Non US residents:? about resale shops

Can you clarify what you mean by a resale shop?

We have charity shops, discount shops, shops like TK Maxx etc

I'm US, but wanted to add

When I hosted work collegues from other countries they wanted to go to K-Mart or Target for clothing and Costco for vitamins and other hygeine goods like lotion and soap. One person even bought a suitcase at Target to take the extra goods back. One person bought maybe 10 or so pairs of Levi's. I thought it was interesting they filled a suitcase with fish oil capsules, toothpaste and Dove soap.

We have several "resale" shops in our city. The ones I am familiar with are 3 charity shops and 1 resale (for profit). Plus there are ones that only do kids stuff and we have at least 2 or 3 of those. Some areas are know for their resale shops/thrift stores.

When we visited Japan one of the travel sites mentioned that resale shops are popular with tourists.

I personally don't shop at them much at all. But I love my Buy Nothing Facebook group and have received a lot of clothes and other items from there. I love hand me downs for my self and kids.

Consignment shops are different. You, the seller, are not giving up claim to your property, you are still making money on what sells. The store will take a cut of the sale, but you generally set your prices. They are just providing you with a place to sell your items.

katlady thanks, we call thrift shops charity shops, individual shops are run by e.g. Oxfam, British heart foundation, pet charities etc

There are vintage shops that sell second hand clothes. I'm aware of online sites like vinted.

Car boot sales are big. They are temporary sites, set up in fields or car parks, that people drive to on a Sunday morning, set up tables and sell their stuff. Usually over by midday.

I wonder if that was due to the exchange rate at the time? I know we used to ask my BIL to bring back certain items from the States when he travelled for business purely for the cost factor.

They are big in France (or at least northern France) and Belgium. There are a few types:
-Charity shops much like a Goodwill in the US. These tend to be small, locally run shops that get household items and clothing by donations.
-Table sales/tag sales/garage sales (vide-verniers)
-Flea markets often in conjunction with large farmers markets (Les Puces in Paris is probably the most famous flea market), but you often find them in conjunction with farmers markets/markets
-Brocantes. Is Les Puces a giant brocante? Probably but that’s what it’s called. These tend to be more like a US antique shop

In my experience, Europeans have definitely embraced the “reuse” part of reduce, reuse, recycle and it’s very normal to buy items secondhand.

One of our activities when we visit other countries is to try and track down secondary market shops or antique markets. Especially, to look for vintage Disney stuff, because there is a bunch of internationally licensed stuff. So in London we've been to Portobello Road, Camden Market (the Horse Stables are neat), Covent Garden, Greenwich Market, I think Spitalfields and one or two other places. Found a place in Hong Kong near Causeway Bay that resold Disney, Anime, other Pop Culture, as well as a shopping center that was focused on toys & pop culture collectibles. Some of the stuff is new / imports but some is resell. Tokyo seems to have a lot more. We only touched a little of it on our first trip, by going to Nakano Broadway mall. But this time I have a list of the previously mentioned Book Off and associated stores (there's like Treasure Off, Hobby Off).

We didn't have time to do any of this when we went to Paris, but when it's just DH and me, we want to go to Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, which calls itself the largest antique market in the world.

Edit:  I should also mention that at least for London and Tokyo, DH also has a very small list of places to find used football (soccer) jerseys and vintage Hawaiian shirts.

It's possible. This was the 1990's - early 2000's. 

this is top on my list for when we go to japan.  as a collector of vintage Coach bags, i've seen videos of this chain of stores having large inventories of them.  

when we were in France, we happened across a mid-week flea market.  i picked up a ceramic piece that was made in Nice, France.  that is my favorite souvenir from that trip.  when we were in london, we stumbled upon a thrift shop where i bought another local item that i still have to this day.  i hope my luck carries over when we visit Italy soon and we can visit some resale shops there. 

I always seek out grocery stores too. I like to see what’s the same and what’s different from the US stores. Plus, we usually eat in for 1-2 meals or take a picnic, so I’m in search of those foods as well.

I like to visit grocery stores too. It is always interesting to see what they eat and it is neat when you see American products on the shelf in a foreign language.