There's something about it, at least for me. Something about heading out and not knowing what treasures you may find, but tingling with the anticipation. Sure sometimes it's a wash, but those times when it's so much better than you imagined make it more than worth it.
In my teens it was used record shops, in my twenties it was thrift stores, and I was never just hunting for myself. I was out seeking with everyone I knew in mind. If it was your birthday, I'd turn up with an excellent estate sale find just for you, if we were dating, you got to play dressup whenever you came over and you always looked fab.
Now in my thirties I've turned that compulsion into a project, into EVOL Vintage, same essential impulse on a much larger scale. I hustle and hunt, so you can shop at your leisure; everybody wins.