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More people are stretching their budgets by shopping at thrift and consignment shops. Date published: 2/8/2009
BY CATHY JETT
John Sharp of Fredericksburg had planned to donate his outgrown shirts, khakis and jeans to Goodwill. Then he heard the ad for Plato's Closet, which pays customers for gently used teen and young-adult clothing that it can resell. "I thought I might as well get some cash for them," said the Hampden-Sydney College freshman, who'd never been to a Plato's before. Last week he lugged four bags and boxes of clothing into the chain's location in Spotsylvania Crossing Shopping Center, then shopped as assistant manager Kelsey Bond examined the labels to see if they met the requirement that items be in style and a year or less old. "We can tell by the label design," said Bond as she stacked up the qualifying polo shirts in one of Sharp's bags. "A lot of the labels right now are done in cursive and the jeans' labels are attached and not looped." The Plato's Closet store on Plank Road has seen a 12 percent increase in sales since this time last year, said owner Donna Saylor, who also has Plato's Closets in Virginia Beach and just opened one in Newport News. "I thought that was pretty good considering the economy," she said. "What I'm seeing is some new people, people asking more questions about selling their items and what we do. I've been pleasantly surprised." The resale industry is one of the few recession-proof segments of retailing, according to the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops. Consumers cutting back on spending are attracted to quality merchandise that thrift and consignment stores sell at a fraction of the original price. And, as Sharp discovered, they also can pick up some extra cash or tax deductions by selling, consigning or donating their unused or unwanted items. "More people try it, and they get hooked," said Adele Meyer, executive director of the St. Clair Shores, Mich.-based group. "We're also seeing more people sell, consign or donate their items because they don't want to throw them out on the curb any longer." According to her organization's most recent survey, members saw sales increase an average of 35 percent in September and October 2008 over the same time period in 2007.
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