRESS DESIGNED IN FRANCE, $3.99 AT SALVATION ARMY (worn with 99 cent thrift store belt by Simon Chang and chunky gold choker for $1.99 found at same Sally Ann).

MADE IN ENGLAND BY PERSAUD OF LONDON RETRO PURSE, AROUND $10 AT 69 VINTAGE-BY-THE-POUND

I try to do my best to regularly visit 69 Vintage by-the-Pound across the street, though it closes at 6 p.m. and I'm often still at work (1234 Bloor St. West, 416-516-1234 69vintage.com and 69vintage.blogspot.com ). This is the sister store of 69 Vintage on Queen St. West place and it sells its (mostly ladieswear) castoffs by the pound, mainly 1960s-80s polyester ensembles more suitable for hip 20-somethings than 'lil 'ole 30-something me. Still I've found a few great purses, and this fab polyester maxi dress with collar ruffle for $7.50 that fits me like a glove and garners compliments wherever I go. Shoes, boots and jewellery have set prices instead of by the pound. If you're a DIYer you'll love this place, and if you want to become one the shop has recently started sewing classes.

Further west on Bloor St. there's Vintage Depot (1271 Bloor. St. West), sister store to the Kensington Ave. shop that's chock-a-bloc full of men's and ladies' fashions and accessories. Everything here is sorted by type and there appears to be some new stuff like shoes and hats. I don't go here as often but the deal breakers on a quick glance appear to be the sweaters (current and fab fluffy 1980s ones), leather jackets and (seasonal) fur coats. I picked up a classic retro mink coat here for under $60, part of its 30 percent off fur sale in February.

Further west still there's a humungous Value Village (1319 Bloor St. West, (416) 539-0585

MOOD RING BRACELET, $5.99 AT VALUE VILLAGE

www.valuevillage.com I haven't fully infiltrated, it's so big. More to come on this, but I did fine a wholly original mood ring bracelet there for $5.99 (a bit over-priced, I thought, but it was different enough to warrant paying more).