The once-major forces in retail are slowly failing. Sears barely made it through 2020. Macy’s and other department retailers have forcibly traded their financial cushion for near-term survival, and former Toys “R” Us buildings have become eyesores where kids today will never know the influence the company once had. (I’m not crying, you’re crying.)
Companies like Walmart and Target completely shifted their financial philosophies to stay relevant in the last year. The former leaning more on online shopping and the latter on modernizing the retail experience.
So, besides these two retailers, where are people turning to spend their holiday cash? Well, one of the more obvious answers is Amazon and online shopping. However, surprisingly enough, thrift stores and online resell are carving their way into becoming one of the most popular ways to shop today.
According to the Associaton of Resale Professionals — a site designated for tracking the financial growth of resale — thrift and resale is a multi-billion dollar a year industry.
First Research estimates the resale industry in the US to have annual revenues of approximately $17.5 billion including revenue from antique stores which are 13% of their statistics. ThredUP, an online resale marketplace, pegs the total resale market in 2018 at $24 billion, predicting it will reach $64 billion by 2028.
In 2019, secondhand clothing expanded 21 times faster than conventional apparel retail did. While fast fashion is expected to continue to grow 20% in the next 10 years, secondhand fashion is poised to grow 185%.
COVID-19 may have slowed down resell growth for a few months, but the industry is booming once again. With holiday shopping, consumers are much more tight-fisted due to the economic crisis.
Affordability and thrift have become priorities this year. Consumers not only have reduced their consumption of nonessential items such as clothing, but also are more concerned with buying unique, more personal items. This is a reason why websites like Etsy have grown as well.
Up close and personal
In an effort to find out more about thrift shops, I went to a local thrift shop and possible hoarder’s paradise, Wow! That’s Unusual, where the items inside live up to the store’s name and even surpass it in some instances. From bird seed to Blu-Rays, vinyl to retro gaming consoles, as well as a one-of-a-kind artwork. Wow! That’s Unusual is a cesspool of cool collectible stuff.
Before talking to the owner, a group of Ramapo College students who were seen rummaging through a series of vinyl perhaps solved our riddle. Ramapo College senior, and double business major, Nick Lapiska explained why he goes to thrift shops:
“Three reasons: Price, even Walmart-type stores can’t match thrift shop prices. Quality, a lot of the clothes I’ll find at thrift stores are lightly worn, name-brand items that are gonna last. Lastly, uniqueness; I feel like I can find one-of-a-kind pieces at a thrift shop that I wouldn’t be able to find in a standard clothes store… The uniqueness also makes every trip different, which makes it more fun to go.”
Wow! That’s Unusual certainly meets Lapiska’s criteria for thrift stores as I talk to him next to unique artwork of Jimi Hendrix drenched in psychedelic colors, while three stuffed deer heads wearing hats were in eye view.
The owner of the store, Steve Kaufman who lost his job as a distributor for The New York Times, began to take his hobby of collecting much more seriously after being unemployed. Kaufman gave a history lesson of the shop and possibly revealed his and other thrift shops’ recipe for success.
“When I first started the business it was more people in their late 20s, now my customer base ranges from 10–90,” Kaufman said as he stood in front of mountains of valuable collectibles. “There’s something for everybody here and some of the kids are really fascinated with the history part of this stuff. I think part of what makes this place is the story behind the pieces and the fact that we can explain the stories to people.”
It truly did look as if everything in the shop did have some kind of story as I looked around at legendary Beatles artwork and button-down shirts that made Macy’s apparel look worthless in comparison.
The conversation shifted gears as Kaufman explained why his customer base chose him over traditional retail stores — in this case, Walmart.
“That’s all made in China crap!” Kaufman roared. “People want something that’s got some feel to it, some life and that’s what you see here. There’s a second life to all this stuff. The stories, there’s history — it’s really interesting to be around it and watch people’s reactions.”
