SCARY SAVINGS

I was a V.V. (Value Village) virgin until my pal Jo-ann Dodds walked me through the Queen and Logan location about a decade ago. Jo-ann is the consummate V.V. thrifter who routinely bags goodies like Chanel scarves through sheer instinct. In fact, for a while (while I was the Star's Shopping-section deputy editor) she had a column called "Dodds and Ends," chronicling her weekly V.V. treasures.

In my maiden V.V. foray, I scored a vintage chocolate-brown men’s Balmain jacket that is so Al Pacino in Carlito’s Way. It is the real deal; cost me $40 and I still wear it.

Somehow Jo-ann had missed it. I think I might even have gloated.

Thrifting is no longer considered déclassé. It’s all about the hunt -- just look at the success of Winners and Marshalls. Everybody’s mixing high-end with high street; vintage and new. H&M launched a new 110-piece collaboration with Balmain. Granted the jackets can run to $400 but that’s a fraction of the $4,000-plus runway tab.

And there has been a reissue of Cheap Chic, the 1975 thrift-shop manifesto that according to the New York Times “was a guide to personal style that blew a big raspberry to establishment norms with a pugnacious manifesto.”

The editors “presented the uniforms and flourishes of the new order: jeans, T-shirts, leotards, cowboy boots, Goodwill wares and flea-market couture, Mexican peasant blouses, Peruvian sweaters and painter’s pants . . . ”

Moreover, a used copy of the original Cheap Chic is worth $300 – which represents a sizable shopping spree in a thrift shop.

“I have a copy somewhere,” I gleefully crowed to Rob. “No you don’t,” he replied. “I’m pretty sure you sold it at a lawn sale. For a buck.”

Ouch. My bad.

The welcome sign at the Lansdowne/Bloor location of Value Village. I made an excursion Wednesday to buy new jeans for the incredible shrinking Rob and check out the Halloween costumes.

No, they aren’t The Munsters, they are mannequin greeters at Value Village, all decked out for Halloween.

You can dress up as everything from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to a can-can dancer with stuff from V.V. at prices that are ridiculously lower than Malabar’s.

This witchy woman is part of the Halloween set decoration at V.V. and not for sale. Too bad; she would make a great garden gnome.

Even the staffers get into the Halloween spirits. This young woman was a cheeky check-out in ghoulish green hair accessories.

This rug is not available at Value Village. It is rendition of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus as a hand-woven rug designed by Robyn Waffle, a hip young woman at Totem Rug Design. Note the whimsical Halloweenie touch of a black cat at her feet.