By The Pound's road to becoming a Boston institution began in 1981 when one Saturday morning a few b

Every morning when the store opens (except Fridays) we take an 850lb bale of clothing - snap open the wires and let the public shop. On Saturday Sunday we put out multiple bales. Everything is mixed together - mens, women's kids - every style and decade all mixed together. At odd times of the week we fill tables with paired shoes, bric-a-brac, purses, bags belts. You pay by weight, the cost is $1.50 per pound. It's an unusual fun way to shop and no two days are the same.
By The Pound's road to becoming a Boston institution began in 1981 when one Saturday morning a few bales were opened on the floor of an old Cambridge soap factory. Back then it was called Dollar-A-Pound, and there were only a few hours a week you could shop through the thousands of pounds of clothing. We opened at 7:45 because people just kept coming in earlier earlier and closed at 2:00 so that we could go out to the racetrack. Many things have changed since those days. By the Pound has been given many coats of paint is now open 7 days a week instead of one.
I came here from the West Coast, where being a little weird is normal and a lot weird is even better. At first glance, Boston seemed to be populated by straitlaced business types with places to go and corporate ladders to climb.
I found a little piece of indie heaven at the Garment District in Cambridge. It bills itself as an alternative department store, and it lives up to its claim. It s a superstore of new and pre-loved clothing from the shift dresses of the 1920s to the now-trendy 80s fashion disasters to reasonably-priced new clothes from independent designers.
Covering most of the first floor of the store, the area is a testament to frugality, absurdity, and inefficiency. Dedicated shoppers crouch or sit on the floor and sort through mounds of clothes of various sizes, styles, and origins. No racks, no hangers, no bins. It s an excavation.
After half an hour of digging, I had three great finds that weighed in at exactly one pound, including a black summer dress from the Gap. If my math is right, it cost me around 45 cents. Not too shabby.