The three keys to success
One thing echoed throughout the store that day: traditional retail stores like Walmart are trite. So, I went to my nearest Walmart to see if any of it rang true.
In a way, the descriptions that Lapiska and Kaufman offered weren’t too far from the truth. The store was filled with shirts that appeared to be trendy, and shoes that actually looked pretty decent, yet the quality of these items continued to disappoint. Made in China, Bangladesh, or Vietnam was on the back of every item we inspected, and truthfully it proved to be a little embarrassing for a company created and mostly based in the US.
This isn’t even mentioning the absurd price difference between the two places. Even a relatively low-priced place like Walmart can only sell DVDs as low as $5, or shirts between $10 and $20.
Only a few miles away from this Walmart, a local Goodwill more than halved the retail giant’s prices. There were shirts starting at $2.99, sports jerseys that practically looked brand new, and designer coats so cheap that I even had to pick one up.
Additionally, I was surprised to see that Goodwill updated their look — at least the ones in North Jersey. Clothes were well-organized, easy-to-find, and I became more and more surprised with the brands located there. Alfani, Ed Hardy, Aldo, Topman, Croft & Barrow, H&M, Polo, and even Tommy Bahama were just a few of the names found.
In 2016, Goodwill Industries International made $5.7 billion in revenue, landing at number 14 among Forbes’ top 100 U.S. charities.
I went to one more thrift store to explore their prices, quality, and uniqueness; this time, however, a place a little less local and featured within the walls of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, 16 miles south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey.
Unbeatable deals
JBMDL Spouses’ Club Non-Profit Thrift Store is a non-profit thrift shop ran by volunteers, all of whom are direct spouses or family members of military personnel. Another cleanly-laid out shop, JBMDL Spouses’ Club Thrift Store practically gives away items with a five-dollar fill-a-bag promotion and frequent discounts on big-ticket items. The five-dollar fill-a-bag promotion happens every week and includes everything in the store — even most of the higher end stuff.
So if you find a Tommy Hilfiger coat, stuff it in the bag. Sperry Shoes? Throw it in the bag. Suit jackets, high heels, coats, sunglasses, and various assortments of name brand clothing? You guessed it, bag it right on up. It’s no reason that the store was outrageously packed and harbored a Black Friday-type of environment where shoppers were practically throwing everything into their carts.
The manager of the store Brandi Shugart told us that there’s so much being donated that they practically give everything away.
“We’ve been running the five-dollar fill-a-bag promotion for a while now and we still have so much that the racks never stay empty,” Shugart said. “Now we’re putting out holiday stuff (lights and decorations) and we’re seeing a lot of people come just for that over other stores.”
What does the future hold?
“Resale is here to stay,” said ThredUp co-founder and CEO James Reinhart. “The next question is who wins and who loses.”
Resale is just beginning to eclipse fast-fashion and traditional retail. The question now becomes: What stores are going to update their formula and fend off the booming thrift market? Target and Walmart for example, aren’t going anywhere anytime soon with their updated business philosophies. Additionally, sites like Etsy create new products but still thrive on uniqueness, price, and quality. I invest in Etsy for this very reason.
However, the energy among young people to shop resale is undeniable. Millennials and Gen Zers, in particular, enjoy frequenting thrift stores and buying resell, shredding the last remnants of social embarrassment about such places. 70% of Millennials and Gen Z make up for all resale shopping, according to ThredUp.
Thrift stores weren’t always cool — but their recent popularity has led to better prices, uniqueness, and you guessed it, quality. It’s the simple things that consumers care about. One worker at JBMDL thrift store, Jackie Adorno, a big-time yard sale shopper explained how the mindset towards thrift stores has changed in recent years.
“They have definitely evolved since I was a kid — typical thrift stores were your Salvation Army and nobody wanted to shop there,” Adorno explained. “Even back in college I had to search hard to find one… they are definitely a much more popular place today.”
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