I have been back in Seattle for over a month, and as winter has set in we aren’t thinking of yard sales as much as we usually do. I have had the last bit of my Omaha blog hanging over my head and slowly my mind is getting more fuzzy about what I purchased and what stores I hit.

Omaha has TONS of thrift stores, and I found my love of junking from going to thrift stores there while in high school. Sadly, many of my favorite stores have either closed or been taken over by a chain thrift store. My biggest disappointment was the closing of the best and largest Salvation Army that I have ever been to.

One of my faves is still going strong: The New Life Thrift Store, on the outskirts of Omaha in Bellevue, NE.

The prices are dirt cheap and its overall quality is super high. Plus, the staff is genuinely nice. They have some of the best prices in Omaha. AND they have a bizarre room of T.V sets.

I took a photo of our cart (sort of like our trunk photos) and you can tell that it’s filled. My friend Kelly bought maternity dresses and ice skates. I spent $14.85 and bought 18 men’s shirts (at prices ranging from 50 cents to 99 cents) and one woman’s dress for $1.95.

One addition since the last time I was in Omaha is “the bins.”

They are much smaller than the Portland bins, and less sketchy. When I say less sketchy, I mean that you aren’t going to cut your hand open trying to dig a pair of pants out of a bin.

One thing you should know if you want to thrift in Nebraska or Iowa is that you can’t go on Sunday since they are closed. This is the bible belt. I forgot this fact and tried to go hit some places in Council Bluffs, Iowa. All of them were closed.

Now, antique malls can be really good. Most of them are in the Old Market in downtown Omaha. One exception is the Brass Armadillo which boasts an insane amount of vendors (375 in 30,000 square feet) and really it’s HUGE. I had great luck here 5 years ago, but this time, eh. Nothing. I did take this amazing photo of this chalkware Nebraska cow that I secretly wanted to buy, but it was just too large.

The flipside of that experience is Second Chance Antiques. A place that I have followed to 3 locations and over 20 years. It’s a little messy and oddly organized, but the prices are fair and the quality is high.

Across the street from Second Chance is Fairmont Antiques, filled with tons of vendors with various levels of quality and price. I did find a dealer after my own heart with her space almost 100% filled with purses.