April 9, 2025 • 36 mins
We explore the transformative world of thrifting with Betty Mahika Milano and Steve Isaacs from America's Thrift Store, uncovering how secondhand shopping can dramatically stretch your dollar while supporting sustainability efforts.
• Thrift stores source merchandise through donations and many contribute proceeds to community organizations
• America's Thrift Store puts approximately 10,000 new items on the floor weekly
• Popular thrift items include clothing, accessories, housewares, furniture, and even brand-new products
• Most thrift stores offer additional discounts for seniors, military personnel, and often run special promotions
• Pricing at thrift stores is typically 80-95% lower than retail, with many high-quality and designer items available
• Common misconceptions include that thrift stores only serve low-income customers or offer poor-quality merchandise
• Thrifting has evolved to attract diverse shoppers including budget-conscious families, sustainability-focused young people, and resellers
• For beginners, start with smaller thrift stores and focus on housewares before tackling clothing sections
• America's Thrift Store offers a 30-day return policy with receipt, challenging the assumption that thrift purchases are final
• Beyond saving money, thrifting supports environmental sustainability by keeping millions of pounds of goods out of landfills
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you want.
Now here is your host, ms KimChapman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to another edition of Money Matters.
Do you know how to stretch yourdollar?
Thrifting can be an answer.
And so today with me, we havean avid thrifter and, of course,
someone that's no stranger toMoney Matters our own Betty
Mahika Milano, hello.
And of course, from America'sthrift store right here in Baton
(00:35):
Rouge, louisiana, we have MrSteve Isaacs.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hi how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So I'm excited to have both of them here.
I've learned a lot aboutthrifting, because I didn't know
anything about thrifting.
To tell you the truth, I wasone of those people that may be
like some of you, that might beturning your nose up just a
little.
But wait, don't leave, don'tturn it off.
You will be surprised at whatyou will find out.
As a matter of fact, if youlike this shirt, guess where I
(01:01):
bought it?
How can I do a show onthrifting if I'm not going to
come in an outfit that wasbought at a thrift store?
So, yes, this shirt, theearrings, the pants, but all of
this was bought for less than$20.
So thrifting can not only juststretch your dollar, it can
enhance your wardrobe.
So I'm going to jump right inand we're going to go with Steve
(01:22):
.
First, steve, what led you towork into the thrifting industry
?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, several things actually.
One was the challenge.
It was a new industry for me.
I've been in retail for 43years and it was just a new
industry that I had never tried.
But what really gets me is wegive back to the community.
One of our partners isLouisiana Teen and Adult
(01:46):
Challenge and that's one of ourpartners.
We have Make-A-Wish Foundationup through Alabama and several
in Mississippi, but I just lovethe fact that we give back.
We try to keep 50 millionpounds of waste out of the
landfills.
Everything we work on is indonations.
(02:06):
Our prices are right for thepublic, our shoppers.
It's just an exciting field tobe in.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And Betty, what is thrifting For somebody that has
no clue what thrifting is?
Give us a little insight,especially since you are an avid
thrifter, you know.
Every time I hear Betty say,hey, I got to do something from
the thrift shop, and so that'show I actually thought about
doing this podcast, and Ilearned so much about how you
can save.
But tell us exactly what isthrifting.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So basically, thrift stores are, like Steve mentioned
, stores that source all oftheir merchandise secondhand, so
via donations typically.
So, like America's, thriftaccepts donations, goodwill
accepts donations, st Vincent dePaul accepts donations and a
lot of them are actually alsocontribute to the community.
So, as he mentioned, theysupport certain organizations.
(02:56):
Goodwill typically gives jobsto people who wouldn't typically
be able to get jobs people whoare recently out of prison or
people with developmentaldisabilities and things like
that.
But as far as the merchandise,it's secondhand merchandise.
That means you're getting thegamut right.
You can get brand new thingswith tags.
(03:17):
I just bought something fromthe thrift store the other day
that was new, with tags.
So it was brand new.
So I had the tags on.
Maybe just didn't fit somebodyor they bought it, they never
wore it and they donated it andthen it can go all the way to
like mega used items.
But it can also be really nicevintage pieces and things like
that.
It's clothing, but it's alsohousewares, furniture as well.
(03:40):
It's kind of like a departmentstore, a secondhand department
store, I would say.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So how did you get started?
What led you to not walk intoDillard's, but maybe go into an
American thrift store?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
I think growing up, you know I'm the youngest of
three well, technically fivesiblings, and so you know
resources were never, you know,super scarce, but they weren't
like super abundant, and so itwas just a way to feel like I
could get more for my dollar andmy mom as well.
So it was kind of an easier wayto keep us in new clothes
(04:14):
without spending a ton of money.
And then I just found that Iliked the clothes there more
because they're more unique andI'm kind of weird.
So it kind of was a match madein heaven.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So, steve, can you kind of piggyback on what Betty
was saying some of the itemsthat are found at the thrift
store, what are some of theitems that are most popular, and
just kind of give us a rangeand atmosphere of what we can
expect if we walk into America'sthrift store?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Well, you know, our typical thrift customer visits
us about two to four times amonth.
We have our core groups ofshoppers Budget shoppers take up
about 44% of all our clientelethat walks in, treasure hunters
about 47%.
And designer brand shoppers areour resellers that come in.
You can find just abouteverything in our stores.
(04:59):
We put on an average of 10,000items out a week.
So you can find clothing,accessories, housewares, purses,
shoes, belts, and we carry aline of new clothing also.
Our undergarments are new, oursocks are new, all our
mattresses and rugs are allbrand new, so there's such a
(05:21):
variety when you walk throughthe door new, so there's such a
variety when you walk throughthe door.
It's a huge store, 50,000square foot, 44 different racks
of clothing alone.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Wow, that's a lot.
I've been in the store.
I'm sure you're going to seesome of that footage in the
background.
It's huge.
They sell so many differentthings but you know, when it
comes thrifting and this show isabout saving a dollar, so even
for thrifters, they're there tosave money.
Are there even discounts forthrifters?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
There is.
We do a senior discount, we doa military discount, we do a
discount for Amazon if theybring their ID with them.
We run special promotions ifyou're a loyalty member, where
you might get 10% off for aparticular weekend.
Or we just ran a sale where itwas 30% off all our clothing
(06:15):
items and that's a sale thatwe've never run before.
It was very successful.
We had a lot of people in thestore and they were finding what
they wanted.
It goes back to how many itemswe put out a week.
For us, it's a brand new storeevery day.
America's Thrift is just abrand new store.
We're not your mama's thriftstore.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So how do you determine the pricing for those
items?
I'll mention again this shirtwe got from the thrift store six
bucks.
I looked online for shirts verysimilar to this and this brand
$25.
So how do you determine thepricing?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
A couple of ways.
For one, our employees whoprice our clothing are typically
our most tenured associates inthe company.
So when they go out and they'repricing they're keying in what
the brand is, what conditionthat brand is in.
So we've got three differentbrands.
(07:11):
It's either going to be an Abrand, b brand or C brand.
So for argument's sake, if it'sa Target or a Walmart brand,
that would be more of a B brand.
And then we grade by is it new,excellent, good or fair?
That's how we determine whatthe prices are.
It's keyed into a computer,just basically.
(07:31):
If it's a new item, that stillhas a tag on it.
If it's a new item without thetag, that means it'd be in
excellent condition and that'show the pricing is determined.
But it's our most tenured teammembers that do that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And Betty, you seem to have an eye for these things,
so kind of walk us through yourprocess in terms of how do you
determine something that's goodquality?
Can you tell if it's new or not?
How can you tell if it's reallya bargain?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
So, kind of like to his point, the people he has
pricing the things are his mosttenured employees, right?
