It sounded so simple at the start of summer: visit 100 thrift stores in 100 days, road-trip across the Pacific Northwest, and see what treasures turn up along the way. Then the calendar had other ideas. On October 20th, one day before the deadline, vintage resellers Laura and Jesse sat down and said it out loud: they failed.

What they did next is the part worth smiling about. Instead of quietly dropping the series, they crossed out the 100 and wrote in 200, and announced that the adventure would simply keep rolling through the fall.

The pair behind Laura Caldwell’s thrift series are full-time vintage resellers, the kind of people who spend their days combing secondhand shops for items worth far more than the price tag. Their big summer plan was to share what each find was really worth and to see whether they could finish all 100 stores before the season ended.

A Day Along The I-5

The episode that carried the news started with a two-day stretch of shopping up and down Interstate 5, from Tacoma, Washington, down toward Ridgefield, with stops planned in Centralia and Chehalis along the way. The goal was to hit as many stores as possible in about 24 hours.

First up was the Lacey Goodwill, a spot they had not visited in ages. They arrived expecting to wait a few minutes, only to find the doors already open. Inside, one find was a decanter from Michigan priced at $7.99. The catch was that it only made sense to buy if the wooden stopper turned up, so they went searching the wood aisle and the kitchen gadget shelves. No luck on the lid, a reminder that a bottle without its top is a very different purchase.

They did come home with a few things. A glass piece that looked hand blown, unsigned but with lovely quality, design and shape, went in the cart for $20 on pure instinct. A piece by a Finnish designer from the mid-century era came home too, and the pair admitted they knew almost nothing about him. That did not bother them. Learning a new maker, even if the piece is just for resale, was the point. As one of them put it, going to Goodwill is literally an education.

Other finds along the route included a pair of mugs by an artist they had handled before, each $3.99, decorated with a Thunderbird, a set of two-toned wooden bookends for $9.99, and a hand-turned wooden lamp for $8.99 that would clean up nicely with a new shade. A canvas print of a face based on a Picasso also made the trip home. They were clear that it was a copy, not the real thing, and joked that they had not yet found the legendary Picasso at Goodwill for $19.99.

Two Stores For One Stop

One handy detail from the road: a Habitat for Humanity store sat in the same strip mall as the Goodwill, so one parking spot gave them two shops. That store leans toward doors, windows, appliances and furniture rather than small home decor, so they moved through it fast. Later came a very small, cluttered thrift shop that had nothing for them, and a big place called Reliable Enterprises that looked closed from one side but turned out to be open.

Not every pick stayed in the cart. A set of ombre glasses that looked like a famous mid-century pattern came off the shelf at $5.99, but one glass turned out to be missing, so they put the set back. It is a small moment, yet it shows the discipline that separates a reseller from a casual browser.

Why They Missed The Mark

The explanation for the miss was refreshingly honest. The pair pointed to a trip to France, a sister weekend, and group trips to Belgium and Paris that kept them away for roughly three weeks combined. Hitting 100 stores sounds like a lot, but they noted there are plenty of days when they knock out ten stores without even trying. The schedule, not the stores, got in the way.

They did not dress it up. In their words, these were just excuses, and they failed. But they said they were proud that they are not afraid of failure, and that they keep setting goals anyway. The new plan: 100 thrift stores in 200 days, with a note that if they finish in 150, they will celebrate and quietly forget the whole embarrassing day.

What You Can Borrow From Their Method

You do not have to be a full-time reseller to take a few lessons from this couple.

• Walk the whole store, then walk it again. Items get moved, and your eyes catch different things on a second pass.
• Do not skip the tiny shops. The dream find, whether a favorite collectible for a dollar or a signed piece, sometimes sits in the cluttered little place most people hurry past.
• Check every piece for damage and completeness. A missing glass or a missing lid changes the value more than most people expect. Turn it around, look inside, and count the set before you pay.
• Learn from the unknown. If a piece is well made but you cannot identify it, a modest price can be a cheap education. Look up the maker at home and you may start a new collection.
• Know the store’s color tag system. Many Goodwill locations discount items by tag color on a rotating schedule, so a quick glance at the sign by the door can save real money.
• Plan your route. Stores along one highway can be stacked into a single day, which cuts down on gas and wasted time.

There is also a gentler lesson in how the couple handled the setback. Most of us have a project that slid past its deadline. Admitting it, laughing about it and resetting the target is far better than pretending it never happened. If you have been meaning to clean out a closet, or to visit every antique mall within an hour of home, consider giving yourself the same generous second timeline.

As for the old-fashioned thrill of the hunt, it is still available at most Goodwill stores any morning of the week. Go early, bring patience, and keep an eye out for the unsigned, the unusual and the unexpected. You may not find a Picasso, but you could well find the next piece you cannot stop researching.

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