On any given day, the crowded parking lot at Pick of the Litter Thrift Shop on busy Piner Road in Santa Rosa would make a mall department store manager green with envy. Cars jockey for parking slots and traffic comes to a stop as shoppers ingress and egress. Meanwhile, at the mall, there is plenty of empty parking spaces and a dearth of customers.
It’s all part of a growing phenomenon of thrift shopping—finding gently used bargains in clothing, furniture, jewelry, housewares, and a plethora of other items. This latest trend is brought on by a younger generation determined to set their own styles while doing something environmentally-friendly, and an older generation that’s downsizing and letting go of things their kids don’t want. Locally, thrift shopping has also been fueled by rebuilding after wildfires, as fire victims seek to replace vintage items and housewares they lost and furnish their new digs with slightly used items that don’t have an IKEA label.
In other words, it seems just about everyone is proudly singing “Second-Hand Rose.”
The beginnings
People have handed down clothing and household goods for ages, but modern thrift shopping finds its roots in Christian ministries back in the late 1800s. The Salvation Army launched its first thrift operation in the basement of a men’s shelter. The men would canvas neighborhoods asking for material goods and receive food and a place to live in return. A Methodist minister started Goodwill in the early 1900s, hiring poor and disabled people in Boston to collect goods and repair them. Today, both the Salvation Army and Goodwill are the equivalent of “big box” thrift stores and can be found in multiple locations throughout the North Bay.
In the 1960s, Hippies made thrift shopping a virtue—a sign of the counterculture rejecting mass retail. The second-hand movement grew steadily over the years as charitable organizations found thrift stores to be an excellent source of income and largely relied on their women’s guilds to organize and operate the stores. But the big boon in thrift shopping began in the first decade of the 21st century when The Great Recession sent shoppers scurrying to cheaper alternatives to build their wardrobes and furnish their homes.
According to a report from the retail analytics firm GlobalData and the online thrift store ThredUp, the second-hand market is projected to reach $77 billion by 2025, up from $36 billion in 2021. It is growing 11 times the rate of the broader retail clothing sector, so it’s easy to see why traditional department stores are closing their doors.
Thrift vs. consignment
By definition, a thrift store is a store selling goods to benefit a charity. Sometimes its workers are all volunteers, like The Welfare League on Railroad Square in Santa Rosa. Sometimes they have both volunteers and paid staff, a model employed by Pick of the Litter, which benefits Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County.
Consignment stores, on the other hand, are almost always for-profit operations that take in used clothing and other items for consignment sales. The owner of the goods being consigned is given a percentage of the item’s sales price and the store keeps the remaining percentage. One exception is Treasure House in Santa Rosa, which takes in high-end furniture, home décor and jewelry and gives the proceeds it receives (45% of the sales price in most cases, except high-end jewelry) to the YWCA Safe House for women and children.
Both thrift stores and consignment stores compete for the dollars of “thrifters” and those who enjoy “going junkin’.” Their clientele runs the gamut—old, young, homeless, rich, poor, women, men, antique dealers, online resellers, you name it.
Benefits of thrifting
Thrift shoppers love saving money, but many of the dedicated second-hand shoppers – particularly younger ones – find altruistic rewards as well. It’s seen as another means of recycling and promoting environmental sustainability, especially when it comes to the apparel and footwear industries, which together account for about 10% of climate impact, according to axios.com. This is more than all international flights and maritime shipping trips combined, Axios says. Choosing to buy and wear second-hand clothing not only allows a person to develop their own sense of style not easily replicated, but it also feeds self-respect for being environmentally conscious and choosing sustainability.
While thrifting can be done on your computer—think Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, ThredUp and Depop, among others—most thrift shoppers, according to Axios, enjoy brick-and-mortar shopping. The North Bay is blessed with many thrift and consignment store gems where customers can shop the racks, dig through bins, and savor the thrill of the hunt.
The Welfare League
The grand dame of North Bay thrift stores is The Welfare League, located in Santa Rosa’s Historic Railroad Square. A nonprofit, all-volunteer organization, it was founded in 1939 with a focus on women and children. The thrift shop was opened for business in 1950, and in 1961, the present 4th Street location was purchased with a loan, on a handshake, from the Exchange Bank. The loan was fully paid off in five years. This year, The Welfare League is celebrating its 83rd anniversary.