Those are the people who'vebeen there day in and day out
and they've seen everything comethrough.
They've touched all the fabricsand it's kind of the same for
me.
I'm 35.
I've probably been thriftingsince I was about 14.
So let's say I've been doing itconsistently for 21 years.
(08:22):
That's a long time to build upkind of a knowledge base of like
, what to look for and what youlike.
And a lot of times for me itreally is touch.
That's probably my biggestthing.
Like I can go through a rackand I can kind of like keep
moving it until I feel a fabricthat feels like a nicer fabric,
so like, let's say, a linen orsomething that's 100% cotton as
(08:43):
opposed to you know, I knowprobably nowadays you guys get a
lot of stuff from sheen andthings like that which you can
feel that that's 100% likeunnatural fabric.
It's no, there's no cotton init at all, and I typically tend
towards 100% cotton things, justbecause they're more breathable
and things like that and moredurable when you wash.
So it really is a feel thingand it's also really about
(09:05):
dedicating that time.
Like when I go to the thriftstore, people try to ask if they
can come with me.
All the time I'm like don'tcome with me, leave me alone,
because I get in the zone.
And when I'm in like thethrifting zone, like I'll just
pick a section of the store,I'll say, like today I just want
to look for skirts and I alsohave a list on my phone, my
notes app.
I always have like a thriftwish list, so I'm manifesting
(09:28):
what I want as well.
So I always have a list ofthings I'm looking for.
So I'll be like okay, I'mlooking for a black skirt today,
so I'm just going to go to theskirt section, devote all my
energy there and look throughevery single skirt and I know
that that sounds crazy, butother thrifters will understand
it's like the best place for us.
It's like my Zen place.
It's when I'm in a bad spotmentally, I tell my husband I'm
(09:52):
going to a thrift store.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So for somebody that's listening, that's not a
thrifter, that you know.
Maybe on the outside, lookingin, they think, ah, still not
for me.
Convince us, like you did me.
What are some bargains?
What are the deep discounts?
What really makes a goodthrifting day for you?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, okay.
So I mean I have so manystories, you know, you know a
lot of my stories, but actuallythe other day I went to Goodwill
and I bought a Madewell dress,which everyone you know probably
is familiar with the brandMadewell.
They have it here in BatonRouge, it's right, by the Trader
Joe's and by the Lululemon.
Typically, the items can range,without any sale or discount,
(10:29):
from 80 to over a hundreddollars.
It was a simple white dress, umNew, with the tags on it no
stains, no issues, so brand newfor all intents and purposes,
and I got it for $6.
$118, originally, never worn byanybody.
I'm going to be hard pressed togo pay $118 for that dress in
(10:52):
store Because I know that if Ijust put in that elbow grease,
that dedication that those itemsare out there, I mean, if you
think about yourself, how manytimes have you bought something
and you didn't wear it?
Or you bought something and youended up not fitting it?
You order it online and itdoesn't fit.
(11:12):
I know so many people who don'treturn things, which is also
crazy to me because I returneverything, but if it's not
working for me but I know a lotof people who don't and then
they just have that stuff intheir closet and then eventually
they just donate it, and soit's like why wouldn't I want to
reap the benefits of, kind ofthose situations?
So I think, if you think thatit's all just musty, crusty,
dusty, there's actually gemshidden in there.
(11:35):
And I have my other littlespecial story where I went to
another thrift store, found ateapot and I just looked at it
and it looked really unique.
I bought it for $2.
I sold it on eBay for $300.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Wow.
And for those of you that arelistening and wondering, are
there other aspects of thrifting?
There are, and that's going tobe part two.
We're actually going to haveBetty come back and another
professional expert and thenwe're going to be talking about
thrifting for income.
But for now, you mentionedBetty.
Sometimes things don't fit.
So I want to ask you, steve,what type of return policy?
I would almost assume and I waswrong that if you bought
(12:09):
something secondhand or from asecondhand store, all sales were
final.
But that's not the actual case,right.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Well, America's Drift has an industry standard return
policy.
So if you purchase somethingtoday, you have up to 30 days.
As long as the tag is on andyou have your receipt, you could
either exchange it or bring itback for a store credit.
That's on any clothing items orwarrantied electronics it could
(12:36):
be brought back.
So it's a win-win for thecustomer.
And just to piggyback on whatBetty said, our average customer
could be in the store betweentwo and four hours.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
You know this last sale we had, we had people
waiting at the door and I had aregular customer.
She walked in the door at eighto'clock in the morning, walked
out at a quarter to one in theafternoon and filled an entire
buggy of clothing and only spent$130.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And are there sales associates there to help out?
Speaker 3 (13:07):
I always have sales associates on the floor.
I'm on the floor, my assistantsare on the floor, my
supervisors are out there.
If any customer ever needs help, we're there to help them.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Now I know you mentioned that there are
different discounts that youoffer for seniors and other
people.
Is there any price haggling IfI see a shirt or if I see an
item and I want for a littleless than what it is?
Are the prices hey, it iswhat's marked or is there an
opportunity for me to?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
have.
It is what's marked on there.
Our prices are quite low, tostart with Children's clothing,
infants will range betweenninety nine cents and a dollar
ninety nine for an outfit.
I don't think there's any placeout there where you can buy a
onesie for a newborn for ninetynine cents.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So seasonal.
Do you see any changes fromseason to season?
Do you get those items?
You know people like to shopthe day after Christmas and buy
their Christmas stuff for thenext year.
Can we come to a thrift storeand find those seasonal items?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Oh, definitely.
So yeah, every season is goingto be a little bit different.
We try to set it about sixweeks ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
So for somebody that's listening, of course
we're talking about trying tostretch that dollar on average.
What type of savings can aperson expect, whether it's from
household items, Do you havefurniture?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
We do carry furniture when it's donated to us.
We have several people who buyout storage units and a lot of
times we'll get an entire U-Haultruck of furniture in Our
prices, even on furniture, isextremely low.
You can buy a three-piecesectional when we get it for
less than $250.
(14:50):
Wow, we carry a full line ofmattresses, from twin all the
way up to king, three differentbrands, all brand new.
But they start at 209 and go upto 529, just depending on what
size you want or what qualityyou want.
But that's a brand new mattress.
I don't think there's any placearound there you could buy a
(15:12):
brand new twin mattress for $209.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I don't think so, unless you're sleeping on thin
ice.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
You're sleeping on a piece of wood.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
So you can really stretch your dollar.
And again, something that Bettysaid, I was never a thrifter
until I started working for athrift company and I've traveled
a lot of the stores betweenMississippi, alabama, up into
Birmingham where our corporateoffices are, to our wholesale
(15:41):
warehouse, to our distributioncenter and just loved everybody
that I met.
But I used to buy shirt I'mwearing right now.
I used to buy at Walmart.
They'd cost me $25 a piece.
When we get them in I can't buythem the same day, but if
they're still there the next daythey're like $4.49 a piece.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So from $25 to $4.49, .
Speaker 3 (16:04):
it's 20% of what you would pay retail and I could buy
four or five shirts.
They last me four months.
It's not a big deal at $5 apiece, but when you're spending
$25 a shirt every four months,you're putting out $125.
So it's a very good savings.
Being a thrifter, you couldreally stretch your dollar.
(16:25):
A lot of our clientele theyhave children.
They come in for their schooluniforms because they're a lot
less than anyplace else.
They can outfit their entirefamily for under $100.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So tell me, what do you think is the biggest
misconception people may haveabout thrifting?
I'll let each one of you answerthat question.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
I mean, I think that if someone isn't familiar with
thrifting, they may assume thatit is for lower income people.
They may assume that that'sreally the only people who are
meant to shop there, and that'sjust not true.
