Some secondhand stores to explore with your Valentine (or whomever)

Here in the capitalist hellscape we all live in, it can be hard to find cheap, fun, outings to do with your Valentine. There’s The Great Outdoors of course (which is often free), though it’s not the most pleasant place to be in the month of February in Central Illinois. Much preferable to have some indoor outings to do with your main squeeze.

To that end, I highly recommend wandering through the various secondhand stores in town. You never know what you might find, and you can spend hours of enjoyable time with your significant other without having to pay a cent. (If anyone confronts you for loitering, sheepishly say you just can’t decide between the two gaudy vintage lamps you’re considering purchasing.)

So here it is, my very non-exhaustive, completely un-authoritative roundup of a few of the stores in town you could peruse with your Valentine. Actually, scratch that. Unlike some of my past V-Day activity ideas, there’s no reason that the single folk out there can’t enjoy a good thrift store or antique store also. The more the merrier is very true when shopping for weird little trinkets though, so if you’re tragically single, make sure to bring some friends. If you’re tragically friendless and single, strike up conversations with people in each of these establishments and ask them which lamp you should buy. Then ask for their number.

Consignments / Antiques

We’ve got a bunch of consignment stores in town. Each one has the same sorts of stuff, but also each has a different “vibe.” It’s important to take the vibe into account if you’re bringing a date somewhere, so I’m going to do my best to explicate the underlying auras of each of these places.

Crossroads Corner Consignment

The inside of crossroads consignment store. it has low white ceilings, brick walls that are covered with framed pictures, shelves of vases, dressers, lamps, and an assortment of chairs and tables. — Tom Ackerman

The vibe: Crossroads feels like you’re at your grandparents’ house. Specifically the grandparents from the slightly wealthier side of your family. It’s sorta cozy, but also you’re very afraid to touch anything because it might break.

Obviously there’s tons of stuff here, but you should give Crossroads a look in particular if you’re in the market for several vases, or a cool painting.

Crossroads Corner Consignment
723 S Neil St
Champaign
Tu-F 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sa 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Su 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Captain Jack’s Consignment

A concrete building with a green awning and a white sign with a pirate with a brown beard and blue jacket and hat and the words Captain Jack's consignment in blue letters. — Tom Ackerman

Despite what the cartoon captain mascot might lead you to believe, the vibe at Captain Jack’s is actually also your grandparents’ place. The same grandparents from Crossroads in fact, but this is their garage instead of their house, so there’s a lot wider variety of stuff.

The inside of Captain Jack's consignment store. It has two different color blue walls and is packed full of objects for sale. — Tom Ackerman

Also your weird uncle Ted lives in this garage and he’s trying to strike it rich by selling knives, action figures, and Pokemon cards.

The New Captain Jack’s Antiques and Consignment
501 South Dunlap Ave
Savoy
M-Sa 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Su 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

DIGS

A relative newcomer on the consignment store block, DIGS is a bit more curated than the others on this list. DIGS feels like the home of your moderately cool aunt. She got to keep the house in the divorce and she’s got a lot of exciting ideas about how to decorate. Some work better than others. Also you fear this aunt might spend too much time on Facebook.

DIGS
32 E Springfield Ave
Champaign
Tu-Sat 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Su 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Antiques & More at Staley Road

The side of a white metal building with half of an old red bicycle frame, a wreath, and a plank of wood with the word "antiques" painted in white over the white door. — Tom Ackerman

Possibly the most impressive of the bunch in terms of raw breadth of content. A&MaSR is your other grandparents’ place.

The inside of Antiques and More at Staley Road. It is packed with shelves and shelves of old board games, figurines, lamps, dolls, blankets, and toys. — Tom Ackerman

They live out in the country… and also several of their adult children still live with them. Including your uncle Randy who is trying to strike it rich selling old license plates…

Another view of the inside of Antiques and more on Staley Road. The top of the wall has old license plates, neon beer signs, old cracker tins, and grated pictures. — Tom Ackerman

and real Bic lighters with Snoop Dogg on them.

A box of BIC lighters each with a different picture of Snoop Dog on them. — Tom Ackerman

Randy also got kicked out of his D&D group for throwing french fries at another player, so he’s liquidating his collection of pewter miniatures.

A shelf of many pewter figurines, people, animals, and other objects displayed on a glass shelf. — Tom Ackerman

Worth noting here is that A&MaSR has a whole room of just mid century kitchenware that has been sorted by color. Well worth the gas it takes to get out to Staley Road in my opinion.

A room of Antique kitchen ware. Most of the colors in this picture are yellow and green on the very left edge you can see the beginning of the red section. — Tom Ackerman

Antiques & More at Staley Road
606 S Staley Rd Ste A
Champaign
Tu-Sa 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Su 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thrift Stores

Each of the following stores is run by a nonprofit, and each one has its own “mission” etc. that the proceeds go toward. You don’t really need to know about the missions in order to browse around though.

Goodwill

We all know Goodwill right? It’s the place to go if you’re looking to buy a t-shirt for a 5K run that you didn’t participate in. The Goodwills in town have lots of clothing, housewares, DVDs, books, baskets, whatever. The important thing to know is that the store in Savoy is colloquially known as “The Nice Goodwill.” Not because its selection is any better than the Champaign store per se, but because it has all these fancy decorative white columns inside.

Goodwill
1201 Savoy Plaza Ln
Savoy
M-Sa 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Su 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Salt & Light (specifically the Urbana location)

S&L feels a little like a Goodwill except that it’s Christian, and also it has a whole grocery section!

The grocery section of the Salt and Light building. Shelves of groceries are visible with aisle signs hanging down from the ceilings. — Tom Ackerman

Importantly the groceries are not secondhand. This place is great, and tends to have a better selection of furniture for sale at any given time than the Goodwills. Where else in town can you buy a used rocking horse and some Cheez-its at the same time?

The inside of salt and light. Racks of clothes are visible then a row of couches and chairs, coffee tables and a large brown rocking horse.

Salt and LIght
1819 S Philo Rd
Urbana
M-Sa 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Su 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Honestly, I’d only take a date to the ReStore if we were ready to take our relationship to the next level. By that I mean, we’re about to move in together and we need to buy a couch. Or maybe we already live together, but we’re wanting to attempt an ambitious DIY home improvement project. Truly I can think of no tougher trial for a couple (or throuple – home projects don’t always get easier the more bodies you have).

Don’t let me scare you off though. The ReStore is a great place to visit whether it’s your fiftieth date or your first. They’ve definitely got the best secondhand furniture selection in town.

The inside of the ReStore it is full of furniture sitting on a polished cement floor. There is a bright blue blue wall in the back of the building. — Tom Ackerman

Couches, tables, school desks, entertainment centers! (They should really mark down the loveseats for Valentine’s.) ReStore has a bunch of hardware stuff too. Doors, cabinets, nails, gently, and less-than-gently used power tools.

Inside the restore a wall of doors stacked like books against of each other. On a rack against the walls. — Tom Ackerman

They’ve also got some not-used stuff. Like light bulbs. So many light bulbs.

A shelf of lightbulbs in green and black boxes. — Tom Ackerman

When you’re in there, say hello to Habitat Hank, the “deerly beloved ReStore mascot” for me.

The inside of restore a mounted head of a taxidermy deer with huge antlers. There are big windows behind it. — Tom Ackerman

Champaign County ReStore
1914 Glenn Park Drive
Champaign
Tu 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
W-F 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
S 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

That’s all for this month folks. Sorry if I passed over your favorite place to browse old knickity knacks. I didn’t even get to the record/movie/videogame stores! A column for another time perhaps. Happy February to you all!

Smile Politely