Here in Dallas I sometimes get to a goodwill or the habitat store, we also have a few other thrift stores. Picking up a vacuum at these stores can be very hit or miss and usually more of a miss. Most are worn out, filthy, and are big box store plastic junk that still sort of work. Most of the time Goodwill sells them for $21.99 and the stick vacs might be $14.99. A bit pricey if you ask me for someone’s used up vacuum that would need a complete clean out, maybe a belt or a bag or filter, not to mention some time to clean the whole thing out. In all my years of going to thrift stores I’ve only found two decent vacuums there...an Aerus Lux Classic last May for $25.99 in pretty good lightly used shape but no small attachments or plastic wands or floor brush...only the canister, hose and power nozzle with its wand. Fortunately it had the vital parts and I had extras of everything else to make it a complete set.
In August I donated a very expensive range hood to habitat for humanity. On the counter at the register they had two packages of Aerus Home solutions “C” canister bags...I bought them for $5, a total of 47 bags. Went out to the car to go home and said to myself...”I should go back in and look around the store, there might be an Electrolux in there”...but doubted it. Sure enough in the back of the store near the appliances was a very nice light blue Aerus Lux Legacy with ALL original attachments and even an additional flip over rug and floor tool in addition to the regularly included floor brush. Everything was there. Even the sidekick II. I asked a store employee if I could try it and there was an extension cord nearby he said I could use. Everything worked great and I pondered if I really needed this vacuum seeing that I have several other Electrolux’s. There was a price sticker of $39.99 on it. I hemmed and hawed for a while on it thinking this is just nuts to buy it...and not being crazy about the plastic wand system I really was on the fence. I examined everything more closely for wear and everything seemed in really great shape and the power nozzle was barely used, only the one sided floor brush had normal wear on it, everything else was practically new and very, very clean. There was even a genuine Electrolux germ grabber bag installed in the machine. A woman came by while I was looking at it and asked what kind it was. I decided to take it and hauled it up to the counter and the guy rang it up with tax for a whole $22! I expected it to be $39.99 plus tax but then I realized appliances must be half off that day! I think the forces of the universe worked for me that day. I donated a new unused still in the sealed box Viking island hood and as a result gained a virtually new Aerus Lux Legacy.
My Brother needed a new vacuum so I decided to offer him the earlier Goodwill find Aerus Lux Classic. he likes the Electrolux Aerus products as well as that’s what we grew up with and he has had his adult life as well and one of his Electrolux’s..an Olympia special model was really on the fritz...a trash find, no cord end, a motor with worn bearings, and it was just beat to hell with a badly leaking non electric hose and no attachments, he had to use the attachments from his other Electrolux that resides on another level of his house when he would clean the upstairs so he was due for a replacement for his upstairs vacuum.
I think more and more vacuums are going to be appearing at thrift stores as people convert to the new stick vacuums like the shark rocket or the Dyson stick vacuum. I have a Shark rocket and honestly it’s the first Non Electrolux/Aerus machine I actually like just about as much and possibly more for some reasons than the Electrolux/Aerus. I think it’s that it’s powerful while having good attachments and also is a lot like using a canister but without the canister to drag behind. I’m not much of an upright fan because I have back issues so the weight of pushing an upright around is annoying and I also like to get into tight spaces with the vacuum and in our current house we mostly have hardwoods with a few small area rugs and a big upright is sort of useless for me.