They also may think, oh, it'slike dirty, it's nasty.
But you know, it's interestingbecause in typical like retail,
(17:15):
you know it's like that clothinggets shipped from often
overseas, right, and it gets putin boxes and it gets put in
containers.
That clothing gets shipped fromoften overseas, right, and it
gets put in boxes and it getsput in, uh, containers that get
shipped across the ocean andthat doesn't get washed before
it gets put up on, you know, therack at jc penny.
Not to not to shame jc penny,because I shop there too, but,
um, but so it's like theassumption that, like you know,
(17:36):
mainstream retail is clean andnice.
I mean, obviously the stores cansometimes be nicer, um, you
know, and and retail differently, but it's ultimately, at the
end of the day, it's stuff, it'sstuff and it's stuff we need
and um, and and for me I justthere is such a joy, I guess, in
(17:59):
in thrifting because you know'slike the, the thrill of the
hunt and it's like a treasurehunt and also, you know, knowing
that I can provide for myfamily, um, in a way that that
leaves room a mermaid exhibit atthe Audubon Zoo, right, and so
it's like, via me being frugalin this way, you know, we're
(18:23):
able to then get us an AudubonZoo membership, you know, right,
and so it's like thinking aboutit in the in the whole, like
holistically for your family, atleast for me, via doing this,
where I'm not spending tons andtons of money for the clothing
that me and my family wear, wecan save and do the other
experiences that we want to do,and I just it's fun.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
What do you think is the biggest misconception people
have about thrifting?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
is that it's either old or secondhand, and I think a
lot of people used to look atit that it was secondhand
clothing.
But if you think back to whenwe were children, we had
hand-me-downs.
Our older brother would hand usdown a pair of pants and we
wore them basically until wewore them out, because money was
tight back then.
(19:11):
It's the same thing today.
Money is tight with people andwe deal with a lot of new
customers all the time.
As both of you know, I walk mystore constantly and I have a
lot of customers say I'm a firsttime in the store, first time
in the store, and that's well,that's great.
What brought you in?
(19:32):
I'm on a budget and I need tostretch that dollar, or you know
I'm not making as much as Iused to make, but it's just
thrifting is?
It is definitely a way tostretch your budget, to give you
that the extra dollars to dothe little things you want to do
, or that extra little.
My son or my daughter has aschool trip to go on, so I saved
(19:55):
$20 because I was thrifting.
Now I have the $20 to use forthat.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
How to financially thrive in 2025.
So you know, you took us homeand talked about oh my God, you
know we used to do hand-me-downshow has thrifting since both of
you seem to have been doing itfor quite a while how has
thrifting changed over the years?
I mean, for me personally, Isee that there are stores
everywhere and I know when Bettyand I were doing our little
(20:22):
research and she was showing mearound thrifting, every store
that we went in there were tonsof people.
It was like being at the mall.
So how have you seen thriftingchange over the decades?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
you've seen thrifting change over the decades.
I think most people are on abudget now and are very cash
conscious and trying to stretchthat dollar as far as they can
go with it.
With fuel prices going up oryour rent going up, groceries
going up, they know when theycome into the thrift store
they're going to have thatbargain and, like any other
(20:56):
business, prices're going tohave that bargain and, like any
other business, prices are goingto go up a little bit.
But where JCPenney's or any ofyour major department stores or
your big box operations, if theyraise a price, it might be $1
to $5.
If we raise a price, it mightbe 10 cents.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I like that yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
So it's not going to go up that much.
But like any thrift store,we're a business.
We yes, we give a lot back tothe community.
We keep the items out of thelandfill, but we recycle every
item that comes in.
We don't want to go into thelandfill.
So if it's an item that wecannot sell as long as it's not
(21:37):
holy, has stains, mildew oranything along that line, and we
cannot put it on the floor,then we bail that item and those
bails actually go to make rags.
So even those items arerecycled again.
Oh wow, so it's a win-win forthe customer.
It's a win-win for the customer.
It's a win-win for the business.
But back to your question wedon't raise our prices very much
(22:00):
.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So if you're trying to avoid inflation, it sounds
like the thrift store is the wayto go.
How have you seen it changeover the years?
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Betty, it's changed a lot since I was a teen,
shopping at the very same thriftstores.
I bought this actually lastweek at Goodwill on college and
that was one of the thriftstores I frequented as a 15 year
old Right, so I definitely cansay that it's a lot more picked
(22:31):
over.
I think thrifting has justreally really grown in
popularity and especially kindof since COVID and stuff and
like the economy change and alsojust younger shoppers are
actually leaning more towardsthrifting because of
sustainability and kind of likewhat Steve was saying about
recycling everything.
I think you know kind of peoplein their teens and 20s now a
(22:55):
lot of them do feel passionateabout sustainability, and not
just, you know, the rise of fastfashion really came hard and
strong, but it is one of thebiggest polluters in the world
Sheen and all those companies.
They dump a lot of theinventory that they make because
they produce inventory at sucha crazy pace, and so I think a
(23:16):
lot of younger people have kindof like become conscious of that
.
And so, man, I tell you whatthose college kids they come and
they pick through the thriftstore and it's like stop, I
can't go during the day, likeyou.
So you know that is one bigthing.
It's like you find that, that,you know, between young people
and resellers.
Another big thing is thereselling community has just
(23:37):
again since the pandemic, Ithink just really really kicked
up, because people are trying tofind those alternate forms of
income.
And I am a reseller myself anamateur reseller not, you know,
full time by any means, but youknow it's a way that I get an
additional income as well, youknow it's a way that I get an
additional income as well, youknow.
So I definitely see those twogroups as really really being in
(23:59):
the in the thrifting world in abig way.
But also, I find that I'malways thrifting alongside a lot
of like middle aged women, andit's like middle aged women who
seem like they're, you know,middle class, middle aged women,
which I don't think in the pastis typically who you would
think of as a thrift customer,but but those are the ladies
that I'm chit chatting with whenI'm going through the racks on
(24:21):
the weekend.
So, yeah, it's definitely.
It feels like there's a place.
This is going to sound cheesy,but there's a place for
everybody at the thrift store.
We all, we all fam in thethrift store.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I agree, and so I want to talk a little bit about
decorum, because I actuallybought a couple of items that I
just want to kind of feature interms of, even if you're just
trying to decorate, you know,maybe you don't want to find
your clothes, maybe you don'twant to find your shoes at the
thrift store, but maybe you wantto just add that little accent
piece to your home, and I mean,of course, this is so close to
Fleur de Lis, louisiana.
I mean maybe you don't want toput the Saints up right now, but
(24:55):
I mean matching little artpieces $3 a piece at the thrift
store.
Think about this in your homeand how much you would have to
pay over $45 if you went tosomewhere you know like a home
accent store.
So tell us a little bit moreabout, maybe, what you've
experienced in terms of homedecorum and things that you can
use in the house.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just I just kind of
redid my daughter's bathroomthis weekend and I did it
because I actually bought abeautiful watercolor, a really
large piece oh gosh, sorry Aboutthis big for fifteen dollars at
America's Thrift, and that'slately been kind of more.
(25:37):
My thing I've been focusing onis art pieces, you know, and I'm
not necessarily looking foranybody famous or anything.
I'm just looking for somethingthat speaks to me and it was
really beautiful watercolor withpalm trees and kind of an
island vibe and it's justbeautiful.
And I thought, oh, like, Ithink this would be really nice
(25:57):
in my daughter's bathroom.
And that then kind of inspiredus to be like oh, let's kind of
add pink accents to yourbathroom, you know.
And ultimately it's like wewent and bought some towels.
We did buy those at JCPenney.
