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Durango’s Goodwill on a recent weekday morning. The store, a national chain, has been bustling pretty much nonstop since the pandemic, with both shoppers and donations, according to employees./ Photo by Missy Votel
Popping tags Thrift stores boom as folks flock to help pocketbook, planet by Jonathan Romeo
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ith the increasing cost of, well, everything these days, one bright spot has emerged in and around Durango – the rising popularity of shopping at local thrift stores. Whether you’re buying groceries, filling up the tank or trying to pay the rent, inflation and the increasing cost of living has put serious pressure on Coloradoans’ budgets. Add on supply chain issues brought on by COVID-19, and you’ll find saving money while trying to live in Durango is no easy task. Just this week, the Colorado Health Foundation released a report that said Colorado residents believe the rising cost of living is the top problem facing the state. And in April, inflation remained near a 40-year high. We could go on, but we think you get the picture. To help ease the strain, people are increasingly turning to an old favorite – thrifting. According to one research study, the secondhand market is projected to double in the next five years and become a $77 billion industry (mind you, this was from Resale Report, which advocates for thrift shops).
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Shoppers combing the racks Tuesday at the United Methodist Thrift Store downtown./ Photo by Missy Votel Luckily for us here in Durango, we have plenty of secondhand and consignment options that not only save you money but also ease the toll that production of new items takes on the environment. And local resale stores are seeing the surge.
“We have had an uptick in sales,” Georgia Stillwell, director of First United Methodist Thrift Shop, said. “And it just makes sense.” Goodwill, a nationwide nonprofit, reported its highest revenues ever in 2021.
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Chris Romero, a manager at Goodwill in Durango, said that spending fervor was felt here, too. “We’ve been getting good business since things started opening back up (from the pandemic),” Romero said. “And we’ve also had a solid stream of donations. We’ve just been very busy.” It seems every consignment shop in Durango has its own niche. The First United Methodist Thrift Shop, Goodwill and La Plata County Humane Society’s Thrift Store (which did not respond for comment) sell the standard array of everything from clothing and random decorations to dishware, Carpenters albums and old frames with pictures of families long gone. “We’ve always been happy to be of service to lower income families (who are particularly impacted by things like inflation),” Stillwell said. “But increasingly, we’re seeing more people from that middle class bracket, too.” Joanna Tucker, who owns children’s consignment store Sprout, has been in business on College Drive since 2005. She said the business always experiences ebbs and flows, but since the pandemic, Sprout has seen business increase in multiple ways.
