Recession drives consumers toward secondhand shops

William Flourance standing outdoors wearing thrift.

Recession drives consumers toward secondhand shops

By Nikki Papadopulos
Edited by Scott Waggoner

Fifty-five women jumped at the chance to cruise around Columbia, hunt for deals at local resale shops and listen to The Lady Chablis gab about her encounters with John Cusack when she acted in the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

The mid-November resale bus tour sold out in less than a week, and Nance Peach, owner of the Curious Closet resale store near Irmo, said it's a sign in this economy people are realizing the value of buying secondhand.

"They have the same good taste they had before the recession but not the same budget," said Peach, who organized the tour of six resale shops.

People are adjusting their spending habits, and 71 percent of Americans interviewed in a recent Pew Research Center study said they bought less expensive brands while 57 percent said they cut back on expenses.

Resale shops have reaped the benefits. Between 2008 and 2009, resale sales grew over 12 percent, while other retail sales dropped about 7 percent, according to the Commerce Department.

Heather Craig, manager of the upscale consignment shop Revente in Five Points, said she has seen more people looking for quick cash coming in with clothes to sell.

 "They began to see it was a little more mainstream," she said.

And the store continues to do well, even though there are signs the economy is improving, with October sales the best in Revente's 17-year history, Craig said.

The Lady Chablis, who lives in West Columbia, said she buys clothes from consignment stores to wear at her drag shows in Savannah, Ga., and hopes to do a resale tour there.  

"It was a lot of fun, and next time we'll have to have two or three buses," she said after the five-hour excursion.

Merrie Kirkland took the tour and said she enjoys finding bargains and seeing what each store has to offer.

"Sometimes you can run up on some good bargains; brand new stuff!" she says.

Annie Hatala, who was not on the bus tour but lives in Columbia, said she went thrift shopping a few times in high school. But when her husband went back to school, the family, including two children, was living on a student salary again and cash was tight.

When the economy turned south, shopping at thrift stores was an easy way to save, she said.

"We can get our children much more clothes and a higher quality of clothes for much less than I would pay in a store," she said.

Sid and Nancy, a funky, eclectic consignment shop down the street from Revente, also had its highest sales ever this October, Manager Courtney Phillips said. Clothes that used to take weeks to sell are sold within a week, she said.

The recession is too fresh in people's minds for them to return to excessive retail spending, she said.

"It's been three years now; people have had to be conscious of how much they're spending, and it's not just going to change overnight," Phillips said.

 William Flourance, a third-year USC student, said he likes the hunt involved and shops at Goodwill and His House thrift stores at least once every two weeks.

"It's really hit or miss, and often I don't find anything," he said, "but then I'll find things I never want to get rid of."

Rhett Talbert, also at USC, said her college allowance made shopping at boutiques difficult, so she began shopping at thrift stores.

"For a girl like me who loves to shop and kind of has a constant compulsion to spend money and buy new things, it's helped," Talbert said.