Shout out, jcpenney does havegood deals too and, don't get me
wrong, I am on a retailsituation when I need to be, but
they have a lot of coupons andyou know I don't shop without
coupons.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
That's another episode, that's another episode,
but period, I don't shopwithout a coupon if I'm shopping
regular retail.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
But yeah, I mean, between that photo and then all
the other pictures I had kind ofamassed from, look a free pile
on the side of the road, I'llalways stop as well.
The side of the on the side ofthe road, I'll always stop as
well.
But a lot of the the art in herbathroom is pictures that I
took or, um, you know, or itemsthat I got at the thrift store
and or gifts, and it just feelsunique and it feels like you can
(26:49):
, over time, collect pieces thatreally speak to you, as opposed
to just going to like a bed,bath and beyond or a Marshall's
and getting like just somethingthat's there because you need
something to fill that space.
You know, and I was looking forsome scrapbooks recently and I
went to Michael's and full pricethe scrapbooks ranged anywhere
from $12.99 to $25.99.
(27:12):
And I found two brand new onesat America's Thrift for $2.99
each.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
All right.
So before we get ready to wrapup, I want to know what's been
the most unique thing,especially you, steve, since you
say it's a new store every day,so I imagine you see hundreds
and thousands of things.
What's the most unique thingthat's come across the store in
the years that you've beenthrifting or working for
America's Thrift?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Oh, wow, there are so many items.
Matter of fact, we had a lot ofvery high-end handbags come
across.
A lot of china sets weredonated about a month and a half
ago.
Where this is, I mean fullchina sets.
I think they came from anestate sale and they weren't
(27:58):
able to be sold, so they donatedthem into the store.
We just had a Prada handbagcome through.
A lot of items like that.
If they're really high enditems, we send those up to
Birmingham and they're put onour online store, our e-commerce
.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I was going to ask you if there's an online
platform.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
We do.
We actually have with America'sStrip, it's actually four
stores in one.
Okay, we have our processingand then our retail departments
in the store.
We have our e-commerce and wealso have our wholesale division
.
So if it's an item when wetalked about earlier about
everything is recycled.
If we cannot sell it in thestore and what we call drop it,
(28:43):
we pull it back off the floor.
It actually goes into Gaylord'sand is shipped back to
Birmingham as wholesale.
What Birmingham does when itgoes to our wholesale warehouse
is they repackage it into smallbales and those items actually
get brokered overseas.
So it's never a loss.
(29:04):
But there's so many uniqueitems that come through,
especially when we're talkingabout artwork.
I probably have at any giventime, about 200 pieces of
artwork in the store and it'sdonated all the time.
You could find a lot of littletrinkets or you could, although
we go up to a four by fivepainting that are coming in.
We found some that are fromgreat artists and we found some
(29:28):
that are done by kids.
But it just depends whatsomeone is looking for.
If they're trying to redo aplayroom, some of that little
finger painting art actuallyfalls into play and looks really
nice and you can pick them upfrom anywhere from about $299 to
about $2499.
There was a mirror that came inthe other day and we do the
(29:51):
research, we do Google it to seewhat it sells for on eBay, and
on eBay this mirror was sold forover $200.
And we had a price tag of$24.99 on it.
Wow, and it went very quickly.
I wish I could have bought itfrom my house, but I didn't have
room to put it.
But just so many unique items.
We've had bicycles come in,racing bikes, yeah.
(30:14):
Old desks, old sewing machines.
Just so many different bows forhunting have come into the
store.
A lot of musical instruments.
The list is just so long when Isay we just 10,000 items going
out a week.
10,000 items go out on thatfloor a week and it's just, it's
(30:37):
always new.
You never know what you'regoing to find.
Sometimes you could just bedigging through some of our
miscellaneous items back inhousewares or the wall art and
you come across something and go, wow, where did this come from?
Who donated this?
I don't think they really knewwhat they were donating when
they donated it and it's justamazing, amazing finds.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
So, betty, for somebody that's listening and
they're like, hey, I want to beable to financially thrive in
2025, but they may feel a littleoverwhelmed.
I mean, listen to Steve sayingall the thousands of pieces of
merchandise they have.
What's your advice?
Where do we get started?
Is there a best time, a peaktime?
Is Saturday better thanWednesday?
What's your advice?
(31:20):
How do we really maximize thethrifting potential to help us
out financially?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
So I would say, probably my number one tip is
start with smaller stores.
America's Thrift is, I want tosay, the biggest thrift store,
like square footage wise, inBaton Rouge.
I've been in all of them.
It's very large.
You went and I even, you know,saw your face.
You walked in and you felt alittle overwhelmed.
(31:47):
I mean it's huge, it's huge,it's overhead like fluorescent
lighting.
So I would say number one isstart small, like in Baton Rouge
.
Locally, st Vincent de Paul is agreat store to start at because
their stores are much smaller,so you don't feel that same
overwhelm.
The amount of racks is less,the square footage is less, the
ceilings are lower and it's thelighting's a little different.
(32:08):
And I know that that soundskind of like inconsequential,
but if you don't know whatyou're doing, those things can
kind of make you feel a littlemore comfortable, like you're
not like walking in and beinglike, oh my god, like you can go
through all the racks in therein an hour easily, um, and so I
would say saman's in appalachianstarring.
I love that spot, um, and alsoI love it because that area, for
(32:31):
whatever reason, they get a lotof items donated that seem to
be from estate sales and things,so you just get those items
that just are not even that used.
Um, I've gotten a lot of greatthings there and nothing feels
particularly like worn in andthey actually have a lot of
furniture in the back as well.
I would say then that's my nextstep, to recommend going out and
(32:51):
not going for clothes right offthe bat, going for those
housewares and going forfurniture items and things like
that.
You need to like build thosewins so you can really get in
your comfort zone.
And so I would say, looking atthe home things you know, even
like kitchen items, like platesand cups, things like that, is a
(33:12):
great way to go.
And then you know I hate to saythis, I hate to put it out
there, but ask your thriftingfriend, they'll take you and
they probably will, and you knowthey can kind of show you the
ropes and if you need me, callme.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And so, steve, for you, for those that are
semi-pros or pros like Bettyright, is there a peak time to
find the goods at AmericanThrift?
Tell us about your hours.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Actually, any day is a good time to come in the shop.
We're open from 8 am to 9 pmMonday through Saturday.
Sunday is from 11 to 7.
We run new product to the floorMonday through Friday.
So come Friday afternoon aboutfour o'clock every item that
we've processed for the week isout on the floor fresh and ready
(34:00):
to go.
Every item that we've processedfor the week is out on the
floor fresh and ready to go.
There's not a bad time to comein.
There's not a day that's goingto be extremely busier than the
next.
I know weekends we do getbusier because of a lot of
people are not working or thechildren are out of school, but
there's not a bad time to comein.
I'm there all the time.
I get there at seven o'clock inthe morning.
I walk out at 5 o'clock atnight.
(34:22):
Anyone that wants to come in,you snag me.
I'll take you around the store.
If you're a first-time thrifter, if you've been doing it for
multiple years, if you can'tfind something, grab myself,
grab one of my associates andwe'll be happy to help you out.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Well, there you have it folks.
Well there you have it folks.
I mean, if you are seriousabout stretching your dollar in
2025, if you have goals and youneed to get more but pay less,
it sounds like thrifting is theway.
I want to thank our guests,betty and Steve.
Thank, you.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
(35:02):
Look for more.
There's so much more that we'regoing to cover in 2025, because
we want you to thrive.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
So until next time, I'm Kim Chapman with Money
Matters.
It's time for BlueprintBuilding Blocks Small changes
that lead to big financial wins.
Let's stack up for success.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Be skeptical of unexpected calls and emails.
The IRS won't call or emailasking for immediate payments.
