Secondhand Goods Get First-Class Treatment

Allison Laiosa is a self-described “thrift-store queen.”

With clothes draped over one arm, the 30-year-old social worker browsed the shelves of used books recently at the Salvation Army Family Store at 13910 N. Nebraska Ave.

“Especially in these times, you can’t afford to spend $40 for a shirt,” Laiosa said. “I shop here a lot. It’s very well-organized.”

Thrift stores have both their fans and their detractors, who cite their sometimes-junky reputation. But with its attention to detail and what to re-sell, the Salvation Army says it does its best to combat that.

“We do try to clean it and fix it, if it needs a little work,” said Salvation Army Maj. Paul McFarland, who supervises the charity’s thrift-shop operations. “Our smallest store will get three thousand items every day.”

The stores also don’t let items sit on racks and shelves until they sell. “We believe that’s key to our success,” he said.

Any items that linger in the stores after about a month return to the roughly 60,000-square-foot warehouse attached to the Nebraska Avenue store for a public “as-is” auction at 9:30am Monday through Friday. Some local ministries purchase furniture for families under their care, McFarland said. Other businesses buy bales of clothing as rags.

McFarland recently gave Patch a behind-the-scenes tour of the warehouse, which serves as the main processing and distribution center for the six Salvation Army stores among Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties. (The store on Nebraska at Bird Street closed once this one was remodeled.) The organization has an additional eight stores in Pinellas County.

All proceeds from the thrift stores benefit the charity’s rehabilitative program, which provides work therapy, counseling, food, life skills and other resources to people recovering from substance abuse and other problems.

“We tell everybody, ‘For over one hundred years, we’ve been recycling.’ Your recycled items help us recycle lives,” McFarland said. “It also provides a good service to those in the community to stretch their dollar a little further.”

The warehouse is divided into “shops” such as wood, electronics, shoes, and bric-a-brac, where workers sort through the donations. They test electronics and clean and repair items they think will bring in money.

The bike shop, for instance, tinkers with bicycles, putting them through test rides before they hit the sale floor, McFarland said. The wood shop polishes furniture and shores up loose table legs and missing knobs. Grills are pressure-washed. Rugs and upholstery are steam-cleaned and sanitized.

Although the charity accepts any donations -- it provides free home pickups of furniture -- it will not resell car seats because of safety concerns. It also does not put donated toys out for sale unless staff can verify the toys haven’t been recalled, McFarland said.

“The only thing we buy new and resell are mattresses, and with the bedbug epidemic, we’ve been glad we’ve been doing that,” he said.

The stores have a massive sale every Wednesday, with 50% off clothing, bric-a-brac, shoes, linens, and household items, and other discounts on furniture. The downturn in the economy has been a Catch-22, McFarland said.

“We have a few more folks coming in than usual, but people maybe aren’t donating like they used to,” he said.

Some shoppers still are discovering the store's charms.

Sue Spensberger, 49, of Oldsmar, stopped in for the first time on the same day as Laiosa out of curiosity. “I’m also a thrift-store junkie,” she said. “This is a beautiful place to look around.”

Growing up in a family that refinished furniture, she said thrift shopping for her was “a way of life.”

“We pass along what we don’t use,” she said. Plus, “It’s nice to be able to change furniture because you didn’t spend $1,500 on a bedroom set.”

As a thrift-shop fan for more than a decade, I can recommend these local shops for good merchandise and deals. -- Valerie Kalfrin

Salvation Army Family Store
13910 N. Nebraska Ave.
Tampa, FL 33613
(813) 972-4777
Hours: 10am to 6:30pm Mon to Sat; closed Sun

Aside from the weekly Wednesday half-off sale mentioned in the above article, this store (as the charity’s distribution hub on this side of the bay) has its pick of donations -- and the workers have a good eye. On one visit, I spotted a wooden cigar-box purse for $12.99, a wooden rocker for $49.99, and a Spongebob Squarepants toddler-size hoodie for 99 cents.

Life’s Treasures: LifePath Hospice Thrift Store
1918 S. Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33629-5817
(813) 259-1028
Hours: Mon to Fri, 9am to 6pm; Sat, 9am to 5pm; Sun, closed

Life’s Treasures, which has an additional location on Gunn Highway, has storewide 50% off sales on the first Thursday, Friday and Saturday that fall in the full week of each month. They offer a new selection of clothing marked down to $1 each every Monday. They also provide a frequent-shopper card that they stamp for every $5 spent outside of the three-day half-off sale; once filled, the card is worth $10 in merchandise.

Second Image Thrift
2419 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33609
(813) 253-3735
Hours: Mon to Fri, 9am to 6pm; Sat, 10am to 6pm; Sun, 11am to 5pm

Second Image, which also has a location in Pinellas Park, posts its daily sale calendar online. In addition to those specials, it offers military personnel 25% off their entire purchase every Monday when they show I.D. Students with I.D. receive the same discount every Thursday.

Goodwill Tampa Super Store
4102 W. Hillsborough Ave.
Tampa, FL 33614
(813) 874-7077
Hours: Mon to Sat, 9am to 9pm; Sun, 10am to 5:30pm

Goodwill has menu pricing, which assigns flat prices to groups of clothing items (T-shirts, dresses, jeans, skirts) regardless of brand. While that doesn’t appeal to some shoppers, this store and others have one of the best sales around for bridal dresses and formal wear. Each June, the Goodwill Wedding Gala features more than 300 new gowns donated by local boutiques for sale at two Goodwill stores at a fraction of the cost (a $4,000 dress marked down to $90, for example). Keep your eyes pealed for similar sales of gowns for prom season -- or browse anytime if you don’t mind getting a previously worn dress dry-cleaned.