The MIFA Store

The MIFA store's really looking great these days. I mentioned that they were overhauling the place a little while back, but I hadn't had a chance to stop in and check it out until just a little while ago.



They REALLY cleaned up and cleared out a bunch of old merchandise and clothes and stuff, and straightened out some of the more confusing elements of the layout and pricing scheme of the place.



And while you run the risk during a process like that of losing some of the dingy charm that makes the secondhand experience so magical, I would venture to say that the other thrift stores in this town definitely have enough of that to make up for the MIFA store deciding to clean up its act a little bit.



Anyway, they still have the requisite "huge barrel of crutches and bed frame pieces" so I'm going to go ahead and say they're basically keeping it real.



The mrs. nabbed this snazz-tacular electric waffle iron (for making electric waffles, don'tcha know) for the low low price of $5 - it's so deco!



This is a first, I think, in any thrift store I've ever been in. An honest to goodness little reading nook. Granted, it's just a chair next to some rolling shelves, and the huge warehouse-sized incandescent lights they use to illuminate the place would probably boil your eyes out of your skull if you tried to read under them for longer than, say, 5 minutes, but it's the thought that counts here people, for reals.



Now here's something you don't see every day. Honestly I wouldn't have had any clue what it even was, if the good people in the back room hadn't thought to label it (much appreciated). It is, a phone stand. Like for when people actually had phones in their homes, and sat next to them while they talked. The thing on the bottom is for your phone book. I'd never seen one of these before, and I found it so charming and anachronistic that I almost bought it just on principle, but alas, I know I'll never have a home phone again, let alone a delightful little chair to sit on next to my stand while I chat my afternoon away. Ah, the joys of a bygone era.

I had my buddy Mike put his iPhone on top of it while I took this picture, just to illuminate how far we've come in the intervening decades since this thing was undoubtedly lovingly crafted by hand. Ladies and gentlemen... progress.



Do you know the muffin man? I do, and he's FUCKING ADORABLE. His name is Charles Q. Popover and he is full of treats. If you find him and introduce yourself politely, in the manner befitting a gentle man or a lady, he will kindly grant you one wish. I wished for a candy bar, and after I left the MIFA store I went to a gas station and bought myself a candy bar, so I guess my wish was sort of granted. God bless you Charles Q. Popover.



The MIFA store always has all this crazy industrial shit, I have no idea where it comes from. Whatever they can't fit in the store they set out on the back loading dock... pianos, refrigerators, all sorts of big furniture and crap like that. I guess since they rearranged, they have more room for stuff like this humongous industrial rack fridge, presumably for catering or something like that. $150.



They also have a sort of "boutique" section right up near the front - jewelry case, slightly nicer clothes, nothing too staggeringly expensive, but stuff that probably couldn't be lumped in with the $4 dresses and $5 coats. These glasses were, in fact, very nice.



BITTER/BOOKS GETS POLITICAL: DISCUSS.

On second thought keep it to yourself.

Go see the MIFA store, kids. It's looking pretty snazzy, and you don't have to drive out to the uncharted wildernesses of Bartlett or Presley Blvd to get there. It's a local charity organization, they work hard to do good things in the community and they're really trying to put together the best store they can. Let's encourage them. Check out their blog. There's an email list. Get involved. You'll be glad you did.

Talk to you later

D