If you receive one of thosecalls, hang up and report it.
Verify before you pay.
If someone contacts youclaiming you owe them money,
always verify through officialchannels before making any
payment.
Choose a trusted tax preparer.
(35:36):
Check credentials and look forreviews before handing over your
personal financial information,and then stay updated on scams.
Check with the BBB scam trackerand sign up for alerts to stay
ahead of fraudsters.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building
Blocks.
Stay on track with yourfinancial journey.
Subscribe to the Money Matterspodcast and visit
neighborsfcuorg slash financialwellness for more tools to help
you build a strong financialfuture.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you want.
Now here is your host, ms KimChapman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to another edition of Money Matters.
Do you know how to stretch yourdollar?
Thrifting can be an answer.
And so today with me, we havean avid thrifter and, of course,
someone that's no stranger toMoney Matters our own Betty
Mahika Milano, hello.
And of course, from America'sthrift store right here in Baton
(00:35):
Rouge, louisiana, we have MrSteve Isaacs.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hi how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So I'm excited to have both of them here.
I've learned a lot aboutthrifting, because I didn't know
anything about thrifting.
To tell you the truth, I wasone of those people that may be
like some of you, that might beturning your nose up just a
little.
But wait, don't leave, don'tturn it off.
You will be surprised at whatyou will find out.
As a matter of fact, if youlike this shirt, guess where I
(01:01):
bought it?
How can I do a show onthrifting if I'm not going to
come in an outfit that wasbought at a thrift store?
So, yes, this shirt, theearrings, the pants, but all of
this was bought for less than$20.
So thrifting can not only juststretch your dollar, it can
enhance your wardrobe.
So I'm going to jump right inand we're going to go with Steve
(01:22):
.
First, steve, what led you towork into the thrifting industry
?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, several things actually.
One was the challenge.
It was a new industry for me.
I've been in retail for 43years and it was just a new
industry that I had never tried.
But what really gets me is wegive back to the community.
One of our partners isLouisiana Teen and Adult
(01:46):
Challenge and that's one of ourpartners.
We have Make-A-Wish Foundationup through Alabama and several
in Mississippi, but I just lovethe fact that we give back.
We try to keep 50 millionpounds of waste out of the
landfills.
Everything we work on is indonations.
(02:06):
Our prices are right for thepublic, our shoppers.
It's just an exciting field tobe in.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And Betty, what is thrifting For somebody that has
no clue what thrifting is?
Give us a little insight,especially since you are an avid
thrifter, you know.
Every time I hear Betty say,hey, I got to do something from
the thrift shop, and so that'show I actually thought about
doing this podcast, and Ilearned so much about how you
can save.
But tell us exactly what isthrifting.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So basically, thrift stores are, like Steve mentioned
, stores that source all oftheir merchandise secondhand, so
via donations typically.
So, like America's, thriftaccepts donations, goodwill
accepts donations, st Vincent dePaul accepts donations and a
lot of them are actually alsocontribute to the community.
So, as he mentioned, theysupport certain organizations.
(02:56):
Goodwill typically gives jobsto people who wouldn't typically
be able to get jobs people whoare recently out of prison or
people with developmentaldisabilities and things like
that.
But as far as the merchandise,it's secondhand merchandise.
That means you're getting thegamut right.
You can get brand new thingswith tags.
(03:17):
I just bought something fromthe thrift store the other day
that was new, with tags.
So it was brand new.
So I had the tags on.
Maybe just didn't fit somebodyor they bought it, they never
wore it and they donated it andthen it can go all the way to
like mega used items.
But it can also be really nicevintage pieces and things like
that.
It's clothing, but it's alsohousewares, furniture as well.
(03:40):
It's kind of like a departmentstore, a secondhand department
store, I would say.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So how did you get started?
What led you to not walk intoDillard's, but maybe go into an
American thrift store?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
I think growing up, you know I'm the youngest of
three well, technically fivesiblings, and so you know
resources were never, you know,super scarce, but they weren't
like super abundant, and so itwas just a way to feel like I
could get more for my dollar andmy mom as well.
So it was kind of an easier wayto keep us in new clothes
(04:14):
without spending a ton of money.
And then I just found that Iliked the clothes there more
because they're more unique andI'm kind of weird.
So it kind of was a match madein heaven.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So, steve, can you kind of piggyback on what Betty
was saying some of the itemsthat are found at the thrift
store, what are some of theitems that are most popular, and
just kind of give us a rangeand atmosphere of what we can
expect if we walk into America'sthrift store?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Well, you know, our typical thrift customer visits
us about two to four times amonth.
We have our core groups ofshoppers Budget shoppers take up
about 44% of all our clientelethat walks in, treasure hunters
about 47%.
And designer brand shoppers areour resellers that come in.
You can find just abouteverything in our stores.
(04:59):
We put on an average of 10,000items out a week.
So you can find clothing,accessories, housewares, purses,
shoes, belts, and we carry aline of new clothing also.
Our undergarments are new, oursocks are new, all our
mattresses and rugs are allbrand new, so there's such a
(05:21):
variety when you walk throughthe door new, so there's such a
variety when you walk throughthe door.
It's a huge store, 50,000square foot, 44 different racks
of clothing alone.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Wow, that's a lot.
I've been in the store.
I'm sure you're going to seesome of that footage in the
background.
It's huge.
They sell so many differentthings but you know, when it
comes thrifting and this show isabout saving a dollar, so even
for thrifters, they're there tosave money.
Are there even discounts forthrifters?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
There is.
We do a senior discount, we doa military discount, we do a
discount for Amazon if theybring their ID with them.
We run special promotions ifyou're a loyalty member, where
you might get 10% off for aparticular weekend.
Or we just ran a sale where itwas 30% off all our clothing
(06:15):
items and that's a sale thatwe've never run before.
It was very successful.
We had a lot of people in thestore and they were finding what
they wanted.
It goes back to how many itemswe put out a week.
For us, it's a brand new storeevery day.
America's Thrift is just abrand new store.
We're not your mama's thriftstore.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So how do you determine the pricing for those
items?
I'll mention again this shirtwe got from the thrift store six
bucks.
I looked online for shirts verysimilar to this and this brand
$25.
So how do you determine thepricing?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
A couple of ways.
For one, our employees whoprice our clothing are typically
our most tenured associates inthe company.
So when they go out and they'repricing they're keying in what
the brand is, what conditionthat brand is in.
So we've got three differentbrands.
(07:11):
It's either going to be an Abrand, b brand or C brand.
So for argument's sake, if it'sa Target or a Walmart brand,
that would be more of a B brand.
And then we grade by is it new,excellent, good or fair?
That's how we determine whatthe prices are.
It's keyed into a computer,just basically.
(07:31):
If it's a new item, that stillhas a tag on it.
If it's a new item without thetag, that means it'd be in
excellent condition and that'show the pricing is determined.
But it's our most tenured teammembers that do that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And Betty, you seem to have an eye for these things,
so kind of walk us through yourprocess in terms of how do you
determine something that's goodquality?
Can you tell if it's new or not?
How can you tell if it's reallya bargain?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
So, kind of like to his point, the people he has
pricing the things are his mosttenured employees, right?
Those are the people who'vebeen there day in and day out
and they've seen everything comethrough.
They've touched all the fabricsand it's kind of the same for
me.
I'm 35.
I've probably been thriftingsince I was about 14.
So let's say I've been doing itconsistently for 21 years.
(08:22):
That's a long time to build upkind of a knowledge base of like
, what to look for and what youlike.
And a lot of times for me itreally is touch.
That's probably my biggestthing.