The window displays beckon shoppers with quality like-new and new clothing, accessories, and vintage-antique items. And though it’s a thrift store with an array of merchandise, it won second place as “Best Antique Store” in 2021, The Press Democrat’s “Best of Sonoma County” readers’ poll. The shop supports many service programs throughout Sonoma County, including Santa Rosa Junior College scholarship programs (nursing, childhood development, and the trades) awarding 10 to 15 recipients annually.
If you are into Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and everything else Peanuts, this is the place to shop. The Welfare League receives genuine Peanuts clothing and items on a regular basis.
An important source of clothing and accessories is Bloom, located in Marin County, which provides items through a grant from The Welfare League. “Our volunteer members drive down once a week and they come back with a car full of clothing and items,” says Store Manager Sandy Harris. The quality of items donated is often high-end, attracting customers in search of a good buy.
Collectibles are an important part of the store’s business. The members of the department research everything through a variety of online sources and price items competitively.
Clothing and other items that are not sold in a timely manner—a common problem for thrift shops—are donated to The Redwood Gospel Mission, homeless programs, and the Fijians, as well as a one-time donation made to Tonga, where the people are recovering from the tsunami.
Marin Humane Thrift Shop
A mainstay in San Anselmo’s shopping experience, the Marin Humane Thrift Shop opened its doors to business in 1961. It’s with pride that store manager Emeline Leeds points out the original wall, pock-marked from all the nails that have been hammered in to hang artwork donations over the last 61 years. Proceeds from sales at the shop go to support the spay-neuter clinic operated by the thrift shop.
“People love thrift stores because there are some incredible finds,” Leeds says. Her clientele includes lots of repeat customers who enjoy sifting through the treasures donated by locals. Many saunter over after dining at Comfort’s, a restaurant across the street. “Some drive up in a Mercedes while others can only handle a dollar or two. And for some, it’s a daily routine.”
The shop is very small, so the items it can take are limited. “We can’t take furniture,” Leeds says. “We also don’t take electronics. We won’t take children’s clothes or toys and we don’t take medical supplies (walkers, wheelchairs, etc.). Although one day, we had a lady come in with a walker and she left without it. We held onto it thinking that she would be coming back for it,” she laughs. Volunteers used to go to estate sales to get resale goods, but it’s no longer necessary. “We don’t need to do that anymore, says Leeds, because so many people are trying to donate all the time and donations are plentiful. “We are trying to contain a beast here,” she explains. “Some days we can’t even walk in the back room.”
The average price of items is in the $5 to $10 range. Volunteers “who know the business” are the ones who price the items. “This keeps pricing fairly consistent,” Leeds says. If items can be found now on Amazon or Google, Marin Humane will price them about a third of the retail price.
The store doesn’t even have a cash register. “For the longest time we only accepted cash,” Leeds says. “We finally got a credit card machine last year.”
Pick of the Litter
A perennial winner of the “Best Thrift Store” awards handed out by local publications, Pick of the Litter will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. Starting with a tiny space that had been vacated by Leslie’s Pool Supply in 1997, the shop has gradually gobbled up more square footage as other tenants left. It now has a large store and even larger warehouse on Piner Road in Santa Rosa. Two parking lots often cannot accommodate the shoppers, many of whom (this writer included) visit almost daily because there’s always something cool and interesting, and items are brought in from the warehouse to the sales floor all day long. “We wouldn’t be able to keep up if we had set put-out times because we get stuff all day long,” says Nicole Bartholomew, assistant manager and official clothing maven.
“It’s really good to see someone go out with a cart of new things and everyone flocks to it,” echoes store manager Brian R. Benn, who has been there since 2014, when he started as a donation intake worker.
Pick of the Litter supports spay-neuter clinics held by Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County, which deals with unowned cats, not just feral ones. In 2022, according to Benn, the store will help treat upwards of 4,000 cats.
The clientele “has shifted a lot,” says Bartholomew. “Lots of younger people and new shoppers. During the pandemic, lots of places were not open or accepting donations. As a result, we have gotten lots of new donors and lots of new customers. It’s been good and it’s made all the categories (of items) successful.”
Donations come from all over and intake is always an adventure. “We find treasures a lot,” says Benn. “When I first started, my manager told me I needed to move faster (at intake). I was more meticulous. One of the first things I found was a gold ring we sold for $850.”
