Spread across four huge storefronts and taking up almost an entire side of a North Tampa shopping plaza, the Community Thrift Store is daunting in its colossalness; it’s the sort of place that’s impossible to leave empty-handed. The smell of clean laundry hits you as soon as you enter, a sure indication that the clothes, linens and other fabrics have been washed before hitting the racks. Marked-down merchandise is a guarantee, and everything is neat, orderly and in its right place — size, gender and section clearly marked — so it’s easy to find what you need, a pleasant surprise in a place that’s bigger than a warehouse and usually swarming with earnest shoppers.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2007.