Like I can go through a rackand I can kind of like keep
moving it until I feel a fabricthat feels like a nicer fabric,
so like, let's say, a linen orsomething that's 100% cotton as
(08:43):
opposed to you know, I knowprobably nowadays you guys get a
lot of stuff from sheen andthings like that which you can
feel that that's 100% likeunnatural fabric.
It's no, there's no cotton init at all, and I typically tend
towards 100% cotton things, justbecause they're more breathable
and things like that and moredurable when you wash.
So it really is a feel thingand it's also really about
(09:05):
dedicating that time.
Like when I go to the thriftstore, people try to ask if they
can come with me.
All the time I'm like don'tcome with me, leave me alone,
because I get in the zone.
And when I'm in like thethrifting zone, like I'll just
pick a section of the store,I'll say, like today I just want
to look for skirts and I alsohave a list on my phone, my
notes app.
I always have like a thriftwish list, so I'm manifesting
(09:28):
what I want as well.
So I always have a list ofthings I'm looking for.
So I'll be like okay, I'mlooking for a black skirt today,
so I'm just going to go to theskirt section, devote all my
energy there and look throughevery single skirt and I know
that that sounds crazy, butother thrifters will understand
it's like the best place for us.
It's like my Zen place.
It's when I'm in a bad spotmentally, I tell my husband I'm
(09:52):
going to a thrift store.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So for somebody that's listening, that's not a
thrifter, that you know.
Maybe on the outside, lookingin, they think, ah, still not
for me.
Convince us, like you did me.
What are some bargains?
What are the deep discounts?
What really makes a goodthrifting day for you?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, okay.
So I mean I have so manystories, you know, you know a
lot of my stories, but actuallythe other day I went to Goodwill
and I bought a Madewell dress,which everyone you know probably
is familiar with the brandMadewell.
They have it here in BatonRouge, it's right, by the Trader
Joe's and by the Lululemon.
Typically, the items can range,without any sale or discount,
(10:29):
from 80 to over a hundreddollars.
It was a simple white dress, umNew, with the tags on it no
stains, no issues, so brand newfor all intents and purposes,
and I got it for $6.
$118, originally, never worn byanybody.
I'm going to be hard pressed togo pay $118 for that dress in
(10:52):
store Because I know that if Ijust put in that elbow grease,
that dedication that those itemsare out there, I mean, if you
think about yourself, how manytimes have you bought something
and you didn't wear it?
Or you bought something and youended up not fitting it?
You order it online and itdoesn't fit.
(11:12):
I know so many people who don'treturn things, which is also
crazy to me because I returneverything, but if it's not
working for me but I know a lotof people who don't and then
they just have that stuff intheir closet and then eventually
they just donate it, and soit's like why wouldn't I want to
reap the benefits of, kind ofthose situations?
So I think, if you think thatit's all just musty, crusty,
dusty, there's actually gemshidden in there.
(11:35):
And I have my other littlespecial story where I went to
another thrift store, found ateapot and I just looked at it
and it looked really unique.
I bought it for $2.
I sold it on eBay for $300.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Wow.
And for those of you that arelistening and wondering, are
there other aspects of thrifting?
There are, and that's going tobe part two.
We're actually going to haveBetty come back and another
professional expert and thenwe're going to be talking about
thrifting for income.
But for now, you mentionedBetty.
Sometimes things don't fit.
So I want to ask you, steve,what type of return policy?
I would almost assume and I waswrong that if you bought
(12:09):
something secondhand or from asecondhand store, all sales were
final.
But that's not the actual case,right.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Well, America's Drift has an industry standard return
policy.
So if you purchase somethingtoday, you have up to 30 days.
As long as the tag is on andyou have your receipt, you could
either exchange it or bring itback for a store credit.
That's on any clothing items orwarrantied electronics it could
(12:36):
be brought back.
So it's a win-win for thecustomer.
And just to piggyback on whatBetty said, our average customer
could be in the store betweentwo and four hours.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
You know this last sale we had, we had people
waiting at the door and I had aregular customer.
She walked in the door at eighto'clock in the morning, walked
out at a quarter to one in theafternoon and filled an entire
buggy of clothing and only spent$130.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And are there sales associates there to help out?
Speaker 3 (13:07):
I always have sales associates on the floor.
I'm on the floor, my assistantsare on the floor, my
supervisors are out there.
If any customer ever needs help, we're there to help them.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Now I know you mentioned that there are
different discounts that youoffer for seniors and other
people.
Is there any price haggling IfI see a shirt or if I see an
item and I want for a littleless than what it is?
Are the prices hey, it iswhat's marked or is there an
opportunity for me to?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
have.
It is what's marked on there.
Our prices are quite low, tostart with Children's clothing,
infants will range betweenninety nine cents and a dollar
ninety nine for an outfit.
I don't think there's any placeout there where you can buy a
onesie for a newborn for ninetynine cents.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So seasonal.
Do you see any changes fromseason to season?
Do you get those items?
You know people like to shopthe day after Christmas and buy
their Christmas stuff for thenext year.
Can we come to a thrift storeand find those seasonal items?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Oh, definitely.
So yeah, every season is goingto be a little bit different.
We try to set it about sixweeks ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
So for somebody that's listening, of course
we're talking about trying tostretch that dollar on average.
What type of savings can aperson expect, whether it's from
household items, Do you havefurniture?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
We do carry furniture when it's donated to us.
We have several people who buyout storage units and a lot of
times we'll get an entire U-Haultruck of furniture in Our
prices, even on furniture, isextremely low.
You can buy a three-piecesectional when we get it for
less than $250.
(14:50):
Wow, we carry a full line ofmattresses, from twin all the
way up to king, three differentbrands, all brand new.
But they start at 209 and go upto 529, just depending on what
size you want or what qualityyou want.
But that's a brand new mattress.
I don't think there's any placearound there you could buy a
(15:12):
brand new twin mattress for $209.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I don't think so, unless you're sleeping on thin
ice.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
You're sleeping on a piece of wood.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
So you can really stretch your dollar.
And again, something that Bettysaid, I was never a thrifter
until I started working for athrift company and I've traveled
a lot of the stores betweenMississippi, alabama, up into
Birmingham where our corporateoffices are, to our wholesale
(15:41):
warehouse, to our distributioncenter and just loved everybody
that I met.
But I used to buy shirt I'mwearing right now.
I used to buy at Walmart.
They'd cost me $25 a piece.
When we get them in I can't buythem the same day, but if
they're still there the next daythey're like $4.49 a piece.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So from $25 to $4.49, .
Speaker 3 (16:04):
it's 20% of what you would pay retail and I could buy
four or five shirts.
They last me four months.
It's not a big deal at $5 apiece, but when you're spending
$25 a shirt every four months,you're putting out $125.
So it's a very good savings.
Being a thrifter, you couldreally stretch your dollar.
(16:25):
A lot of our clientele theyhave children.
They come in for their schooluniforms because they're a lot
less than anyplace else.
They can outfit their entirefamily for under $100.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So tell me, what do you think is the biggest
misconception people may haveabout thrifting?
I'll let each one of you answerthat question.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
I mean, I think that if someone isn't familiar with
thrifting, they may assume thatit is for lower income people.
They may assume that that'sreally the only people who are
meant to shop there, and that'sjust not true.
They also may think, oh, it'slike dirty, it's nasty.
But you know, it's interestingbecause in typical like retail,
(17:15):
you know it's like that clothinggets shipped from often
overseas, right, and it gets putin boxes and it gets put in
containers.
That clothing gets shipped fromoften overseas, right, and it
gets put in boxes and it getsput in, uh, containers that get
shipped across the ocean andthat doesn't get washed before
it gets put up on, you know, therack at jc penny.
Not to not to shame jc penny,because I shop there too, but,
um, but so it's like theassumption that, like you know,
(17:36):
mainstream retail is clean andnice.
