Hunting at Roseville's Goodwill

The pull is magnetic. Every Wednesday. Goodwill. Senior Citizens Discount Day. Can’t resist.

You’ll see me pushing a cart around the Roseville Goodwill store (County Road B just west of Snelling) every Wednesday when I’m in town, scouting bargains, knowing that at check-out, 25 percent will be shaved off my total bill because I am of a certain age.

This addiction started about six months ago, rather innocently. I can’t remember why I stopped in on a Wednesday. But the minute I entered the store, I heard a shopper’s alert that all books with blue labels were 15 cents. I found a stack of blue label volumes by assorted favorite authors, thrilled that each, whether paperback or hardbound, was going to cost me three nickels. But when I paid for them, I discovered that seniors got an extra bonus that day, so the books ended up costing about 11 cents each. I was hooked.

The next Wednesday, I found a fabulous Talbot’s sweater that has become my favorite and always earns compliments, $5.99 less the discount. My wardrobe since then has expanded exponentially.

I swear there is a woman somewhere in this area, my size, who donates clothes that she’d purchased at my favorite clothing retailer, Coldwater Creek, because whenever I explore the clothing racks, I find a CC piece in great shape at a giveaway price. This week, my score was a blue cotton batik jacket embellished with bits of glitter. Totally chic – but not shabby chic.

One Wednesday, scouting the housewares department, I nabbed a brand new ebelskiver pan still wearing its original paper band with a recipe for those round Danish doughnuts. The label said it came from Williams-Sonoma. I bought it for $6.99 minus the senior deal and scurried home to check the original price on-line: $39.95. I make ebelskiver filled with Nutella for my grandkids, to loud huzzahs.

You’ve likely seen the Goodwill TV ads depicting a woman seeking a punch bowl. She buys a cartful of other treasures– but no punch bowl. Well, I found one, though I put the classy modern cut glass item, not a nick on it, in my cart, thinking it would make a great salad bowl for large parties.

Here’s the moral of this story: Keep Looking. A couple of aisles over, I noticed the matching cups, again flawless. After discount, I figured I spent about $11 for bowl and 12 cups. Might make a nice wedding gift.

A bargain-hunter to the depths of my being, I have shopped in thrift stores all over the globe, most recently in Reykjavik, Iceland earlier this month.

But nowhere else have I seen one better than Roseville’s, which not only has a huge array of merchandise, but markets everything in easy-to-shop departments. I always browse the book section, especially the tumble table offering books for a dime (after discount). I look for yarn in the linens department (often successfully), and stroll through the art department.

Recently, I found a poster-size black/white photograph of Moraine Lake in Canada’s Banff National Park, which I’ve visited twice. It was still covered with protective plastic bearing the original price, $29.99. I got it for $2.99.

Were I to talk to a shrink about my Goodwill addiction, the diagnosis would be that shopping there fills a void in my life. That void was created when Rose Galleries auction house, which I also visited weekly, sadly closed.

At the time, I consoled myself by realizing I couldn’t fit another piece of furniture in my house. But now that I’ve got this love affair with Goodwill, it’s either build a bigger closet or move. Or even better,-donate some of my excess apparel, especially business suits from my working days. Maybe there’s someone else out there that is my size, who would be as happy to have them as I am thrilled about that Talbot sweater and Coldwater Creek jacket.