Wonderful Treasure Find: Thrift shop gem

 

 If I told you that I bought this part wool, part cashmere coat for a reasonable amount, what price tag would you stick on it? I bet you priced it wrong.

This lovely camel coat cost me barely £5, while the dry cleaning for it cost £7! The coat is 1970s vintage and I will tell you, when I bought it, I thought it was brand new. It still has spare buttons attached inside and the label on the back of the neck isn't dirty or faded at all. It's in perfect condition – not something you would expect from a thrift store.

The place where I got it from used to be Klaipeda city's one and only supplier of all possible goods - from food to cars in the Soviet times. If you needed to buy shoes or a coat, the only way you would be able to get in there was by getting a ticket from your employer (the center was heavily guarded by armed security) and the only way to for your employer to give you that ticket was to be very hard working. I know all this because my grandfather used to be the manager of this whole center that's called "BAZE". Now this place is open for everybody and sells all kinds of things – you can find Russian make up stores, furniture warehouses, vegetable kiosks, food shops, and many used clothes warehouses such as the one where I got this classy coat.

Fortunately for me, and a shame all the same, my generation has forgotten about this place which is why once in a while I might find some kind of hidden gem. Hopefully something special, something unique.