I mean, obviously the stores cansometimes be nicer, um, you
know, and and retail differently, but it's ultimately, at the
end of the day, it's stuff, it'sstuff and it's stuff we need
and um, and and for me I justthere is such a joy, I guess, in
(17:59):
in thrifting because you know'slike the, the thrill of the
hunt and it's like a treasurehunt and also, you know, knowing
that I can provide for myfamily, um, in a way that that
leaves room a mermaid exhibit atthe Audubon Zoo, right, and so
it's like, via me being frugalin this way, you know, we're
(18:23):
able to then get us an AudubonZoo membership, you know, right,
and so it's like thinking aboutit in the in the whole, like
holistically for your family, atleast for me, via doing this,
where I'm not spending tons andtons of money for the clothing
that me and my family wear, wecan save and do the other
experiences that we want to do,and I just it's fun.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
What do you think is the biggest misconception people
have about thrifting?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
is that it's either old or secondhand, and I think a
lot of people used to look atit that it was secondhand
clothing.
But if you think back to whenwe were children, we had
hand-me-downs.
Our older brother would hand usdown a pair of pants and we
wore them basically until wewore them out, because money was
tight back then.
(19:11):
It's the same thing today.
Money is tight with people andwe deal with a lot of new
customers all the time.
As both of you know, I walk mystore constantly and I have a
lot of customers say I'm a firsttime in the store, first time
in the store, and that's well,that's great.
What brought you in?
(19:32):
I'm on a budget and I need tostretch that dollar, or you know
I'm not making as much as Iused to make, but it's just
thrifting is?
It is definitely a way tostretch your budget, to give you
that the extra dollars to dothe little things you want to do
, or that extra little.
My son or my daughter has aschool trip to go on, so I saved
(19:55):
$20 because I was thrifting.
Now I have the $20 to use forthat.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
How to financially thrive in 2025.
So you know, you took us homeand talked about oh my God, you
know we used to do hand-me-downshow has thrifting since both of
you seem to have been doing itfor quite a while how has
thrifting changed over the years?
I mean, for me personally, Isee that there are stores
everywhere and I know when Bettyand I were doing our little
(20:22):
research and she was showing mearound thrifting, every store
that we went in there were tonsof people.
It was like being at the mall.
So how have you seen thriftingchange over the decades?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
you've seen thrifting change over the decades.
I think most people are on abudget now and are very cash
conscious and trying to stretchthat dollar as far as they can
go with it.
With fuel prices going up oryour rent going up, groceries
going up, they know when theycome into the thrift store
they're going to have thatbargain and, like any other
(20:56):
business, prices're going tohave that bargain and, like any
other business, prices are goingto go up a little bit.
But where JCPenney's or any ofyour major department stores or
your big box operations, if theyraise a price, it might be $1
to $5.
If we raise a price, it mightbe 10 cents.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I like that yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
So it's not going to go up that much.
But like any thrift store,we're a business.
We yes, we give a lot back tothe community.
We keep the items out of thelandfill, but we recycle every
item that comes in.
We don't want to go into thelandfill.
So if it's an item that wecannot sell as long as it's not
(21:37):
holy, has stains, mildew oranything along that line, and we
cannot put it on the floor,then we bail that item and those
bails actually go to make rags.
So even those items arerecycled again.
Oh wow, so it's a win-win forthe customer.
It's a win-win for the customer.
It's a win-win for the business.
But back to your question wedon't raise our prices very much
(22:00):
.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So if you're trying to avoid inflation, it sounds
like the thrift store is the wayto go.
How have you seen it changeover the years?
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Betty, it's changed a lot since I was a teen,
shopping at the very same thriftstores.
I bought this actually lastweek at Goodwill on college and
that was one of the thriftstores I frequented as a 15 year
old Right, so I definitely cansay that it's a lot more picked
(22:31):
over.
I think thrifting has justreally really grown in
popularity and especially kindof since COVID and stuff and
like the economy change and alsojust younger shoppers are
actually leaning more towardsthrifting because of
sustainability and kind of likewhat Steve was saying about
recycling everything.
I think you know kind of peoplein their teens and 20s now a
(22:55):
lot of them do feel passionateabout sustainability, and not
just, you know, the rise of fastfashion really came hard and
strong, but it is one of thebiggest polluters in the world
Sheen and all those companies.
They dump a lot of theinventory that they make because
they produce inventory at sucha crazy pace, and so I think a
(23:16):
lot of younger people have kindof like become conscious of that
.
And so, man, I tell you whatthose college kids they come and
they pick through the thriftstore and it's like stop, I
can't go during the day, likeyou.
So you know that is one bigthing.
It's like you find that, that,you know, between young people
and resellers.
Another big thing is thereselling community has just
(23:37):
again since the pandemic, Ithink just really really kicked
up, because people are trying tofind those alternate forms of
income.
And I am a reseller myself anamateur reseller not, you know,
full time by any means, but youknow it's a way that I get an
additional income as well, youknow it's a way that I get an
additional income as well, youknow.
So I definitely see those twogroups as really really being in
(23:59):
the in the thrifting world in abig way.
But also, I find that I'malways thrifting alongside a lot
of like middle aged women, andit's like middle aged women who
seem like they're, you know,middle class, middle aged women,
which I don't think in the pastis typically who you would
think of as a thrift customer,but but those are the ladies
that I'm chit chatting with whenI'm going through the racks on
(24:21):
the weekend.
So, yeah, it's definitely.
It feels like there's a place.
This is going to sound cheesy,but there's a place for
everybody at the thrift store.
We all, we all fam in thethrift store.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I agree, and so I want to talk a little bit about
decorum, because I actuallybought a couple of items that I
just want to kind of feature interms of, even if you're just
trying to decorate, you know,maybe you don't want to find
your clothes, maybe you don'twant to find your shoes at the
thrift store, but maybe you wantto just add that little accent
piece to your home, and I mean,of course, this is so close to
Fleur de Lis, louisiana.
I mean maybe you don't want toput the Saints up right now, but
(24:55):
I mean matching little artpieces $3 a piece at the thrift
store.
Think about this in your homeand how much you would have to
pay over $45 if you went tosomewhere you know like a home
accent store.
So tell us a little bit moreabout, maybe, what you've
experienced in terms of homedecorum and things that you can
use in the house.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just I just kind of
redid my daughter's bathroomthis weekend and I did it
because I actually bought abeautiful watercolor, a really
large piece oh gosh, sorry Aboutthis big for fifteen dollars at
America's Thrift, and that'slately been kind of more.
(25:37):
My thing I've been focusing onis art pieces, you know, and I'm
not necessarily looking foranybody famous or anything.
I'm just looking for somethingthat speaks to me and it was
really beautiful watercolor withpalm trees and kind of an
island vibe and it's justbeautiful.
And I thought, oh, like, Ithink this would be really nice
(25:57):
in my daughter's bathroom.
And that then kind of inspiredus to be like oh, let's kind of
add pink accents to yourbathroom, you know.
And ultimately it's like wewent and bought some towels.
We did buy those at JCPenney.
Shout out, jcpenney does havegood deals too and, don't get me
wrong, I am on a retailsituation when I need to be, but
they have a lot of coupons andyou know I don't shop without
coupons.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
That's another episode, that's another episode,
but period, I don't shopwithout a coupon if I'm shopping
regular retail.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
But yeah, I mean, between that photo and then all
the other pictures I had kind ofamassed from, look a free pile
on the side of the road, I'llalways stop as well.
The side of the on the side ofthe road, I'll always stop as
well.
