Switcharoos!

Okay so going on right now in Greenville is the fall version of Switcharoos...Which has all the moms, aunts and grandmothers going GA-GA over wonderful items at a drastically low price. This is so not even close to thrift stores, this is beyond that honestly..this is a thrift store on CRACK! Switcharoos is a local show/event-apalooza that showcases individuals items that are consigned and put into the TD Center and it is free to the public. Switcharoos basically takes the sifting and searching out of thrift stores and slam dunks the deals into your face. There are two shows a year, one in August and one in February.

This event is interesting because it puts places like Second Time Around and Little Pampered People temporarily out of service because everyone knows that those places try and make money, whereas the clothes that end up at Switcharoos are literally only there trying to clean out their spaces...having said that you should know that the prices that are marked on the clothing are made up by the owner...not someone else. Win..Win..Winning. This is when you pray for an idiot. Who would sell a $90 dress for $10...ha wouldn't that be brilliant. But this show not only sells children's clothing it sells furniture, toys, baby gear...literally it sells everything except the baby...well maybe the really bad ones...

Switcharoos is overwhelming to say the least. I literally and figuratively was overwhelmed at the sheer volume of the stuff that was in this place. However it was organized very well...except maybe for the checkout lines that were lengthy...People are everywhere, so if crowds freak you out maybe scope it out before you go in. However there were a ton of people there, it wasn't like "excuse me, oh I'm sorry" there was plenty of room to move...

Items that I saw that were overpriced: Okay so here is the problem with the owner of the clothing creating the price...they think it is worth a ton of cash...when they are forgetting that it is second hand, and a jacked up price is only going to get discounted, looked over, or flat out not bought. A few items that I saw that were just simply too expensive: An 18 month Polo Ralph Lauren Onepiece okay this was cute, but faded, a nice brand but not kept up very well..I would have priced it at $4.00 at the MOST this person priced it at $12...that one will more than likely be there on Sunday and thus end up not being bought. Various other things were priced ridiculously...for example: an infant pair of shoes: dirty (not really sure how that happened unless this parent dragged their kids feet in the mud) they were priced at $15...I actually said out loud "really?" the woman next to me laughed...we both agreed this price was dumb.

Smock-a-freakin-palooza: Holy mother of sewing there were more smocked things then I have ever seen in one place ever...these were reasonably priced. Except a few that were not only too expensive but they were not even really that cute...But considering the original price was at least $80 per dress over 12 months any price at this point would be good...except this one I saw that was priced at $45...I thought, they're cheaper on eBay and you can do that on your couch...either way there were some really nice items there.

Point Proven: I found one of the exact smocked Jon-Jons I found and purchased at a thrift store where I paid $2.25 for and it was $12..yes I win. I was also surprised at the lack of baby gear that was actually there. Around 30 strollers, no car seats, 2 pack n plays, no cribs (at least none when I was there) lots of bath tubs...and some random TV's. It started to look like a yard sale when you got to the back end of it, which was highly entertaining to me of course...ha! I thought to myself, people are just trying to get rid of their shit...haha.

All in all, I was pretty impressed with this show/event. It was very organized but you could tell that it was not very regulated price wise..but it makes tons of money and then at the end items not sold (if specified) get donated to local non-profits that serve kids. Safe Harbor has actually received items from Switcharoos...therefore I am a fan.