Just missed a Kirby Classic Omega

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human

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
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Location
Pines of Carolina
So I popped by a nearby Goodwill store earlier this evening, the same one where I'd snagged my Electrolux Diamond J a few months ago, and in a part of the store where vacuum cleaners normally don't live, I spotted a nice Regina 3-speed Electric Broom for $10. While I momentarily considered it, I decided I had too many stick vacs and walked away. When I got to the corner where the vacs normally live, I spotted a nice looking Kirby Classic Omega. Unfortunately, somebody else was already looking at it. I remarked to him that it was a nice machine and he asked me a few questions about it that I was able to answer. He was a bit confused by the shakeout bag, so I showed him how to take it off the machine, then for a teachable moment, let him put it back on. I was amazed to see the bag absolutely pristine on the inside, like it had never been used. I took a look at the price tag and it was the same $10 as the Regina. Since the other guy had gotten there first, I was a good sport and walked away as he wheeled his prize toward the checkout. Had I gotten there maybe five minutes earlier, it could have been mine. For a second, I thought about claiming the Regina as a consolation prize but I didn't. Now, the real irony was I have a $10 merchandise credit in my wallet, so neither machine would have cost me anything I hadn't already spent. But I'd just as soon save it and spend it on something I really want.
 
The important thing is that the Kirby found a good home! I rarely see Kirby's at the many Dallas TX thrifts stores I visit, probably because they sell fast or they just don't end up there.

Ten bucks? Wow... Given what I have heard on forums and in my real life, it seems that all the thrift stores on the east coast are cheapest, mid country stores are 2-3x more expensive, and west coast 4x+ more. I got my Kirby Tradition for 20 at a thrift store a couple months back. I saw an Omega this week for the same cost but only in fair condition with aftermarket bag - I did not get it. That is the going price for almost any thrift store vacuuum in this area.
 
Vacuum prices at thrift stores around here have no rhyme or reason. Sometimes they're outrageous and sometimes they're dirt cheap. You just never know. I guess it's all down to whoever wields the pricing gun when it comes in. This particular store seems to price their vacs cheaper than the other one a few miles away and they also seem to get some nice machines in from time to time, although Kirbys are few and far between.

I would have liked to have had that Omega, simply because it was the first Kirby model I ever saw when the salesman demonstrated it in our living room when I was about nine years old but I can certainly live without it.
 

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