I saw a package of brand new Tiki Torch wicks at a chain thrift store, still in package, priced higher at the thrift store than I could buy it new at Walmart. I left and have never been back. The only thrift stores I'll go to now are mom & pop thrift stores, since their prices are not outrageous. Even some of the small town antique stores near me are better than the thrift stores in the big cities. Smh. Thrifting is ruined.
this was a great read! a goodwill near my house has a glass shelf where they lock up all of the name brand items (i saw nike in there) for higher prices. i feel like the blame gets put on resellers a lot of them time but while there are questions about the ethics of resale, i love that you focus on the stores themselves.
I feel like what was supposed to be an economical and eco-friendly solution to fast fashion has become a part of the fast fashion problem itself! we lost the plot.
this is so true! i know so many people who justify their impulse low quality purchases with “i can just donate this if i don’t like it” like that’s still part of the problem!!
I’m going to listen, thanks. Because every time I go to my local goodwill now there are the same reseller shoppers who hawk the new racks when they come out and descend like vultures, snagging every name brand piece of clothing. It makes me seethe. It’s just not in good spirit of your fellow shoppers.
I agree sooo wholeheartedly. I have an antique booth and had a cool crystal container priced for $15. It didn’t sell so I donated it to Goodwill, where I saw it priced for $79.99. Can’t stop thinking about it.
We have a local thrift store that sells each piece of clothing for $2-$5, kids clothes for $.50 and lots of household items for $.50 to $10. The profits support the local food bank and community center. It's a small place but always busy!
I absolutely refuse to shop at Goodwill. They take free items, mark them up and grossly underpay their staff, esp those with disabilities. If I thrift, I look for locally owned options.
Nowadays I get my best deals from antique shops or small, family run thrift stores, because when I go to Goodwill everything is expensive or just row upon row of Shein. Yesterday I got a pair of old gloves for two dollars at an antique store, and I think that’s where I’m going to spend my money from now on 😂 I can’t afford Goodwill prices
The mate and I started thrifting in the early 90s - we were both poor, she in grad school and me a journalist. Our courtship was meeting every other day at one of the local shops and trying to find clothes suitable for the office. And through persistence she found cashmere and silk, I found jackets and ties. People actually complimented our dress sense. But prices started to go up and the items became mostly junk and cast-offs. Then a newspaper ran an article about how the local Goodwill was being run by a group of relatives who had given each other well-paid no-show jobs and were cherry-picking the nicer items to sell on Ebay under their personal accounts. The local ReStore started selling used items for more than current retail. We gave up our habit of visiting thrift stores whenever we traveled. We are still together and agree that the days of great thrift store bargains are gone. At least we found each other there.
Before donating anything to Goodwill, I remove the tags so that they can’t justify selling it at a higher price. For my part, I have learned to judge the quality of clothing by examining the construction, fit, and kind of fabric. If I love it, I buy it, regardless of the name on the tag… or the missing tag. I found two fabulous evening gowns at $7 and $20 that I was able to adapt and wear at a wedding. (For those of us with sewing skills, Goodwill is still a great source for fabric and inspiration… I can buy a top, pick the seams apart and use the pieces to either make a new outfit or as a pattern for future makes.)
It really does feel like thrift stores have lost sight of their community commitment. These stores are supposed to make life-easing accessible to everyone, and instead it really does look like they’re extracting all they can to pay CEOs/Executive Directors spiraling salaries. Even on the old model, Goodwill made enough to pay a decent wage. There is no excuse for the capitalist intrusion!
I used to run a local nonprofit that also had a very *popular thrift boutique (women & mens’s clothing & accessories only). We had a very simple business model—everything was $5, purchase 4 items and receive your fifth item for FREE. People shopped from us and resold online. My volunteers were upset when they discovered that, but I wasn’t—we both made money. Sales supported our mission to “lower barriers to employment” for our clients (low-income, re-entry, disabled, etc.). It helped us become sustainable and less reliant on grants (which can be fickle).
