I don't even see proper thrift shops anymore, just a few random pawn shops. When I was a kid they were everywhere though, and I used to hit the ones in my neighborhood all the time, looking for CDs and video games mostly. Pretty much anything I bought with whatever pocket money I might have was used. Sometimes games were still expensive, even then - RPGs especially tended to keep their a lot of their value, unless they were completely unknown or not well-liked. I think I paid 40$ for Phantasy Star III when most Genesis games were 15-20$ w/the box, probably 10 without. Sword of Vermilion was a lot cheaper though, probably 15 w/everything. At least games rarely really went up in price back then. People used to be shocked that Panzer Dragoon Saga was selling for 150$ on ebay, lol. I bought it once, played it, then resold it for the same amount I paid.