Intake can also be dangerous. Glassware is often broken, and sorting donated clothing can be hazardous, too. “People put in clothing items they were going to hem, loaded with straight pins,” Bartholomew says. “They’re like porcupine quills.”
Clothing that can’t be sold at Pick of the Litter is donated to a Bay Area organization that sends the goods to Costa Rica. With unsold shoes, there is a similar project that sends them to Kenya.
“We try to recycle what we can’t sell as much as we can. That’s why so many young people are drawn to a place like this because it’s much more climate-friendly,” Benn notes. That said, not all items donated are up to second-hand standards. “There’s an awful lot of stuff people bring in that should have just gone to the dump, leaving us stuck with the dump fees.”
Habitat for Humanity Restore
Sales at Habitat for Humanity’s huge 18,000-square-foot Restore on Piner Road in Santa Rosa have gone up 30% in recent years, reflecting both the growth in thrift shopping and a major overhaul of the store’s retail philosophy.
Originally dedicated to serving contractors by selling recycled building materials, the store (at the suggestion of its assistant manager, Lori Harvey) started accepting furniture donations.
“There were days when tumbleweeds were blowing through this place,” Harvey remembers. One of her early projects was a series of furniture-flipping workshops. There was a corner where the store would display what they had flipped and it would sell out. “We had people coming in just to go to that corner.” She mentioned to the manager that handling furniture might be a road to profit.
“Today, furniture is our biggest seller as well as the item most donated,” Harvey says.
A wide variety of people shop at Restore. Many still come for the building materials, but lots come for the items in the Boutique. This is where Harvey puts high-end furniture, antiques, collectibles, unique art and other special items. She does lots of research before pricing the items. “Thank God for the Internet,” she says. Harvey uses a sliding scale, based on what the market will bear. Mid-century furniture is white-hot right now. Like-new sofas are usually priced half off. A recent offering—a Duncan Phyfe desk from the 1800s—was priced at $750, even though its value was $8,000 to $18,000 on the internet.
Many customers become donors. “People will come in for a toilet, engage in conversation and we end up picking up their late Mom’s stuff,” Harvey explains. Restore is one of the thrifts that will pick up items for free. It will not, however, take clothing. (If you have clothing, head on down Piner to Pick of the Litter or the Redwood Gospel Mission.)
The memories
When asked, thrift store managers note the personal nature of their business. A frequent refrain is a pain they experience when family pictures show up in the donation sacks or someone is relinquishing grandma’s china.
“You know some of those little pictures were sitting on someone’s nightstand,” Harvey shares. “And the old stuff is the most interesting. Lots of times, people will impart their family history.”
A butcher block, for example, is complete with gashes, marks and grooves. “Dad and Grandpa were both butchers,” she says. And then there was a young couple buying their very first dining room table. Harvey was able to tell them all about who used to have it.
“Everything has a story,” Harvey reflects.
And by giving new life to cast-offs otherwise destined for the landfill, thrift shopping keeps the stories going.
Consignment Stores
Close cousins to thrift stores, consignment stores are more restrictive as to items they will take and most focus on niche markets. These three North Bay consignment stores have been in business for more than 140 years combined.
Treasure House
Located on Airway Drive in Santa Rosa, Treasure House is a unique consignment model, benefiting a charity—YWCA Safe House. It’s been in business since 1962. In recent years it has undergone a metamorphosis, changing its focus to the high-end consignment of jewelry, crystal, art glass, home décor, furniture, art and collectibles. It’s a favorite haunt of resellers and collectors and board president Robbin Montero has perfected marketing techniques that she calls “the key to our business.” She has a steady list of collectors and dealers that she reaches out to on a regular basis as inventory comes on board.
“We are not an antique store or thrift store,” Montero says. “We are in the middle – between Whistlestop Antiques and Pick of the Litter.”
Ideally, she likes to flip items within 10 days of going on the sales floor. After 30 days, items are discounted by 25% to move them along.
Treasure House has been open for limited hours since the pandemic, with 31 volunteers working two shifts a month. Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the limited hours have not had an impact on sales.
“It’s been a battle for almost a year to keep our shelves full,” Montero says. “We’re selling faster than we can consign.”
Encore Consignment
Marin’s oldest ladies’ consignment shop, Encore Consignment, recently moved to a new location on Fourth Street in San Rafael after 58 years at its original location on Mary Street.