I also enjoy the thrill of the hunt in a thrift shop but am astounded at the prices! We dealt in volume. More should do that!
I am retired now and the new Executive recently raise the price to $7.50 per item or 5 items for $30. Still a bargain.
*located in Palm Desert, CA, about 20 minutes east of Palm Springs.
This is why Buy Nothing, local makerspaces, and clothes swapping is so important. I shopped out of thrift by necessity and now it’s no longer an affordable option for quality clothes. Most of the stuff sent to thrift stores are trashed.
I have a good time on the goodwill auction site and have gotten some incredible deals there! But I’m disappointed every time I walk inside an actual store now. Not only is it full of overpriced trash, but people who actually need thrift store prices are walking out empty handed because they have been priced out. One time I was there recently there was a mother trying get her kids shoes but could find nothing affordably priced. It’s a shame.
I completely agree with this article. I went looking for some glasses for an art project. I wanted some cool goblets and mismatched things - even basic cups were priced higher than the dollar store. What’s the POINT?!
I 100% agree and I am also at that thrift store to save money but I am also there because every secondhand item that stays out of the landfill longer and every shirt that gets worn one more time is a win for our planet. I think of it as a statement of my values, not just a way to save money.
ALSO I think where you need to be is the big religious-y ones out in the boondocks. I was there the other day and was shook 😅
Love the conversation that is happening in the thrifting community (your article especially).
And yeah, it is unfortunate, but Goodwill has always been a microcosm of the capitalist corporate structure under the guise of a non-profit. Like when your local CEO makes 20% to 50% more annually than the workers on the ground, you know it’s just another scam. I think it is something like $400,000 to $700,000 for CEOs vs. $15,000 to $40,000 for store employees.
Would LOVE to see yard sales and smaller business reinvent thrifting.
I saw a package of brand new Tiki Torch wicks at a chain thrift store, still in package, priced higher at the thrift store than I could buy it new at Walmart. I left and have never been back. The only thrift stores I'll go to now are mom & pop thrift stores, since their prices are not outrageous. Even some of the small town antique stores near me are better than the thrift stores in the big cities. Smh. Thrifting is ruined.
this was a great read! a goodwill near my house has a glass shelf where they lock up all of the name brand items (i saw nike in there) for higher prices. i feel like the blame gets put on resellers a lot of them time but while there are questions about the ethics of resale, i love that you focus on the stores themselves.
I feel like what was supposed to be an economical and eco-friendly solution to fast fashion has become a part of the fast fashion problem itself! we lost the plot.
this is so true! i know so many people who justify their impulse low quality purchases with “i can just donate this if i don’t like it” like that’s still part of the problem!!
Highly recommend the Clotheshorse podcast and their series on resellers. Resellers are not the problem in the least!
I’m going to listen, thanks. Because every time I go to my local goodwill now there are the same reseller shoppers who hawk the new racks when they come out and descend like vultures, snagging every name brand piece of clothing. It makes me seethe. It’s just not in good spirit of your fellow shoppers.
agreed!
I agree sooo wholeheartedly. I have an antique booth and had a cool crystal container priced for $15. It didn’t sell so I donated it to Goodwill, where I saw it priced for $79.99. Can’t stop thinking about it.
it’s criminal!!
We have a local thrift store that sells each piece of clothing for $2-$5, kids clothes for $.50 and lots of household items for $.50 to $10. The profits support the local food bank and community center. It's a small place but always busy!
i love this! I wish I had something similar around me!
I absolutely refuse to shop at Goodwill. They take free items, mark them up and grossly underpay their staff, esp those with disabilities. If I thrift, I look for locally owned options.
