Thrift stores in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, CABA has 5 thrift and charity shops on the map right now. 2 of them are charity shops and 3 are independent second-hand stores, so Buenos Aires gives you both flavours of thrifting in one trip. Stock turns over fast in all of them, so the shop that had nothing last month might have your thing this week.

This guide covers every thrift store we could verify in and around Buenos Aires (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Compra Venta Cash Express and Mama Carmen, plus Tienda SolidariaTzédek — each with its own personality, which is half the fun. If a shop's missing from Buenos Aires's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet — the scene is bigger than any single dataset.

The Buenos Aires thrift lineup

5 mapped within about 40 km:

What the map tells us about thrifting in Buenos Aires

1 of the 5 shops list their opening hours, which is unusually helpful for Buenos Aires — thrift stores are notorious for surprise closures. Still, call ahead if you're making a special trip to Buenos Aires; volunteer-run shops sometimes close early on quiet days.

The Buenos Aires thrift circuit

The efficient Buenos Aires thrifting route strings these together: Compra Venta Cash Express on 400 Avenida Cabildo, Mama Carmen on Independencia, Tienda SolidariaTzédek, Compro Todo 23, and Tienda de Venta Benefica Articulos Usados on Avenida Ángel Torcuato de Alvear — 5 shops, one logical loop, no backtracking.

Thrifting tips for Buenos Aires

A few things worth knowing before you work through Buenos Aires's thrift stores:

• Seasonal items go cheapest off-season at Compra Venta Cash Express. Winter coats in April, fans in October. Buy the season ahead and pay half.
• Visit at opening time at Mama Carmen. Serious pickers arrive at opening. You don't have to be one of them, but the first hour has the best pick of the day's restock.
• Ask when new stock hits the floor. Shops restock on rhythms — truck days, volunteer shifts. One question at the counter tells you when to come back.
• Check zippers, buttons and seams. Thirty seconds of inspection at the rack beats discovering the broken zipper at home. Thrift stores don't do returns.

Good to know

We searched about 40 km around Buenos Aires — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to for a thrifting run. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new shop in Buenos Aires can take a while to appear. If you spot one of the 5 that's closed, or a great shop we missed, the fix is to update the map itself — that's where this guide reads from.

Prices at Buenos Aires's thrift stores are set by each shop and change constantly, so we don't list them. As a rough rule, charity shops are the cheapest, independents sit in the middle, and anything labelled vintage costs more everywhere — Buenos Aires included.