One of the reasons I am giving up a secret to power shopping the thrift stores is that I am so overwhelmed by inventory, you won't bump into me anytime soon. However, because I believe in what comes around, goes around or visa versa - here is one of my intuitions about what's going to be extra hot in the coming months . And if you know in advance what you can buy low and sell high - well, then you're a certified power thrift shopper!  Action:   - Always shop ahead. Just like the stock market anticipates what's going to happen in the economy, as a thrift shopper, can use current events and popular culture to guage what people will soon want to collect. That would be - Gasoline, baby. And anything old related to oil: service stations, postcards - like the 1971 postcard above - ashtrays, uniforms, "free maps", matchbooks, advertisements etc. That's because gas is only going to go higher - and with it, the gas station collectibles that marked the good ol' days when service station attendants, wearing uniforms and hats, rushed over to fill your tank and wash your windows. When a dinosaur  (wasn't that a hint of things to come?) was the symbol for one service station, and a tiger for another. Gasoline memorabilia is a bit hard to find, but in months and years to come, it will be scarcer than a hen's tooth and much more expensive! .Scene:  If thrift stores don't have this stuff, haunt the antique malls nearby. They are a step or three above the thrifts in price and quality, and sometimes, when business is slow,  they' marked their stuff below thrift store pricing. If you live near an antique mall, visit it to see which dealers offer the best buys. They usually turn over their merchandise rapidly, and often have just what you're looking for (like gasoline-related items). Wherever you find your oil/gasoline "stock", please  buy to "hold" - at least for now. The ebay price will climb. 3) Props: to the local thrift stores that support charitable organizations - like Hospice, SPCA, Hospital auxiliaries and more. These stores are often spic n span clean, are staffed by volunteers who rotate their hours, and sometimes, the stores offer unbelievable merchandise. I picked up a great vintage lucite bench at such a store; also a wonderful book by Margaret Bourke-White and Erskine Caldwell(but sold it, like a dum-dum)..Also, one day I was shopping, side by side, a certified Hollywood movie star. She was buying sweats to travel in. I kid you not. .Flops: Old Navy. Why buy Old Navy (which isn't old or Navy) at a thrift store for more money than it cost originally? It takes many years and a trained eye to discriminate quality among the stuffed thrift store clothing racks. Unless I was a vintage clothing guru, I would avoid shopping for great vintage clothes at the thrift stores. Like most rules I post, this one has exceptions, which I shall reveal in an upcoming issue of TSC.  (P.S. In my former life, I was a stockbroker).