Where do you get your fix? - Alternatives

So, to date, we've been walking through the crafting/fabric options in the inner city of Brisbane and in previous postings have had a look at multinational companies and independent stores, now we're onto alternative finds.

Op Shops/Thrift Stores/Garage Sales:

These places are a golden opportunity to find something unique to reuse, recycle, repurpose...for the good of the planet and your soul...also your wallet - second hand things are cheap! I usually look for nice cotton print dresses that might not be to my styling or a few sizes too big and use the fabric for handmade goodness.  It's a pity Brisbane doesn't have much of a winter as we don't really ever see second hand cashmere jumpers (sweaters) in these parts - which is a shame. Most of the remnants in Op Shops are old curtains or horrible, horrible home furnishings - but I did happen upon a great hand printed piece of linen once which I thought was a score! These places are also great for finding an assortment of buttons and knitting needles, which for some reason are always lurking in a glass jar on top of a shelf - mostly tiny, tiny gauge needles though - must have been alot of baby knitting going on at some point!

Secret sell offs:

Thomas Dixon Ballet Centre - this is the Queensland Ballet school which is situated in West End (on Montague Rd) and used to be a shoe factory which was built in 1827! Anyhoo - apparently every now and again they sell off costumes, embellishments, left over fabrics etc from their productions. Has anyone ever been to one of these?

Reverse Garbage (Montague Rd, West End):

OK, now this one is not a secret but is a great find and I may have to swear you to secrecy after reading this. Reverse Garbage was set up to take unwanted surplus, waste or remnant supplies etc from businesses and sell them to the public for very, very cheap prices. This place is awesome for artists and weekend DIYers as it has anything and everything and it's random, changes daily and is lots of fun! I saw a basket of plaster cast feet once (from a podiatists) and picked one up to have a better look - it had my family name written on the bottom - SPOOKY! I bought it and put it in the garden as some weird outdoor art sculpture. Of relevance to us, they also get fabric remnants/scraps from local designers and manufacturers (Sacha Drake to name one) - sometimes you get heaps of black lycra...but sometimes you get some amazing linen, or lovely pieces of knitted cotton...as I said, it's random. There are also Reverse Garbage places in other Australian states - does this happen in the USA, Canada or Europe?