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    Thunderbird Salvage

    4.2 (43 reviews)
    Closed 9:00 am - 7:00 pm

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    Lauren W.

    Chaotic place with all kinds of unique finds. If you don't look everywhere, you will miss something! Kind of like one of those find-it books/games with old relics and photos up on shelves or in a cluttered room. I mean this in all the best ways possible. Staff is friendly. Vintage clothing items are nice - even some designer pieces in there. Good overall price for items. Would definitely come back here. Makes for a nice way to kill a couple hours for sure.

    Thunderbird Salvage
    L L.

    Lots of interesting stuff but prices, at least for anything that interested me, were high. At least 30% more than I've paid for similar items. I've collected wood carvings and ceramics for years. Even with shipping on eBay or Mercari, I have gotten many cheaper deals. That said, I haven't added to my collection since before the pandemic, and I understand inflation has occurred. Still, both wood carvings we wanted to buy were broken and cracked. The damage on both was pretty significant but I was going to TLC them and try to revive. The man at the counter asked $60; my best price was $40, which I felt was very fair for a 14" and 7" wood carving, neither one more than 20yrs old, and both damaged. He said he'd be "giving them away" for $40. Anyway, spent a lot of time looking around but went away with nothing after making what I feel was a fair offer. Might stop in if we're ever nearby again, but unfortunately wasn't worth the 1.5h round trip.

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    Regina M.

    After months and months of enjoying their hilarious Instagram stories and posts, one of them was not only funny but something I had been looking for. A quick DM conversation and Venmo and it was mine! with the reminder that I had 7 days to pick it up. Cool. I ventured out to pick up my treasure on a cold winter morning. They are located in one of the older areas of Philadelphia, which means lots of narrow, one way streets, row homes and the need for highly skilled and creative parking acumen. I was delighted to find a spot on the same block, bonus it was an end-spot, and extra bonus it was a legal end spot. This is like hitting the lottery of Philadelphia parking. The business is located inside of an old, large stone building that clearly was once a church. I love when these former neighborhood churches are saved and made useful by other businesses. I'm going to emphasize the words here again: LARGE, OLD, CHURCH, STONE. That means it's impossible to heat or cool well, so if it's a cold day outside, it's not much warmer inside and while it may be cooler inside in the summers (benefit of stone), it's still pretty impossible to create anything like climate control. Dress accordingly.' They are a salvage place. Salvage. What that means is that they likely have either a partnership with or a sister company that does things like demolition, moving, hauling, clean outs. I suspect this business grew from the other, seeing so many interesting and lovely things being tossed out, and choosing to save them and offer to others. This appeals to me. I like when useful things are saved and reused - either in their original form or 'up cycled'. As a salvage in an old church, it's a jumble and a treasure hunt. There are shelves and shelves of items sort of organized not really, kind of 'area', there's a section of clothing, and furniture all over the place. Very little is priced, I like that because I get to bargain, which they seemed to enjoy as well. The larger and more valuable items are priced, which is cool too. My item was waiting and all those shelves were CALLING to me. I had a wonderful time digging through them, found a few more treasures, got a decent price on them and left with a smile. Staff were pleasant but unobtrusive. Helpful when needed and easy to find. This is a great place for the treasure and bargain hunter, though their prices are not yard sale, they approach what resell markets will pay, so if you're looking for that be prepared to search, bundle and bargain, and you still may not get the price you were hoping for. That's the business. Will I be back? Um, yeah. It's my kind of place, I had a blast poking through all the shelves and racks.

    Here's a retro Pin  the tail on the donkey!!! So cute donkey with the instructions!! It's metal !
    CJ T.

    If you enjoy picking through things, this is the place for you! It's full of a variety of things, from guitar cases, cameras, lamps, to utensils, clothes, albums, frames, pictures...definitely too much to list - take a look at the pics I posted. The place is in an old church in a neighborhood. You'll think your in the wrong area and then there it is! Go and bring a snack and something to drink so you can stay awhile!

    Nice antique Singer minus the machine, but they wanted $150....
    Tim S.

