Every pound of clothes is a dollar? Yeah, this is my new favorite store.

Some of the RA’s on my floor took us little freshman on a little field trip one day. It was to a little shop located in Cambridge, right by MIT. It brought promises of clothing for the low, low price of one dollar a pound.

The basic concept? Everyday, the store dumps a pile of old clothing on the floor. Shoppers grab a garbage bag and start digging. When purchasing your clothing, you pay by the pound– there’s a scale by the register.

And when I say digging? I mean you need a shovel for this place.

Unfortunately, the first time I went there, our group left at 6PM. It takes 45 minutes to get there. By the Pound closes at 7. We were unaware of this. Thus, when we got there, the shopkeeper told us in irritation,

And the gamer in me reacted like this:

I ended up getting an inordinate amount of clothes that night, as you can imagine. But it was all so cheap! By the Pound is a great place. It fits very well in hipster Boston. You can find the most eccentric clothes, the strangest fashions, all sorts of weird stuff! And, if you dig enough, you might find relatively normal clothes! Though of course, there’s a chance that you’ll also find this:

Though the pile-of-clothes itself is called By the Pound, the building is also home to The Garment District, a sort of alternative-retro-clothes store, and Boston Costume, obviously a costume shop. They’re both a little bit pricy. But great if you’re looking for a Halloween costume.

You know you want it.

I’m hooked. It takes 45 minutes on the T to get to Cambridge, but it is SO WORTH IT. Of course, I was the one addicted to thrift shopping before I came here, so it’s pretty natural that I love this place. It really takes some effort to find normal clothes, though, so you have to be in the mood. Here’s some of the stuff I’ve bought so far: (click for animation if it’s not working!)

Heads up, though– go on Friday! Every other day of the week it’s $1.50 a pound instead of $1.00.

In which I accidently buy a Cho Chang cosplay

I probably shouldn’t be allowed into thrift stores.

Why? Well, a week or two ago, I needed some dress pants. My sister, the shopping master, once managed to walk out of a thrift store with three designer pairs of dress pants for a fraction of the original cost. Amazing.

So I decided to follow suit.

But:

I blame it on the diversity of the thrift store. In a typical store, you only find current clothes, the latest fashions. In a thrift store, you don’t know what you’ll find. The unfashionable. The ill-fitting. The cast-aways of other people. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Thus, when I saw a black graduation robe, I couldn’t help but think,

I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t. I went off and bought a matching shirt

and skirt

and Ravenclaw-colored tie

and a cardigan, some leggings, and nice shoes, and there you have it: a rough estimation of Cho Chang’s outfit!

And, just because I’m that dorky, I decided that

Solution: make a wand. Out of wood. Hand-carved wood.

After quite a bit of effort, I finally finished. Chestnut wood is way harder than I expected. But at least, I have a costume for Anime Boston! (Am I preparing a bit too much in advance? It’s likely.)

My wand!

And here’s the finished costume!

Yup I'm a dork... just ignore me.