In a tough economic environment, thrift stores are seeing people they've never seen before all over the country, said Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Association of Resale & Thrift Shops."There's just an influx of customers coming into retail thrift stores for the first time, who are becoming more cautious in their spending," she said.
Resale stores, which include more than 25,000 thrift and consignment businesses, have increased in number of stores by 5 percent annually in recent years, and will continue to grow, according to the association. That's a sharp contrast to other national retailers that are laying off employees and closing stores because people are shopping less.
"This is a recession-proof industry. ... It's natural to turn to consignment and thrift stores where they can get quality goods for their dollars," Meyer said.
Another change in the $200-billion-a-year industry, she said, is that new donors are showing up who need the tax write-off to make ends meet. "They may donate things they would have just given away."