Geting the "In"

Although is is not hard to find places to shop, it is hard to find placed that give good deals. At present, I am on a shopping mission. Don't read: fun, trendy shopping. More like household necessity shopping. Stuff is expensive here. There is rarely a day that goes by that I can go out and not spend money. Getting somewhere on the train costs at least $6.80.
Before I arrived, Jim had purchased a pot, fry pan and silverware at Target. Oh, and a spatula (...and a bed, desk and futon, to be totally honest). All of those things were handy. But, being a girl, I needed more stuff. I found my way to the Salvation Army store, or "Salvo" as they call it here, hoping to score some deals. To my disappointment, it was similar to the trendy boutiques surrounding it, not the dependable "thrift" store I was used to at home. I would have a hard time paying $15 for someone's used afghan. They did have some plates that I reluctantly paid $1 each for.
Over the weekend, we met up with some Americans, or similar; from Germany, lived in DC for 7yrs, so Americanized at the least. They have been here for about 2-3 months and gave us the scoop on some shopping.
The Reject Shop. In a word, awesome. Jim and I each spent about $40 and go the following:
Clothes wardrobe hanger $15, 3pk hangers, a bamboo cutting board $8, umbrella $4, french press $8, baggies $2.5, gladware $3, toaster $12, bucket $1, kitchen cleanser $2, and a $15 backpack....anyway, you get the point. I think its so cheap because it's made in China. And from here, that's not too far.
Dan Murphy's. This is a discount liquor mart, similar to Applejacks. The in here is the wine. There are heaps of vineyards here. Most small vineyard sell their grapes to larger brands. If the small place has a surplus of grapes, they bottle the wine but can not label it as it will be in competition with their counterpart. So, they produce "Clean Skins" which are generic label wines that cost $2-$12. It's essentially the popular label brand at a fraction of the cost. Yellow Tail is apparently more here ($5-7US vs $7-12here) because of the high tax on alcohol. Yeah, Clear Skins! I got a generic cab-merlot for $1.99.