Are thrift stores getting more expensive?

might also be a product of being owned by Walmart. Who knew? I just learned this the other week. I always knew they weren't a non-profit, but I hadn't realized they were now owned by Walmart.

Really!? I had no idea.

How does that work?

You want the full rant? mebbe not.

They get volunteers from the charity sponsor to make the calls. They collect the donations. They sell the stuff. They give the charity a small percentage of the after-tax profits. Given their excellent book-keeping skills, there are usually tiny after-tax profits to pay a percentage on. Eventually, the board of the charity figures out that their volunteers are being taken advantage of to make money for a for-profit company and VV needs to find a new charity to hook up with.

I've always wondered how they've consistently made a good profit, while having almost no after-tax profit. I hate VV with a passion.

I could (and have) ranted about them for hours. They give non-profit charity thrift shops a bad name. Hate VV. Hate it. I won't donate anything to them - and I regularly donate a lot of good stuff to thrifts.

We used to have a poster from western Canada who worked in one. She used to post about how they ripped staff off on hours and $. Hate VV.

I just learned about the Walmart connection about 10 days ago. I'm not sure if it was recently bought out. It does explain where some of their new goods come from.

Time for me to hit good will again... it can be a tad time consuming, as I bring scads of stuff and then look at the store. So, when I do, I'll be back with an opinion. I don't suppose they'll have a souffle dish..

Locally, the Goodwill and Value Village have competing 50% off days once a month.

Weird.

I've never received a call from VV and ours never has new stuff.

Our Goodwills do have new stuff.

I'm going to take a closer look. Thanks for the head's up.

Goodwills traditionally get their new product from factories, whereas VV new product often comes with store tags already on.

One of our better Goodwills here (from the perspective of a shopper), is on the edge of a small industrial area which includes a couple of clothing manufacturers. When the manufacturers have their bi-annual warehouse sales, leftover product is donated to Goodwill in exchange for a charitable donation receipt. They also actively look for stores that are closing down and offer charitable donation receipts in exchange for the balance of the store contents. I got some great Danish clogs through one of those deals - they'd picked up the contents of a small importer's warehouse.

Twenty-five years ++, when I worked in the vocational rehab department of our largest Goodwill, we got a donation of all the product left over when a tuxedo wholesale/retailer closed down. Tuxedos from the 1950's, 60's and 70's were in every Goodwill retail location. Just about everyone in Toronto seemed to have baby blue ruffled tuxedos for Hallowe'en that year.

ok - on the changing prices thing - I've noticed that the better furniture at craigslist is comparatively lower in price than it was a year ago

Describe the dish you are looking for. Chances are BBB has at least two of them in her kitchen cabinets and can spare one. It will be one less item I'll have to lug up to the Goodwill.

Laughs, I have to say that crossed my mind after I posted.

I'll have to figure out the size, as I don't know by looking at size and guessing quarts, so I'll be back in a few minutes with an approximation.

I had a typical william sonoma souffle dish for a long time, and managed to break it before I moved - a crushing loss as I'd so enjoyed making the joy of cooking blender cheese souffle (recipe is here on a2k) as any fool like me can do it, given it has bread in it. (I've probably still not gotten over a friend of my husband's from a theater group, that we visited in Ventura, who, while we were chatting, threw together a chocolate souffle. I couldn't believe how good it was and that she did it so casually.)

Adds, small ones cost an arm and a leg at a local grocery store (smiths) and they don't have bigger ones.. Well, my idea of an arm and a leg may be a lower amount that some would say.

Ok, I finally worked out the size of my old le cruset pan (may nothing bad ever happen to it), which resembles the old souffle dish in memory - two quarts.

If you have an extra, I'll take it, for sure. Maybe we could trade..
I still need to bring you the photo with the Drosanthemum, which may or may not be what Thomas saw in San Diego. Or you could come here, and see chaos in action.

Thrift store are getting to be more expensive. I went to one the other day, and there were items marked $50 and $70.
I am a college student, and I try to find deals without having to spend a lot of money that I do not have.
When I was a kid my parents would get a desk or a piece of funiture for less than $25, but now those items can go as high as $300. It's really sad!
I'm fine to go without stuff if I can't find it for the right price, but there are people out there with kids that might have to go without a coat or a bed, because the thrift stores are rasing their prices too high for the lower income families to be able to afford.
The Goodwill stores now offer their items not only to the community, but to people in other countries. They have their own website now called shopgoodwill.com. They list the better items, and even some of the not so better items on there as auctions. The website states that they will ship international too.

Do you check Freecycle and Craig's List? We recent put up my mother-in-laws dining set for free after a failed attempt to sell it. Poking around at the other ads I noticed there were tons of things being offered with people practically begging for someone to just take things away (four pianos, 6 computer desks, and a bunch of lazy boy type chairs come to mind).

Value Village is NOT owned by Walmart. CBC had to retract this statement.
As for rising prices, rent, heat, electricity, staffing all cost money and those costs are rising too.

I seldom go to thrift stores now.

Check out how much of the profit goes to local charities. In our area its 4%. Pretty low when you think that 97% goes to the guy who started it. Check the internet they have to report all this stuff.

Oh and the last time i was at value village i finally decided enough was enough when they were selling and old two cup measuring jug with most of the markings rubbed off for $5. I went to wal mart got a brand new four cup measuring jug $5. They even sell $ store stuff for three times the price of brand new. I mean of course its up to the consumer if they want to be gouged, but i can't afford it.

i have noticed prices getting higher and higher. I mean many of the dresses in Value village start at $17. The last time i was there i was looking for some craft paint and a measuring jug. I found a bag of three bottles of craft pain. This same paint i buy at the $ store the $1:25 they wanted $2 a bottle for used paint. And a two cup measuring jug with most of the markings scratched off for $5. Where as i did know the price of the paint. I didn't know how much a measuring jug would cost but it seemed to high. So i went to wal mart. A 4, cup measuring jug was $5 regular price.

Oh and yesterday i went to sears and on sale for $15 was the cutest dress go figure.
its worth checking out in your area how much of that $ goes to charity in ours
its 4%. I think they have have to publish this stuff so its worth checking it out.

Marshall's and Home Store have great bargains. We go there about every 3-4 months, most times just to window shop.

Have you ever been into an actual thrift store?