What better way to celebrate August 17th, National Thrift Store Day, then at a volunteer-driven thrift that helps support fully a dozen charities, helping with housing, prison ministries, hunger issues and more. The New Life Thrift Shop in Lewes, Delaware, is a ministry of the Lewes-Rehoboth Association of Churches, drawing on the membership of some [...]
Upscale marketing can be an uneasy fit with a thrift store. Sadly, we see this in a three-month old Goodwill Boutique in Pawley’s Island, S.C. Housed in a large stand-alone store along the main north-south route in the Grand Strand resort area, the store is subtly advertised with the script logo “GW,” referring to Goodwill. [...]
Today’s trend in retail expansion is all about budget stores. While traditional retailers such as Sears and Macy’s are closing stores, the various dollar store chains are expanding rapidly. And so are the chain stores that sell thrifted clothing. The largest clothing resale chain, Winmark, franchises the store brands Clothes Mentor, Style Encore, Once Upon [...]
If you needed convincing that thrifting is widespread, imagine our surprise at finding four thrift stores in the market town of Cootehill in County Cavan, Ireland, population 1,853. Three of them, the Palliative Care Charity Shop (run by the Irish Hospice Foundation), Vincent’s (run by St. Vincent de Paul) and New2U Charity Shop (run by [...]
Thrift stores often aren’t located in prime real estate areas. To keep costs down, you may be searching strip malls and back streets for resale shops. But if you’re visiting historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, you’ll find the Gettysburg Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop planted directly on Lincoln Square, at the city’s main traffic circle. In front is a [...]
Thrift stores typically are located where rents are low. In San Diego, this means there are several charity-run shops in the areas where their homeless clients live – a service to those needing inexpensive clothing. And the stores welcome shoppers with more resources, because they need customers to keep their charitable mission alive. This is [...]
Letting down a hem on a thrifted item isn’t always a success, because many fabrics show the old crease line, no matter what. On a pre-worn item, there may be slight fabric fading that only shows up when you undo the fabric that was formerly hidden in the hem. Letting it out means the new [...]