But a lot of the the art in herbathroom is pictures that I
took or, um, you know, or itemsthat I got at the thrift store
and or gifts, and it just feelsunique and it feels like you can
(26:49):
, over time, collect pieces thatreally speak to you, as opposed
to just going to like a bed,bath and beyond or a Marshall's
and getting like just somethingthat's there because you need
something to fill that space.
You know, and I was looking forsome scrapbooks recently and I
went to Michael's and full pricethe scrapbooks ranged anywhere
from $12.99 to $25.99.
(27:12):
And I found two brand new onesat America's Thrift for $2.99
each.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
All right.
So before we get ready to wrapup, I want to know what's been
the most unique thing,especially you, steve, since you
say it's a new store every day,so I imagine you see hundreds
and thousands of things.
What's the most unique thingthat's come across the store in
the years that you've beenthrifting or working for
America's Thrift?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Oh, wow, there are so many items.
Matter of fact, we had a lot ofvery high-end handbags come
across.
A lot of china sets weredonated about a month and a half
ago.
Where this is, I mean fullchina sets.
I think they came from anestate sale and they weren't
(27:58):
able to be sold, so they donatedthem into the store.
We just had a Prada handbagcome through.
A lot of items like that.
If they're really high enditems, we send those up to
Birmingham and they're put onour online store, our e-commerce
.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I was going to ask you if there's an online
platform.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
We do.
We actually have with America'sStrip, it's actually four
stores in one.
Okay, we have our processingand then our retail departments
in the store.
We have our e-commerce and wealso have our wholesale division
.
So if it's an item when wetalked about earlier about
everything is recycled.
If we cannot sell it in thestore and what we call drop it,
(28:43):
we pull it back off the floor.
It actually goes into Gaylord'sand is shipped back to
Birmingham as wholesale.
What Birmingham does when itgoes to our wholesale warehouse
is they repackage it into smallbales and those items actually
get brokered overseas.
So it's never a loss.
(29:04):
But there's so many uniqueitems that come through,
especially when we're talkingabout artwork.
I probably have at any giventime, about 200 pieces of
artwork in the store and it'sdonated all the time.
You could find a lot of littletrinkets or you could, although
we go up to a four by fivepainting that are coming in.
We found some that are fromgreat artists and we found some
(29:28):
that are done by kids.
But it just depends whatsomeone is looking for.
If they're trying to redo aplayroom, some of that little
finger painting art actuallyfalls into play and looks really
nice and you can pick them upfrom anywhere from about $299 to
about $2499.
There was a mirror that came inthe other day and we do the
(29:51):
research, we do Google it to seewhat it sells for on eBay, and
on eBay this mirror was sold forover $200.
And we had a price tag of$24.99 on it.
Wow, and it went very quickly.
I wish I could have bought itfrom my house, but I didn't have
room to put it.
But just so many unique items.
We've had bicycles come in,racing bikes, yeah.
(30:14):
Old desks, old sewing machines.
Just so many different bows forhunting have come into the
store.
A lot of musical instruments.
The list is just so long when Isay we just 10,000 items going
out a week.
10,000 items go out on thatfloor a week and it's just, it's
(30:37):
always new.
You never know what you'regoing to find.
Sometimes you could just bedigging through some of our
miscellaneous items back inhousewares or the wall art and
you come across something and go, wow, where did this come from?
Who donated this?
I don't think they really knewwhat they were donating when
they donated it and it's justamazing, amazing finds.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
So, betty, for somebody that's listening and
they're like, hey, I want to beable to financially thrive in
2025, but they may feel a littleoverwhelmed.
I mean, listen to Steve sayingall the thousands of pieces of
merchandise they have.
What's your advice?
Where do we get started?
Is there a best time, a peaktime?
Is Saturday better thanWednesday?
What's your advice?
(31:20):
How do we really maximize thethrifting potential to help us
out financially?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
So I would say, probably my number one tip is
start with smaller stores.
America's Thrift is, I want tosay, the biggest thrift store,
like square footage wise, inBaton Rouge.
I've been in all of them.
It's very large.
You went and I even, you know,saw your face.
You walked in and you felt alittle overwhelmed.
(31:47):
I mean it's huge, it's huge,it's overhead like fluorescent
lighting.
So I would say number one isstart small, like in Baton Rouge
.
Locally, st Vincent de Paul is agreat store to start at because
their stores are much smaller,so you don't feel that same
overwhelm.
The amount of racks is less,the square footage is less, the
ceilings are lower and it's thelighting's a little different.
(32:08):
And I know that that soundskind of like inconsequential,
but if you don't know whatyou're doing, those things can
kind of make you feel a littlemore comfortable, like you're
not like walking in and beinglike, oh my god, like you can go
through all the racks in therein an hour easily, um, and so I
would say saman's in appalachianstarring.
I love that spot, um, and alsoI love it because that area, for
(32:31):
whatever reason, they get a lotof items donated that seem to
be from estate sales and things,so you just get those items
that just are not even that used.
Um, I've gotten a lot of greatthings there and nothing feels
particularly like worn in andthey actually have a lot of
furniture in the back as well.
I would say then that's my nextstep, to recommend going out and
(32:51):
not going for clothes right offthe bat, going for those
housewares and going forfurniture items and things like
that.
You need to like build thosewins so you can really get in
your comfort zone.
And so I would say, looking atthe home things you know, even
like kitchen items, like platesand cups, things like that, is a
(33:12):
great way to go.
And then you know I hate to saythis, I hate to put it out
there, but ask your thriftingfriend, they'll take you and
they probably will, and you knowthey can kind of show you the
ropes and if you need me, callme.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And so, steve, for you, for those that are
semi-pros or pros like Bettyright, is there a peak time to
find the goods at AmericanThrift?
Tell us about your hours.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Actually, any day is a good time to come in the shop.
We're open from 8 am to 9 pmMonday through Saturday.
Sunday is from 11 to 7.
We run new product to the floorMonday through Friday.
So come Friday afternoon aboutfour o'clock every item that
we've processed for the week isout on the floor fresh and ready
(34:00):
to go.
Every item that we've processedfor the week is out on the
floor fresh and ready to go.
There's not a bad time to comein.
There's not a day that's goingto be extremely busier than the
next.
I know weekends we do getbusier because of a lot of
people are not working or thechildren are out of school, but
there's not a bad time to comein.
I'm there all the time.
I get there at seven o'clock inthe morning.
I walk out at 5 o'clock atnight.
(34:22):
Anyone that wants to come in,you snag me.
I'll take you around the store.
If you're a first-time thrifter, if you've been doing it for
multiple years, if you can'tfind something, grab myself,
grab one of my associates andwe'll be happy to help you out.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Well, there you have it folks.
Well there you have it folks.
I mean, if you are seriousabout stretching your dollar in
2025, if you have goals and youneed to get more but pay less,
it sounds like thrifting is theway.
I want to thank our guests,betty and Steve.
Thank, you.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
(35:02):
Look for more.
There's so much more that we'regoing to cover in 2025, because
we want you to thrive.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
So until next time, I'm Kim Chapman with Money
Matters.
It's time for BlueprintBuilding Blocks Small changes
that lead to big financial wins.
Let's stack up for success.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Be skeptical of unexpected calls and emails.
The IRS won't call or emailasking for immediate payments.
If you receive one of thosecalls, hang up and report it.
Verify before you pay.
If someone contacts youclaiming you owe them money,
always verify through officialchannels before making any
payment.
Choose a trusted tax preparer.
(35:36):
Check credentials and look forreviews before handing over your
personal financial information,and then stay updated on scams.
Check with the BBB scam trackerand sign up for alerts to stay
ahead of fraudsters.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building
Blocks.
Stay on track with yourfinancial journey.
Subscribe to the Money Matterspodcast and visit
neighborsfcuorg slash financialwellness for more tools to help
you build a strong financialfuture.
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