I like all kinds of things...
Vacuums are just something I recently started "collecting", and it all started back in Jan. of this year when I walked into Goodwill "just to look" and found a Sentria with ALL of the attachments for nothing. I normally don't go into thrift stores because I don't buy any clothes there and as far as appliances and vacuums go, I've always assumed that they usually seem to have only the newer stuff (i.e. the Walmart appliances that didn't break yet) based on what I've seen on my random trips from before. But, ever since I found the Sentria, I have "what if I find...?" scenarios in my mind and just have to go back to see what else might be lurking there. To my surprise, after the Sentria...bam! A Royal 884 in surprisingly good condition, aside from the wear of the vinyl graphics on the bag. A month later...wowza! an Avalir, dusty and oxidized, but a diamond in the rough of which probably dozens of people walked by without even giving it a second glance.
For some odd reason, computers--which are another item I collect--are super rare to find in a thrift store, at least in my area. I actively search for them (and always come up short unless I want to spend a ton for one on eBay). I think that between the fact that it is assumed that anything older than a Core 2 Duo/Quad-era machine is "worthless junk" (couldn't be further from the truth -- there are 286/386/486 and even Pentium 4 machines on eBay for as much or higher than a brand new high end PC) and the fact that it takes labor and some skill to wipe the hard drives for liability purposes, your average person would not know how to boot to a drive wipe utility, so, the computers tend to get e-cycled.
Those are the reasons why I've avoided thrift stores, along with the ick factor of which I've been able to handle (obviously). Recently, I have been proven wrong in my assumption that the only vacuums that thrift stores carry are the Walmart-grade vacuums on borrowed time. The thing is, I better watch my thrift store expeditions, because I don't think that my wife views my finds with as much value as I do, even though the Sentria, Avalir, 884 fit in really nicely in the closet under the stairs and my office (which is an extra bedroom that will never be used as a bedroom) neatly holds a few vintage computers and desktops along with my desk--with room to spare. Speaking of collections, both my wife and I have separate walk in closets, about 5x8 in size. My closet has room to spare. Her closet could run out of room and spill over into mine in a few years as she has enough shoes and clothes to stock a JCPenney.
I'd love to collect a few fans and small appliances too, and if I was to step out of reality for a bit--large appliances including commercial kitchen and laundry equipment. Alas, I'd need a huge warehouse with three-phase power for that, a way to tactfully conduct such a collection while keeping the approval of my wife and perhaps a couple more zeros behind my bank account balance, lol.
