SHOPPING TIPS
Get to know your thrift and consignment stores. Many offer discounts on certain days of the week. Learn when the new donations arrive and how soon you can expect them to hit the floor. All stores with the same name are not created equally. Some carry a wider selection of housewares than others, so you might want to call ahead. The St. Louis Park Goodwill store, for example, doesn't carry any table or housewares, but it does have an entire room of artwork.
The monthly occasional sales are a good place to hunt for one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture and accessories. Since the dealers shop each month to restock their wares, what you see one month will probably not be there the next. Most sales run Thursday through Sunday. Many begin on the first Thursday of each month; others hold their sales at mid-month. See the weekly calendar on the Collecting page of the Star Tribune's Home + Garden section for times and places.
Rummage sales and estate sales are full of finds if you're willing to dig. Some of the largest annual Twin Cities-area rummage sales are held in May and June. The Star Tribune's Variety section lists the biggest each spring. Don't overlook the attics and basements of friends and relatives, too.
Don't expect to pull together a spring tabletop setting in one trip. Part of the fun is in the hunt. But if you're looking for an instant set of dishes, we found several matched sets, from ironstone to china, with settings for six to 10 plus serving pieces, priced $19.99 to $126 at a variety of thrift stores.
KIM YEAGER
WHERE WE SHOPPED
Animal Ark thrift store
Benefits Animal Ark, a Hastings no-kill animal shelter. 809 E. 7th St. , St. Paul, 651-772-8983; www.animalark shelter.org.
Arc's Value Village
