New-to-You

Location: 90 Columbus St
Hours: 9 a.m.-5p.m. Mon.-Sat.
Price: Cheap
Ik-factor: 3

Combing through the racks of clothes and shelves upon shelves of self-help books at New-To-You I was struck with the overwhelming desire to watch Napoleon Dynamite. As the florescent lighting beat down on me during my third shopping extravaganza of the quarter, I thought to myself "this is a thrift store." Recently relocated to its new Columbus St. home, this store is the poster child thrift establishment. Super cheap finds that you really have to rummage through at a one-stop dump shop of Athens' garbage. But, as we all know, one man's garbage is a college student's new coffee table.

Since the move, New-To-You's stock has dwindled. However, with time it should be back to its usual abundance, overflowing with enough merchandise to adorn every freshman at OU for their first eighties themed party. That may be an exaggeration but the old New-to-You did boast an impressive amount of racks busting with sparkly duds from the tackiest decades. Time will tell if this new location will provide as much.

One thing the store did have an abundance of was books. Over ten bookshelves grace this store providing everything from smutty romance novels galore to full encyclopedia collections. They also had quite a collection of furniture, modestly priced and some in decent condition. In addition to floral couches and interesting end tables, the store also had a medley of electronics from the last 30 years. This store would be most helpful to a college student in search of cheap ways to fill their humble abodes.

In my opinion, the best finds at this store included a bright red oversized rain jacket and a couple pairs of heels that reminded me of my favorite shoe obsession of the moment, Shoes For Lovely People. The jacket was a modest $8 and the shoes were a total steal at $1.50 for each pair. They also had a variety of fun pins from around the world for a dollar a pack. These would be great for jazzing up a purse or scarf.

The bottom line for this place: It is best suited for a crafty connoisseur of vintage. You should enjoy fixer-uppers and not mind scrounging around to find your diamond in the rough. If you can get past that, it's a fun place to spend a few hours.