Thrift shops and Goodwill are thriving even amid the resale explosion

If you waltz into Thrift NYC’s East Village shop on a Saturday afternoon, you’ll see a herd of people bustling about and vibing to some classic rock.

The thrift store, which opened in 2021, is a place where New Yorkers (and transplants) can show off their sense of style, and owner Michael Aylward intended it to be that way. Since coming onto the scene, Thrift NYC has opened two shops and has a third location opening on West 14th Wednesday.

While it might be intuitive that an influx of retailers integrating resale into their operations would hamper thrift stores, Aylward told Retail Brew that the exact opposite is true. Last year, 88 new brands launched resale platforms, according to ThredUp’s latest resale report. Aylward said the growth and increased competition is only helpful for his business.

“People are really looking for quality pieces that are going to last, and with fast fashion, you don’t get that. You have to throw it out after a year,” Aylward told Retail Brew. “Resellers coming in to sell online and looking for stuff—that’s only helping business.”

Thrift NYC is currently moving 150,000 pounds of thrifted clothes per year, and Aylward predicts that will only grow. The company sources from across the world, and its most popular products right now are Carhartt  and vintage Levi’s jeans, Aylward said.

• Carhartt recently launched a resale program with the help of re-commerce platform Trove, and Levi’s program has been around since 2020.
• While Thrift NYC started with antiques, Aylward said apparel has been a boon for the business, accounting for 95% of sales.

“All these people come in and they don’t want to really go shopping at a corporate store like H&M,” he said. “I’ve noticed they prefer going to a vintage shop or a thrift shop and being able to pick out a more unique selection of stuff.”

Will into existence: When you think of thrifting on a corporate scale, Goodwill may be the first company that comes to mind. But even on a larger scale, the business is prospering. Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey brought in $47 million last fiscal year ending in June, a 19% year over year increase.

As a nonprofit, Goodwill is mission-oriented, which appeals to shoppers, Ilanna Zimmerman, EVP of donated sales at Goodwill NY/NJ, told Retail Brew. She said the expansion of the secondhand market is “exciting.”

• “We don’t have donors that have to sort their goods by brand or by item; we take it all,” Zimmerman said. “And so that convenience aspect [and] the fact that donors feel good about contributing to an organization with a mission, I do think that’s really unique in the marketplace.”

But Goodwill NY/NJ’s CEO Katy Gaul-Stigge told Fortune Magazine last year that the organization has seen a slowdown in donations due to the rise of platforms like ThredUp and Poshmark, which does have an effect on how much product they sell. Part of the plan to combat the drop in donations is to expand upon the 30 locations the organization has in the region, Zimmerman said.

• Over the past couple of years, Goodwill has roughly 1 million people donating per year and roughly 40 million pounds of items.

“Convenience is an honest value for the donor. If you donate at Goodwill, you don’t simply have to donate one brand or one type of item,” Zimmerman said. “You can donate multiple brands, multiple items across categories, whether it be houseware, apparel, or electronics.”

Aylward described Thrift NYC’s newest location on West 14th Street as the company’s “megalocation.” But they’re not going to stop just at three shops; he said there are plans for more down the road.

“I don’t think that resale has really affected thrifting because you’re still going to get the top price to retail in a brick-and-mortar store versus people selling stuff on the internet,” Aylward said. “Even though there’s a bunch of resellers…I don’t see that being a problem for the industry.”