[at-l] Cheap gear

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

"...Doggone it, why didn't you post this before we went to Maine??????  Just in
case we go to Maine again, which Goodwill stores get LL Bean castoffs?  Which
towns have Reny Department Stores?"

 Reny's is a small Maine chain , founded 40 years ago and still run by a very
 clever merchandiser. It is located in mostly small to moderate sized cities (by
 Maine standards) five to 10 thousand people. I tried to find a flyer listing
 the locations, but couldn't quickly, which is why this reply is so slow in
 coming. But they have stores in Bath, Rockland, Damariscotta, Dexter, Gardiner
 (just off Interstate 95) and several other places.

 He buys seconds and remainders and factory reconditioned stuff and sells it at
 quite low prices. When Zip Lock freezer and storage bags went to color coding
 of the lock, Reny's bought remaining supplies of the old version and sold it 70
 percent off the regular price, for instance. (unfortunately I didn't stock up)

 From time to time he picks up stuff from LL Bean, Eddie Bauer and Lands End and
 other major brands and sells them at half price, or lower. The labels are
 removed, but usually enough remains to make the identification and the Reny
 label provides positive identification with the initials lb for Beans, eb for
 eddie Bauer, etc.

 As for Goodwill. The store in Portland seems to get the most LL Bean discards,
 though the store in Bath near where I live has supplies periodically. I have no
 idea how the distribution system works.

 A doctor, a psychiatrist like OB actually, who I winter backpacked with for 25
 years, used to show up with new gear on almost every trip. I kind of thought he
 must have money to waste until I discovered he did all his outdoor shopping at
 the Goodwill Store down the block from the hospital where he worked.

 Hmmm. Now that I think about it, I've only had contact with two psychiatrists
 in my life; both, an astounding 100 percent, climb mountains in January and
 sleep in the snow. Naw. the sample may be too small to be statistically
 significant.

 Weary