Nowadays I get my best deals from antique shops or small, family run thrift stores, because when I go to Goodwill everything is expensive or just row upon row of Shein. Yesterday I got a pair of old gloves for two dollars at an antique store, and I think that’s where I’m going to spend my money from now on 😂 I can’t afford Goodwill prices
The mate and I started thrifting in the early 90s - we were both poor, she in grad school and me a journalist. Our courtship was meeting every other day at one of the local shops and trying to find clothes suitable for the office. And through persistence she found cashmere and silk, I found jackets and ties. People actually complimented our dress sense. But prices started to go up and the items became mostly junk and cast-offs. Then a newspaper ran an article about how the local Goodwill was being run by a group of relatives who had given each other well-paid no-show jobs and were cherry-picking the nicer items to sell on Ebay under their personal accounts. The local ReStore started selling used items for more than current retail. We gave up our habit of visiting thrift stores whenever we traveled. We are still together and agree that the days of great thrift store bargains are gone. At least we found each other there.
thats such a beautiful story but so sad that the tradition for you guys has been tarnished 😢
Before donating anything to Goodwill, I remove the tags so that they can’t justify selling it at a higher price. For my part, I have learned to judge the quality of clothing by examining the construction, fit, and kind of fabric. If I love it, I buy it, regardless of the name on the tag… or the missing tag. I found two fabulous evening gowns at $7 and $20 that I was able to adapt and wear at a wedding. (For those of us with sewing skills, Goodwill is still a great source for fabric and inspiration… I can buy a top, pick the seams apart and use the pieces to either make a new outfit or as a pattern for future makes.)
It really does feel like thrift stores have lost sight of their community commitment. These stores are supposed to make life-easing accessible to everyone, and instead it really does look like they’re extracting all they can to pay CEOs/Executive Directors spiraling salaries. Even on the old model, Goodwill made enough to pay a decent wage. There is no excuse for the capitalist intrusion!
I used to run a local nonprofit that also had a very *popular thrift boutique (women & mens’s clothing & accessories only). We had a very simple business model—everything was $5, purchase 4 items and receive your fifth item for FREE. People shopped from us and resold online. My volunteers were upset when they discovered that, but I wasn’t—we both made money. Sales supported our mission to “lower barriers to employment” for our clients (low-income, re-entry, disabled, etc.). It helped us become sustainable and less reliant on grants (which can be fickle).
I also enjoy the thrill of the hunt in a thrift shop but am astounded at the prices! We dealt in volume. More should do that!
I am retired now and the new Executive recently raise the price to $7.50 per item or 5 items for $30. Still a bargain.
*located in Palm Desert, CA, about 20 minutes east of Palm Springs.
This is why Buy Nothing, local makerspaces, and clothes swapping is so important. I shopped out of thrift by necessity and now it’s no longer an affordable option for quality clothes. Most of the stuff sent to thrift stores are trashed.
I have a good time on the goodwill auction site and have gotten some incredible deals there! But I’m disappointed every time I walk inside an actual store now. Not only is it full of overpriced trash, but people who actually need thrift store prices are walking out empty handed because they have been priced out. One time I was there recently there was a mother trying get her kids shoes but could find nothing affordably priced. It’s a shame.
I completely agree with this article. I went looking for some glasses for an art project. I wanted some cool goblets and mismatched things - even basic cups were priced higher than the dollar store. What’s the POINT?!
Agree with this SO much. Our local Savers used to be incredible. Now it’s all Zara and old navy etc. nothing ever good
I 100% agree and I am also at that thrift store to save money but I am also there because every secondhand item that stays out of the landfill longer and every shirt that gets worn one more time is a win for our planet. I think of it as a statement of my values, not just a way to save money.
ALSO I think where you need to be is the big religious-y ones out in the boondocks. I was there the other day and was shook 😅
Love the conversation that is happening in the thrifting community (your article especially).
And yeah, it is unfortunate, but Goodwill has always been a microcosm of the capitalist corporate structure under the guise of a non-profit. Like when your local CEO makes 20% to 50% more annually than the workers on the ground, you know it’s just another scam. I think it is something like $400,000 to $700,000 for CEOs vs. $15,000 to $40,000 for store employees.
Would LOVE to see yard sales and smaller business reinvent thrifting.
Great piece as always ❤️🔥