Oct 10, 2008 10:00 pm US/Central
Thrift Shop Sales Increase As Economy Stalls
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (CBS) ―
With the economy tanking, are you looking for a way to live like a millionaire but not spend like one? How about shopping at a thrift store?
Thrift store business is up 35% nationwide. In South Florida, business owners are noticing a similar trend, reports CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami.
"We get more business now than we got before," says Mario Rosario of Poverello Thift Store in Wilton Manors. That store funds a food bank for people living with HIV and AIDS. There, you can buy designer clothes for just a few bucks, as opposed to the hundreds you would pay for new garments at the mall.
At the Salvation Army store in Fort Lauderdale, Nancy McCrae found great bargains. Referring to the clothes she was wearing, McCrae said, "This is the outfit I bought here about a month ago. This is Ann Taylor and it was less than $10."
Browsing the store, you can also find designer purses for $30 or $40, that's hundreds less than what they would be new. But the Salvation Army is also finding that, while record numbers of people are bargain hunting, they're actually getting fewer items donated.
"Because of the housing problems, people are not moving and by not moving, they don't buy new things and so they're not giving what they would if they were moving into a new house, " said Capt. Henry Hudson of the Salvation Army. He's hoping people will clean out garages and closets and remember to help out.
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