Unfortunately I was only in Memphis for about a day and a half, so I didn’t get to learn any of the hidden gems that most places have. I did love the atmosphere of the city, Beale St. and Graceland though. Sorry I can’t be of more help!

I was a student when I lived in Memphis so most of my furniture came from the thrift stores on Summer. I think that was the road they were on. There are several together, not sure how good they are, just depends on what you’re looking for. Really good for well broken in mismatched furniture!
I think there are some big flea markets at the fair grounds at times if you can schedule your trip for those.

Prufrock is right, it’s Summer. It used to be the number 53 bus which you could catch from Court Square, that shady place between Main and… The Parking Garage. Just ask anyone where to catch the buses. Otherwise, you could drive out there via Poplar Av. from downtown, turning north after Overton Square, it’s the next big West-East thoroughfare.
I’m trying to remember if there are any in Orange Mound, off Lamar, but can’t come up with any. That would be my second choice of where to look. Then consider North Memphis and Frazier. North Memphis is known to have a mission established there by Mother Theresa’s Order. Frazier is known for its working class white community, and is the butt of redneck jokes locally. However, I’ve known some very nice people there. I suspect its got some folk treasure and mystery, if one is patient.

There are probably a dozen or more pretty good thrift store down Summer Avenue between Trezevant and the interstate. Aside from that, there are a couple towards downtown (A MIFA thrift store and a Salvation Army) and at least one good shopped vintage store, Light Years (you can look them up on MySpace). Flashback is an overpriced shopped vintage store, not worth your time, probably, but close to Light Years in the Cooper-Young district.

I’ve also found that the Goodwill on Stateline Rd. just south of Memphis is a great place for furniture as well as other things. There’s also a Salvaton Army up on Austin Peay in Raleigh that is VERY good a lot of the time.

I worked in costume design on a recent movie so we basically hit every thrift store in Memphis, I found them all online (search Memphis Thrift or Salvation Army or Goodwill) and/or in the phone book.

Also – there is a Goodwill store on Highland near the Walker – the University of Memphis area that is popular with the college crowd.

There’s this place Jun Lee. It has a lot of cheap cute stuff, but you have to spend atleast $30, but that’ll but a lot. (I’m not the most reliable source) but i have heard good things.