If you’re looking for a deal, Chicago is the best place to be. In every neighborhood you can find a myriad of thrift stores within blocks. I’ve spent a lot of time scouring the shelves of these thrift stores to find the best in the city. Whether you’re looking for records, hats, new outfits or items for a DIY Halloween costume, you’re bound to find them at one of these!

Picasa 3.0

Goodwill $

1201 W Washington Blvd

Chicago, IL 60607

  Located on the corner of Washington and Racine, this store offers clothing, furniture, books, records and housewares – and it’s only a 15 minute walk from school! Plus, it receives a lot of donations from the Target on Jackson, so often times you can find brand new clothes, phone cases, Fitbits and even Apple TVs.

Crossroads Trading Co. $$

2711 N Clark St or 1519 N. Milwaukee Ave

Chicago, IL 60614

  Crossroads is a great clothing thrift store with a variety of brands, sizes and styles. Both Crossroads locations are trendy, but the one on Clark is bigger and has a better selection. They have an awesome accessories section; most accessories are new or close to it. Recently seen items include: A Cole Haan purse, a Coach weekend bag, a Coach wallet, and a Dooney & Bourke cross-body all for just under $80. #yasss

The Brown Elephant $$$

217 Harrison St

Oak Park, IL 60304

  The Brown Elephant is a thrift store that sells clothing, furniture, records and books in support of the Howard Brown Health Center. The store has three dollar signs because it is a little pricier, but proceeds benefit a charity that is the Midwest’s largest lesbian, gay, and bisexual health organization. Shopping for furniture and home decor is great here because they have very unique items for relatively affordable pieces.

Family Center Salvation Army $

2258 N Clybourn Ave

Chicago, IL 60614

  This store is massive. It has deals every weekend on certain tag colors which is great because the items here are so cheap. You can buy clothing, furniture, housewares, knick-knacks, books, music and more. They have a great selection of records; there are about two aisles filled with boxes of them. Their jewelry section is also very well stocked, so it’s easy to find some quality pieces. There are often new or gently used instruments for sale, which is a great alternative to purchasing an instrument at a music store since they are usually very expensive.

Economy Shop $

103 S. Grove

Oak Park, IL

  The Economy Shop is one of the coolest thrift stores ever, making the trip to the suburbs completely worth it. The store itself is an old three-story Victorian house. You could spend hours exploring each room in the house and all of its treasures. The catch is, it’s only open one Thursday and two Saturdays a month and completely closed during the summer. However, it’s completely volunteer-run and all proceeds benefit local charities.

If you know of any thrift stores that you think I missed- feel free to share them with the Whitney Young Beacon’s Twitter @WYBeacon!