Thrifting for Good

I am the Thrifting Queen and I rose to my throne in the year of Our Lord 2000. This is the story of my ascension.

I grew up in Egypt. On the streets of Cairo there were ambulant merchants who passed through nice neighborhoods. They bought high-quality, barely used items from the wealthy families and then pulled their carts over to the poor neighborhoods for resale. These scavenging middlemen would begin their day by leading their donkey carts through the streets of my Heliopolis – one of the ‘nice’ neighborhoods with trees – and call out “rubabecia” or becia, for short. This is not an Arabic word. It has Italian origin and it means ‘old items’.

My mother got rid of our stuff regularly, before they got old. I hated that. Every time I heard the word becia, I knew I was losing an item I loved. My mother didn't even sell the items, she simply gave them away to the merchant. As a child I dreamed of running after the merchant, following him to faraway neighborhoods and buying my stuff back – but of course I never did. What gave me comfort is knowing my stuffs went to people who needed them.

I immigrated to the US in 1996. I discovered thrifting and was immediately fascinated. My becia dream, in a sense, had finally come true. For the first time, I was able to buy used items. I couldn't pass by a yard sale without stopping to investigate.

I began slowly, buying baby clothes. They looked tantalizingly new and hardly used. I told myself, “this isn’t so bad. I can do this.” But I quickly got tired of yard sales. People looked at my brown skin, heard my accent, and expected me to be a haggler. I am not. I remember this one time when I found an old teapot I liked. The woman quoted me $20. I declined politely because I had a $25 spending limit and wanted more for my money. I turned away to look at other items. Meanwhile, my friend bought the teapot for me. She was quoted $5.

In 2000, I became a single mother. I couldn't afford cable so I bought an antenna and watched KPBS. My son and I loved Antique Road Show and watched it religiously. Watching items being appraised on the show and the excitement of the people inspired me. The idea of a side hustle was born. I needed extra income and I began thrifting.

I went to big thrift stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army and AMVET. I love big stores because it’s always a treasure hunt. It feels like an adventure, sifting through the disorganized aisles of shelves crammed with miscellanea.

I visited small family-owned shops and church-run stores. I love small stores because you could see how the items were more valued and loved.

I browsed many estate sales. I have mixed feelings about them. I love that you can find true treasures, however, it made me wonder if my kids would lose interest in my belongings when I die.

I opened a small online business where I resold my becia. My store was among the first ones on eBay and I made enough sales that I became familiar to the local post office workers. Every time I went there, they greeted me by name and I shared the details of my latest bargain.

I mainly sold jewelry and china, but I couldn't part with antique books and my collection grew into quite the home library. My eBay sales brought so much money that I was able to purchase a Mercedes (as an Arab, I guess I am culturally conditioned to love Mercedes-Benz). I also treated my family to week-long vacations in the Bahamas.

I made some mistakes, however, because I simply didn't know the value of some things. One time, I found a shoe box full of baseball cards. I paid $25 dollars for it. I bought it for my son, but he suggested selling it. I started the bidding for each card at 99 cents. I knew nothing of American sports and didn’t realize I was sitting on a gold mine of vintage cards. I sold some for hundreds of dollars, which I later discovered were worth thousands.

In 2008 I closed my store because I wanted to go back to graduate school and get a doctorate. I also became the caregiver for my parents. I didn't even have the time to regularly visit thrift stores. I went maybe once a month, but I was still very lucky.

One time I found a gold ring that for the first time I decided to keep for myself. It had an amethyst set in 14 karat gold and onyx. I paid $4.99 and had it appraised at $700. Later I found another 14-karat gold ring with Tanzanite. I bought it for $4.99 as well and had it appraised for $1,100. I have several rings that I bought from jewelry stores but these two rings are simply my favorites.

In 2015 and 2016, I started two consecutive crowdfunding campaigns. The first one was to send medical supplies to a clinic in one of the poor villages in Egypt. In addition to generous donations from friends and strangers, I went back to thrifting to cover additional expenses. I was lucky once more and found rare World War II-era statues made in Japan. I paid $9.99 and sold the collection for $500. That was the final amount I needed to complete the mission.

When we went to the village, we met 212 single mothers. In some cases, the fathers had left as soon as a disabled child was born, escaping from their responsibilities. I decided to find a way to help support these mothers and children. I began thrifting again. This time, I found gold Spanish plates. I bought the collection for $35 and sold it for $1,200. That was the capital I needed for the project (every US dollar was worth about 20 Egyptian pounds).

Last year, I founded Amna Sanctuary, a grassroots non-profit to support newly-arrived refugees and immigrants in my local area. I often go to thrift stores to buy items they need, which is everything from clothing to basic personal healthcare. You can always find "boutique" items (new with tags) and surplus packages of sanitary pads.

I also received an estate donation from an eclectic art collector. The family believed in helping refugees and loved my passion. For example, I recently sold three statues for $200 and was able to get food boxes for four refugee families. I continue to sell pieces of art from the collection to buy more supplies for these refugee families.

I came a long way since Heliopolis. I now go hunt my becia at thrift stores and sell them to help fund Amna Sanctuary. I hope you enjoyed reading my story. Now go hunt and find your treasures to build your fortune, buy your dream vacation, or just rescue some unloved items.