    This place came recommended from another antique dealer. I had to be in the area, so I gave it a shot. The 3 stars are for the potential, not the actual on my visit. Think flea market with a handful of unique items, but those unique/antiques were at full retail. There was a Singer sewing cabinet minus the machine (no ability to date it) and they wanted $150. That is about as close to full retail as you can get. There was a vintage oak library table that needed some work, but it was only $40. If you are a picker who is into smalls, this is your place. I wouldn't go here unless I was in the area.

    Robert P.

    It's a lot of junk. Not like collecting worthy junk, like collecting dust in your extra room junk. It was interesting and the people were cool . The space is an old church. It's on the edge of Fishtown. Go for it !! What do you have to lose.

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    9 months ago

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    8 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    9 months ago

    Very eclectic antiques type of jewelry small selection of clothes but very much like your grandma's closet or grandma's attic

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    2 years ago

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    5 months ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

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    11 months ago

    Huge, interesting selection. Mostly furniture and antiques vs a typical "clothing thrift shop." Really niche place! Definitely recommend.

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    2 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Better deals than what I expected. I just wish it was bigger. I drove 2.5 hours to get there and will be going back.

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    6 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    7 years ago

    Business owner information

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    George M.

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    4 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    5 years ago

    Loved it. From Chicago. Surprisingly good selection of records with reasonable prices.

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    5 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    6 years ago

    This place is awesome. Nice people, rad building. They'll haggle with you on price which is cool. Their cat is cute and spooky. Go visit.

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    8 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - Thunderbird Salvage

    Review Highlights - Thunderbird Salvage

    . As a salvage in an old church, it's a jumble and a treasure hunt

    Mentioned in 2 reviews

    Read more highlights

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    4.1(52 reviews)
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    This place is not there anymore. I am not sure where it would be since going past did not give a…read moreclue where it had been in the past. Not to mention a not great walk there

    With the pandemic, I don't know if this event runs any more…read more My friend V. loves thrift shops and what she calls 'treasure hunting.' Having grown up poor and being forced to wear way too big, tooth achingly ugly winter coats from Goodwill that I'd 'grow into,' hideous polyester button down shirts that a pimp wouldn't touch, scratchy, pill-y wool sweaters reeking of camphor, high water generic blue jeans and summer shorts I would not put on a dog in a clown show, I assiduously avoid things like this. V. was insistent that I would 'go wild' over this flea market because 'it won't be like anything else you've ever been to!!!' I had my doubts about that but you make concessions for friends. We paid our $3 entrance fee and strolled around. Most of the vendor tables had things that were of no interest to me; old playing cards, glassware that was (presumably) collectible, vintage tattoo flash, old silver plate and older, tarnished sterling silver tableware, racks of *shudder* vintage clothing and shoes, most of which had seen better days. There were some well curated tables of antique jewelry and antique beaded bags at very non-bargain prices and a few tables of what I can only call culled pieces from cabinets of curiosities-moth eaten taxidermied items and non-p.c. tourist trash. For the most part, the vendors we encountered were bored seeming or down right rude. The people watching was far better than anything for sale. After 2 hours here, V. bought a very large, ornate dusty rose colored tassel. I asked what she planned to do with it. Her response? 'Do you want it, Warren?' Uhh-that would be NO. I bought nothing. V. wanted to take another spin around the place so I opted to go out to her car to sit and read, telling her to take her time. Another 2 hours passed. She returned empty handed, other than the tassel, to the car. Would I go back? Nope. Should you go if the flea market opens again? It's $3 and maybe an hour or 2 out of your life. You could spend that time and money in worse ways.

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    3.5(137 reviews)
    3.1 miSouth Street District, Queen Village
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    Let me start by saying what I wish I knew years ago. THIS IS A GOODWILL STORE!…read more Retrospect is owned by Goodwill. They pull all the vintage items out of their donations and send them here to be up-charged to high heaven even though they acquired all the items for free! Ever wonder why you can't find affordable nice vintage pieces while at Goodwill anymore? It is because they were all sent here! They used to hide the fact that they were a Goodwill store super well, but recently I noticed that their POS system had the Goodwill logo, and when I asked the staff member about it she confirmed exactly what I'm saying. There are many other vintage stores that are curated and sourced all over the city. Support those small businesses who invest in their craft over Goodwill, a large corp that gets all its inventory for free.

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    Fitting room photo and some stock

    Thunderbird Salvage - antiques - Updated May 2026

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