Thrift Week 2021, Day 3: Booze

For the third day of my local shopping Thrift Week, I didn't have any particular shopping needs to fill. But I'd made a promise to get something from a local business each day, so I decided I'd stop by our local thrift shop and browse for a bit. Even if I didn't find any clothes to fit my needs, as I usually don't, I could always grab a couple of dirt-cheap books off the shelves.

The snag with this plan was that I'd forgotten about the thrift shop's new hours. It's now open only from 9am to noon on weekdays, which makes it highly impractical for me ever to shop there during the week — particularly in wintertime, when I prefer not to venture out until the warmest part of the day. And Saturday, with hours of 10am to 1pm, is only marginally better. So it's unlikely I'll make it to the thrift shop at any point during this Thrift Week challenge.

As Brian and I turned away from the store in disappointment, we started running through the list of other local businesses we might try to patronize. A local bakery was right nearby, but sadly, it's closed until February, making it also off-limits for this week's challenge. And outdoor dining isn't a very appealing option right now. So, after considering the supermarket, the drugstore, and the dollar store, we decided to pop into our local liquor store, Pino's, and replenish our supply of gin. Brian pointed out that we could also do this, possibly more cheaply, at the Rite Aid, which carries booze as well as medications. But I figured for purposes of a local shopping challenge, the truly local business should take priority over the chain store.

And, as it turns out, this was a pretty smart decision. Though most of the bottles on Pino's shelves were quite pricey, we found one on the bottom shelf called Gary's Good Gin, which was only ten bucks for a full liter. It wasn't what I'd call fancy, but we liked the name, and the price rivaled the cheapo Crystal Palace gin that we normally buy in a plastic bottle at Rite Aid. (We later went back and checked, and found that it was actually cheaper than the small bottles, which were $8 for 750 milliliters. The larger 1.5-liter bottles were $14 each, for a marginally cheaper price of $9.30 per liter, but 70 cents seems a small enough price for supporting an independent business.) And, after trying it both straight and in an orange blossom, I'd say it lives up to the claim on the label. I don't claim to be an expert, but its piney aroma and flavor strike me as reasonable marks of a good gin, even if not an outstanding one.

So, once again, this is a purchase that wasn't strictly necessary, but if you compare it to what we would otherwise have bought, the extra expense was minimal. So far, local shopping seems to be working out in our favor. I'm beginning to wonder if I should try extending the challenge past the end of the week, just to see how long I can keep it up.