Thrift stores were created to allow those who couldn’t afford full-price goods to buy good quality items at a lower price, allow for those with items they’d like to get rid of to donate them to someone rather than throwing them away, and to provide funding for the various charity missions each thrift store chain represents.
Unfortunately, Goodwill and Savers, two of Reno’s most popular chain thrift stores, have seen an uptick in prices over the last five years.
High prices are turning people away from thrift stores in a search for lower prices, often ushering potential buyers towards fast fashion websites like Shein and Temu. This shift in purchasing habits is continuing to create piles of cheap clothing made by underpaid laborers, which often ends up back at the, you guessed it, high-priced chain thrift stores.
As a lifelong thrifter, finding good deals on items I typically would never be able to justify spending full price for became a passion for me. I grew up in rural Northern Nevada, and going into Carson City or Reno to find thrift deals became a fun game to me.
Once I began working at 16, finding good deals on items I wanted or needed became even more rewarding as I learned the true price of a dollar. For me, thrifting even connected me with my aunt, who would often go thrifting with me- she is still one of my closest relatives and I often attribute that to our time spent together at various thrift stores.
Recently though thrift stores have become extremely overpriced, even for myself as someone who works more than 40 hours a week. Although I have noticed this trend in high prices for several years across both Carson City and Reno, for the sake of this article I revisited Savers and Goodwill, both in Reno.
Growing up, Savers quickly became one of my favorite thrift stores, often having better items than other thrift stores, including non-chain stores, and offering reasonable prices. Now, I believe Savers has become the worst priced chain thrift store in the area. There I’ve seen formal dresses and furniture priced at upwards of $100. That’s not including their “boutique” section that often has more “luxury” items like brand name bags, jewelry, and more at high prices.
This latest visit, Savers was filled with cheaply-made items, much of which was from Shein, dirty shoes but still high prices.
Goodwill, although prices weren’t as bad as I’ve seen in the past or as bad as I saw at Savers, still held higher-than-thrift-store-average prices I’d like to see on almost every item.
So, what’s the reason behind these price increases? Thrift stores get their items at no cost to them other than the wages they pay employees to sort through each item. Is it a higher cost of living? Is it higher employee wages? Is more money going towards the charities they support?
Truthfully, I am not a financial expert, just an avid thrifter tired of seeing the “budget” options becoming out of reach, however according to my research Goodwill’s CEO Steven C Preston made $650,989 in 2023; and Savers’ CEO made $993,092- not including the more than $4 million dollars he is estimated to have gotten from bonuses and in stock.
Although Goodwill’s 2024 financial statement doesn’t show anything “out of the blue,” they also claim to be a non-profit, whereas Savers blatantly says they are a for-profit organization, meaning any money into the pocket of a CEO would make sense- whether it’s justified is up to the consumer.
There are also several websites and posts alleging that these companies, mainly Goodwill, may not help those they claim to support as well as they say they do. Several sources mention underpaid employees, especially disabled ones.
So- Why do you think prices are continuing to increase?