4902 Burnet Road
(512) 454-5161
Monday- Saturday 10-7
Top Drawer Thrift is consistently considered, by those who know these things, to be Austin's coolest thrift store. Which may be the reason I don't like it. Every time someone tells me how very hip it is, I try to give it another chance, and every time I am disappointed.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't like my thrift stores to be hip. I don't want a thrift store to be somewhere I am uncomfortable, where I don't feel like I'm dressed correctly to shop. I like the worn out comfort of thrift stores. I like the mixed clientele. I like shopping next to elderly women and mothers with three kids in tow. And that's not at all the scene at Top Drawer.
Also, I've never actually found anything there that I wanted to buy! Their selection is small and often seems quite run down. Prices are OK, but that doesn't do any good if there is nothing worth picking up.
The high point of Top Drawer, of course, is that the proceeds support Project Transitions, which provides hospice, support, and housing to people living with HIV/AIDS. I am completely supportive of that cause and politically I'd love to shop there. But realistically, I won't, both because it's not fun (and what good is thrifting if it's not fun?) and because there isn't anything to buy.
Comments (2)
I've bought a good # of things at Top Drawer, but it's very much an on-again, off-again thing. You can find very nice furniture there if you show up at the right time, and I buy cool t-shirts there for craft projects.
Posted by Skye
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February 9, 2007 12:39 PM
I am totally with you on shopping in the "seedier" thrift shops. There are a few upscale, trendy thift shops in my area (philadelphia) that have a mediocre selection but are ridiculously expensive. If a thrift store parking lot is filled with volvo SUVs and BMWs, it ain't for me.
Posted by colleen | February 9, 2007 8:07 PM