“I’m still in my neighborhood,” says owner Linda Hensley. Her regular customers are upscale Marin shoppers looking for a bargain—like a $2,300 Judith Leiber evening bag for $248.
“It’s fun being in the same neighborhood all this time – it’s a nice place for women. We’ve solved a lot of the world’s problems out of my shop. We’re like “Cheers” without the alcohol. A lot of my customers are politically interested in what’s going on.”
Encore’s inventory comes from all over.
During the pandemic, her most popular item was “anything lululemon.” Women were wearing exercise clothes and there was no need for prom gowns or wedding outfits because no one was going to proms or weddings.
Her biggest competition these days are the online resale shops—Poshmark, ThredUp, Stitch Fix, The RealReal, to name a few.
“How I am still going is amazing. It’s getting harder to find more of the high-quality goods because of online competition.”
Sisters
Sisters started on the square in the Town of Sonoma, moving to its current location in a strip center on Yulupa Avenue in Santa Rosa. It’s now owned by Debbie Kerrigan, whose day job is accounting. “I thought it was time to transition to something else,” Kerrigan says, noting that she usually starts her day at the store and works there Friday afternoons and some weekends.
Kerrigan is fortunate that many of Sisters’ original customers in Sonoma still consign and shop with her at the new location, even after several years. However, it’s an aging group that’s not buying clothes as often and the items are not as cutting edge.
Since taking over the store in 2021, she’s seeking to appeal to a wider base of shoppers, a younger crowd in particular. “We’ve been bringing in younger things and cute things,” Kerrigan says. “We’re not a place to buy basic black shirts anymore. We were getting old and waspy. Now we’re cute and open.”
Her biggest challenge is finding more good employees. “Currently we have a good staff, but it took a lot to get here. It seems that people just don’t want to work,” Kerrigan says, a hangover from the pandemic.
Florida Man & Other Strange Donations
The cremains of “Florida Man” have found their final resting place in the manager’s office at Pick of the Litter. The Welfare League’s long search for the owner of a diamond ring and gold bracelet left in a donated purse was futile, despite mentions in a newspaper column. And a book collection on poisoning left the folks at Restore Marketplace wondering about the donor’s interest in the “dark side of chemistry.”
These are just a few of the odd donations that have found their way to thrift stores in the North Bay.
When “Florida Man’s” cremains showed up in a donation, Pick of the Litter’s manager, Brian Benn adopted them. “Someone threw them away,” he said. “I don’t want to throw them away. I feel bad! It happens and it’s a strange thing. Whoever was responsible for his stuff didn’t care enough, so I’ll care. He takes up little space and he can guard the office.”
While cremains is a rather unusual “donation,” many things end up at thrift stores because donors overlooked items in pockets and purses—coins, money, jewelry and the like. Occasionally people grab the nearest bag to stuff in clothing and other items destined for donation. “Sometimes you get to the bottom of the bag and it’s literally trash; someone just added their donation on top,” says Nicole Bartholomew, Pick of the Litter’s assistant manager.
“Once we got a bag with rotting meat in it,” says Benn.
And then there are the odd things that are donated after being passed from generation to generation. “Lots of times we have to do image searches because we just don’t know what it is,” says Lori Harvey, assistant manager at Restore Marketplace. She recalls one item that was a showstopper in Restore’s boutique for several days.
“It was a simple-looking wooden table that could be cranked up and down and it had hinges on each end. One of our associates labeled it as a kitchen island and it did resemble a butcher block. I said it had to be something different.” It turned out to be an antique obstetrics exam table from the turn of the century. It garnered a lot of inspections while on the sales floor and was finally purchased, “by a gentleman with no sense of humor,” Harvey recalls.
More shocking are some of the donations that, well, just shouldn’t be donated.
A phallic art collection showed up at Restore Marketplace and Harvey says they get many sculptures or works of art that “are just not appropriate for display.” Pick of the Litter reports it gets an abundance of sex toys. “New and used,” says Benn, and most of which are hidden in the middle of the donation bag.
Someone once tied a lawnmower to the front door of the Marin Humane Thrift Store – an overnight donation that was difficult for Emeline Leeds, store manager, to properly dispose of. And then there are the animal pelts that show up on occasion.
“We’re part of Marin Humane Society,” Leeds says. “Obviously, we are not going to accept animal pelts.”
