As off-shoot main business (lg upscale consignment ) started thrift next to one store. Thrift separate store. Tiny. 700 sqft sales-19 years. Main business left unsold stuff becomes main business’ property but wanted to sell to benefit community. Solution – operate the thrift for a different group local non-profits’s and split sales quarterly. Cute/boutique like. No smells/junk. Decorated. Clothes, books, jewelry, small decoratives. Down outside hallway, around corner/cheap rent. Prices dirt. Get same customers. Don’t care $ for NP’s. 2 problems: How to advertise/get new customers w/out increasing public donations ’cause mostly crap/big labor/disposal costs. How to reward current repeat customers w/out giving away NP’s profits or train to wait for ‘sales’. (Staff so tired of hagglers)
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Jay’s Answer: Your question is basically, how can my store (which supports non-profits and sells goods cheaply) get more customers?
A thrift store is basically like an indoor garage sale – you don’t know what’s there until you show up, and it can change daily. The people who are looking for a bargain will continue to shop your store, and haggle as well. So, you need to do something different. Make it easy for people who are looking for your goods to find them.
- Create a website for your store, and list the inventory (allowing searching).
- Create a service for people who are looking for something special to be notified when/if it comes in (and you could charge for this VIP service).
- List your new goods daily on Craigslist for your community.Connect with a local business that handles eBay (or other online) auctions. You’ll no doubt be able to sell your (better) goods for more $
The key is connecting your supply (of goods) with the proper demand.
Those are great ideas, Jay. Something that has worked for other non-profit thrift stores is special sale days, for example, on Wednesday senior citizens get 10% off, on Friday it’s family day and families with children get 10% off.
To increase awareness, you can host a fashion show and invite local high schools, or colleges (particularly sororities) to participate. They will bring their friends. You can also build your email list by offering a premium of some sort for signing up, like a one time discount, or if you have an excess of a particular item you can give those away. Good luck!