Have you been to a mall lately? It's sort of a depressing place. Lots of stores have vacated the premises, and with the clerks that are left manning the surviving shops and kiosks look like they're starved for social interaction. There's just no one there. The Christmas music playing over the PA seems out of place in such a deserted venue.

The real shopping crowds this holiday season aren't at the mall -- no one's paying full price this for anything anymore. But you will find long lines at your local thrift stores, where you can purchase new and gently used clothes, furniture, accessories, and more for just a few bucks a pop, whether you're buying Levi's or designer jeans with the tags still on them.

Thrift stores are a great place to find inexpensive treasures, especially when "vintage" is so totally in style. Don't make the rookie mistake of thinking of thrift shopping as going through other people's trash. Lots of things for sale there have never been worn before at all, and everything has to be in decent condition before they put it on their racks, even at Goodwill. Tons of the things you'll find there are actually straight from the mall -- when stores can't sell all their merchandise, they send it to thrift stores to make room on their own clearance racks. These items might be a season or two behind the actual weather, but they're brand new, and the seasons will roll around again next year.

Secondhand shops are an especially great place for women to look for formal wear. So often, a girl will spend hundreds of dollars on a prom dress that she only wears once -- then it finds its way to the Goodwill racks after only a few hours of wear, and now it can be yours for less than $10. Avoiding the mall also means you're less likely to show up at your next formal wearing the same dress as everyone else who shops at JC Penney. (My local mall isn't very big, so my high school prom had 200 girls all wearing the same 10 dresses.)

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

On the one hand, finally my peers see the wisdom of shopping at thrift stores. No longer must I endure the fish eye when they find out the gorgeous dress I'm wearing wasn't bought at Bloomie's for $400, but rather pulled from a pile of newly-donated clothes down at the local Presbyterian thrift. Price: $4.

On the other hand, thrift stores might not be the treasure troves they usually are much longer. And I don't like the sound of that at all.

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

Picture this, thrift store brethren: A woman in a late model Mercedes parks next to you and wanders into your favorite thrift store. Once inside, you notice her picking through the clothes, the bags, the belts, and eyeballing one of several interesting pieces of furniture.

What's going on, you wonder, not a little put out by the sight of an apparently well-off member of society making use of "your" affordable consumer items.

What's going on here is an over-all belt-tightening. As the economy loses steam, people fear for the jobs, and the house-ATM machine dries up, people are looking at all the ways they can save. Frugality has suddenly become "in."

Mike Presley responded to a recent walletpop post on thrift shops with one of my favorite kind of stories: From Thrift Shops and Yard Sales to eBay.

Mike is 41 years old and has served in the Navy for 19 years. After work almost every day, he makes a thrift store stop. It's a habit that his father passed along to him. A few years ago, noticing that things he'd seen in antique stores sometimes turn up at thrift stores (for 1/10th of the price), he began to buy with the thought of one day opening his own shop. This, of course, is how lots of antique dealers are made. Beginning with 25-cent Pyrex bowls, Mike began to hoard. In the interim, he started selling on Craigslist.

A large local consignment store -- a regular (3-4 times/week) stop on Mike's route -- was going out of business and selling at 50-60% off. On a weekend afternoon, Mike and his girlfriend were picking up armloads of finds when he flipped open the lid of an old Chiquita Banana box. The box was filled with what would turn out to be a set of dirty old toy trains. The price was $15.

Julie Tilsner had a great list of five golden rules to thrift store shopping. Let's make it ten:

6). The early bird gets the worm. Every thrift store has its own schedule. In our Upper Cape area, Mashpee Senior Center's shop opens for the week on Monday, St. Vincent de Paul opens on Tuesday, Emerald House on Wednesday, North Falmouth Congregational Church on Thursday. While new items are added throughout the week, you'll find the most new additions on opening morning, often at the ends of the rack. The best time to be there is the beginning of their week.

7). Examine the labels: A crisp label often means little or no wear/washing.

I used to be something of a mall rat, flashing my plastic to buy whatever pretty thing was on sale! (40% off way too much, whee!). And then I grew up, got a couple of kids, and discovered real happiness at the Goodwill Outlet in my town (we call it "the Bins"). All the same fashions as the mall -- well, all last year's fashions -- but sold for 69 cents a pound. True love ensued.

Now I'm a savvy "picker," a woman who knows what to look for and can spot a valuable find an aisle away. I've also filled up big boxes of failed purchases to send back for some other unschooled thrifty soul. Here are a few things I've learned:

Do thrift: Coffee mugs. I don't know about you, but I love a cute mug. It makes me happy, sitting there on my desk, and I'm always wanting to spend $9.99 on a cool new shape at Starbucks. But wait! In another year it will be calling your name in a bin at your friendly thrift store, for 99 cents, and you won't mind so much when you drop it. After all, there's sure to be another great new mug waiting in the wings.

Don't thrift: Baking pans. Why do I persist in believing I can scrub that spot of rust off? I've ruined a fair number of perfectly good cupcakes with (ahem) "vintage" baking pans I found for such a bargain. New loaf pans, cupcake tins, and pie plates are the way to go here.

In an earlier post, I noted a few items that are probably cheaper in a city than in your hometown. Looking around a little more, I realized that I only scratched the surface. Here, then, are Five More Things That Are (Probably) Cheaper in the City Than Where You Are Living

1. Clothing: Even apart from thrift stores, discount stores, clothing banks, and so forth, clothes are still much cheaper in the city. As with anything else, it comes down to competition. There aren't a lot of small towns that can support more than one or two quirky boutiques, but a good-sized city can support dozens, if not hundreds. In this environment, clothes prices tend to be lower. Granted, this won't make your life any easier if you have your heart set on a Gucci overcoat or Prada banana hammock, but if you're a little flexible and not a total brand whore, a little time and energy should help you find what you're looking for at far below what Nordstrom's, Hecht's, or Lord and Taylor are laughingly asking.

On a side note, thrift stores in the city tend to have a much better selection than in the country. The best thrift
shopping I've ever seen was in Menlo Park, California, which is part of the suburban sprawl surrounding San Francisco. In addition to the cool midrange shirts I found at amazing prices, I came across a Versace suit in a Salvation Army thrift store and my wife discovered a pair of Manolos in another joint. Unfortunately, the prices were steep, but I found an awesome silk and worsted wool suit that I bought for $20.