Shopping on a Budget in Austin

With a nod to market values and all that jazz you learned in business school, it can be quite difficult to designate a dollar amount to an old-school Mongoose fixed gear tandem bike or a Star Trek gumball machine. This Allandale resale shop, operated by St. David's Episcopal Church and powered by neighborhood donations and estate sales, had both for under 30 bucks during our recent jaunt.

It's bit of a misnomer, as Big Bertha's is a petit street level, Alamo Drafthouse-adjacent consignment shop with a small-girthed gent named Henry manning the ship. Price points may be higher than your average vintage haunt, but the inventory consists of some key high-end designer pieces.

Warehouse-priced, cheap booze at several locations dispersed throughout town. We'll toast to that.

As an ode to the name, this celebratory supermarket's selective albeit kitschy range is infectious and popular with foodies, including frugal ones. Offering more than the average staples, Fiesta Mart proffers a chance to score anything from global grocery items (canned rhizome from Thailand, perhaps?) to economically-priced flat-screen TVs.

The affordable miscellany in this North Loop vintage shop poses as a hodge-podge of hidden treasures and eclectic threads, perfect for those perpetually beating to their own style drum.

You know the smell of an untrodden, stiffly leathered pair of Lucchese boots, or the unfaded deep blue of brand spanking new Wranglers? Cavender's is a jackpot of any and all at varying price points of Western attire and gifts--perfect investment pieces that embody one's lusting for a wrangled ?High Noon? Gary Cooper.

Combing through this dense mecca for obscure trinkets, gently?used collectibles and odd knickknacks can prove fruitful for those with eagle-eyed vision. Think Toys-R-Us for the quirky grown-ups.