Village Discount - Irving Park - Store #13
- ashleyposkin
- May 10, 2017
- 5 min read
Village Discount Outlet #13
4027 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL 60618
1-866-545-3836 (this number is for VDO headquarters, individual stores do not have phone lines)
Hours: Mon-Sat 9am-9pm, Sun 10am-6pm
Parking: Street parking, paid
Still hanging out in the Iriving Park/Albany Park area where great thrifting abounds! I'll be writing about this area for a while because Village Discount has 3 stores on this side of town, all within just a few minutes of each other.
Like all great thrift stores, Village Discount tags items with colored tags and specifies which colors are on sale each week. Sometimes 3 colors are on sale -sometimes more. Sometimes they have wild little promotions that make people crazy and the aisles get filled with frantic shoppers looking for deals. (These are all good things.) When I was there last Saturday they were having a "find three like items that are x color tags and receive all three for $x" I think the tags had to be pink or orange, and the price was like .79 cents or something.. I can't remember the specifics, but three items for .79 is very cool. To be perfectly honest, when I'm at a thrift store I never just shop for the deals. I shop for what I like, and if it's on sale I take it as a double win. That said, I definitely keep in mind what colors are on sale because sometimes it helps me decide if I really want something or not. Anyway, they were having a crazy sale and the lines were long. =)
They are also having a major sale this weekend for Mother's Day with all colors 50% off on Saturday!
I'm not hiding the fact that I'm not a super fan of this location, the post is pretty blunt, but I do like to keep it on my route because you just never know what you're going to find! I don't even bother looking for clothing for myself or my husband, but man do I score on the kids clothes. I don't have any photos just yet, but I did find a sailor dress that was so cute I stopped a lady walking down the aisle just to exclaim to her "ISN'T THIS THE CUTEST THING YOU'VE EVER SEEN!?". She didn't speak english and seemed mildly perturbed with me, but I didn't care, I just kept smiling and holding the dress up in her general direction and making googly eyes back and forth from her to the dress until eventually she smiled and acknowledged it/me. Yep, I'm that person.
So, musings on the store, here we go:
Strength: Tons and tons and tons of clothing at really low prices. Tons of clothing, folks, like SO MUCH CLOTHING. You just have to dig and dig and dig and pay attention because (as far as I could tell) it isn't necessarily organized by size (it's organized by cut: short sleeve, long sleeve, jackets etc.) so you just have to look through each rack at each piece and then at the tag size and then at the price tag before deciding if something is right for you. For some this might be fine, but for me it's just a huge time commitment. I don't feel like I ever have good luck at thrift stores with clothing in my size anyway, so yeah, huge turnoff for me.
Strength cont: SHOES!!! Holy holy cow this place has the shoes. If you ever need shoes for like- a dance, or costume or a play, this is the place. Heels in all sizes and colors and sizes. If I had been sophisticated enough to wear heels in high school (and if I hadn't of gone to HS in the 90's when all shoes were basically chunky platforms adorned with blazing flames and cheetah spots) I would get SO excited about this place. If wearing used shoes grosses you out, don't be! I'm going to update this post with a link to a new article on how I handle the "Eww I'm wearing someone else' shoes" gross-outs soon. Stay tuned.
Weakness: One of its strengths is also it's weakness: clothing. It is so SO frustratingly (is that a word?) disorganized. And this is actually something I should probably ask about next time I'm in, but yeah- the clothing is stuck on racks according to gender and cut. Men's clothing is separated into: jeans, t-shirts, short sleeve button ups, long sleeve button ups etc. And the same goes for women. Kids are separated into boys and girls and then by clothing cut as well. I can handle the kids clothing area but the women's section is just insanely overwhelming.
Weakness cont: The store is pretty dirty, overall. To be fair, this store sees a lot of foot traffic, so it may be difficult to keep up with cleaning it, but sometimes it kind of looks like the floors never get swept or mopped. Does this keep me from going there? Nope. It's just a friendly reminder to take in some hand sanitizer and be sure to drop your shoes at the door when you get home.
Clothing: See above
Shoes & Accessories: See above for shoes (tons, very good selection!), as far as accessories go- they have tons that are mostly behind glass and hanging behind the counter. I've seen quite a few vintage pieces and the prices are kind of all across the board, but if you're into hunting for accessories definitely put this place on the list.
Housewares: I feel like housewares in thrift stores are all pretty much the same: loads of cutlery, you can find a full place setting of dishes if you really look, cups if you need 'em, and a smattering of ceramic tschotskes for your every whim. I was tempted by this adorable little pewter, domed server below but ultimately passed (*Be sure to follow along on Instagram to see other amazing things I pass on so you can YOU can go snatch 'em up!)
Linnens: Never had great luck here. I also got kind of grossed out because everything felt really heavy and dirty. Thats not to say there aren't treasures to be found!
*Stroller friendly-ish -some aisles are tight, especially shoe aisles, carts w/ safety buckles available in store.
Overall, this place is okay. I'd give it a 4/10 -worth going to but always set your expectations low. It's just so SO packed and a little bit dirtier than I like and the clothing isn't well organized at all. If you're getting the vibe that it isn't my fav place to shop, your picking up what I'm putting down. But don't let me dissuade you! It's really close to the Unique on Elston, and two other Village Discount Outlets, so make a day of it and check it out! Oh- and DO check out Kabobi Grill. Their lunch special is off the chaaaaaain!
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