I Lost the Battle at the Thrift Store

Submitted by windupkitty June 20th, 2012
Certifikitsch Winner

I rarely do this anymore, but a few months ago I went past an old thrift and decided to stop and check out their Lps just for the heck of it. I am always trying to get rid of stuff, not bring more in these days, but still love to look. When I got there, there was another woman flipping through Lps too. We politely acknowledged each other and I started on the other end of the sales rack. She already had a nice pile of “keep-ems” stacked up and when I glanced at them, this was at the top.

I thought it looked pretty cool and I told her that it’s exactly the sort of thing I look for too. She mentioned that she was a music teacher and that she was bummed that there was no record for this cover, but she wanted the cover anyway. She let me have a look at it and I about passed out.

When I realized it was from Detroit, I went through my bag and counted out every last bit of dough I had: $11 and some change. I offered to buy it off her right there, but she refused. I even explained about the significance it would have to the Queen of Kitsch and did a hefty bit of pleading. I offered to write her a check for more. She wouldn’t budge. At least she let me photograph it. I went through all the Lps after that to make sure the missing record hadn’t been tossed somewhere else but never found it. I also gave her my number and info about the awmok in case she ever changed her mind about selling it. Sorry, divine QoK, I tried. Sorry for the choppy multiple pictures too. I wanted to get all the liner notes and had only the camera on my phone to work with….

11 Responses to “I Lost the Battle at the Thrift Store”

  1. Allee Willis

    The second I saw the cover i thought ‘that school is in Detroit!” Then when i realized that’s really what this was I almost passed out. I’m almost certain that my mom was a substitute teacher there for a few years. Not glee club though. First grade.

    A fantastic find!!! Thank u so much for photographing it. I sure wish that record had been laying else where in the bin but in the meantime this post is excellent and very much appreciated!!!!!

  2. windupkitty

    I was just beside myself that I couldn’t pick this up for you! Seriously tortured! Oh well, at least it’s documented!

  3. denny

    I hate thrift store encounters like that. I’ve been in situations like that before.

    I know some stuff about the Willis clan but had no idea mom Willis was a teacher. Funny Wind-Up, even though I’ve never met Allee’s mom, I still feel like I did know her in some small way.

    Cheers to you Mrs. Willis.

  4. Mod Betty RetroRoadmap.com

    Oh how I wish that lady let you have it – it would’ve been such good karma! But at least she let you photo it. Retro Roadhusband collects phonograph records from things like this- I’ll have to have him check to see if any are from Detroit! If so we’ll whisk it off to you for sure!

    • windupkitty

      Yeah, good karma indeed! I’m glad it’s in the hands of someone who cares about it, but it shoulda been in Allee’s …just sayin’, thrift store lady!!! Wow, RRHubby better check the collection! Yeah, this is the stuff I go for…back in the day you could empty your piggy bank and make a record…it was pretty cool…i guess that is easy now with technology and all, but this is the sort of thing that counts to me… a lot of work went into it and it’s a bit of “everday man” history…far more important than most collectible/expensive records, if you ask me!