The gift of thrift
Secondhand stores offer savings while helping the needy.
By KAREN DAVISON
Published November 3, 2006
The two men carried the rattan-like sofa from the warehouse into the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on Nebraska Avenue. Before the couch legs touched the tile floor, customer Patsy Driggers began negotiations. A few short minutes later, she sealed the deal. For $50 plus tax, she owned the gently used sofa with the print cushions, along with the matching chair and end table.
That's how fast inventory can turn over.
Store manager John Mulder described some of the fast sellers. "Beds are a big thing," he said, referring to mattress and box spring sets. Televisions are "gone in two days." Microwaves, stoves and refrigerators are hot items. As for a crib, "as soon as it comes through the door, it goes right back out."
Besides furniture, which accounts for up to 40 percent of the $20,000 a month in sales, the 9,000-square-foot store carries housewares, toys, books, linens, bikes, electronics, clothes and even one or two cars a month. A customer may find a wedding dress, golf clubs or a wheelchair.
The shop's inventory is the secret to its success. Like any other store, St. Vincent de Paul also concerns itself with pricing, customer service and staffing, but the business model that drives it is based on the kindness of strangers and community service.
That's what appealed to Mulder, a recent hire.
"What caught my eye was the way we're able to help people," he said. "It's just awesome."
He manages a second thrift store in Ruskin, also operated by the nonprofit Hillsborough County Society of St. Vincent de Paul, but in early September he was covering the Nebraska Avenue store, too.
The store, between Fowler and Fletcher avenues, relies entirely on donations to fill the shelves. Some are dropped off at the adjacent warehouse. Others come in through Catholic parishes. A truck picks up furniture and appliances from people's homes five times a day, Monday through Saturday.
Smaller items work their way into the sorting room, where Mary Rippel spends most of her time sorting and pricing piles of clothes and linens. She's been at the store since 1993, long enough to remember tagging blouses for 25 cents. Now they go for $2.95. She and just five other employees get through the loads of donations one way: "We depend on volunteers."
One woman comes in on Wednesdays and does nothing but sort socks. Another advises on antiques. Others organize electronics. With only 10 volunteers, the store always needs more.
The clothes move from the sorting room to racks and shelves in the store. Many are organized by color for efficient shopping. All the navy blues hang together, as do the grays and the browns and the tans. Blue children's shirts stay separate from red ones.
Michelle Rover and her sister, Anna Youngberg, recently found clothes for Rover's 7-month-old son, Nicholas. It was their first time in the store.
"We just saw it driving by the other day," Rover said.
Most customers find the store that way or through word of mouth. Little money exists for advertising because any money generated from the store is earmarked for a higher purpose: helping out those in need in Hillsborough County.
The store provides clothing, food and other things to people who come in with a voucher from one of the 13 parish conferences that make up the Hillsborough County Society of St. Vincent de Paul or from a recognized charity. Though a Catholic organization runs the stores, religion does not define who gets help.
"We give a lot of clothing away," manager Mulder said. "That's one of the main things people need. I love the idea that it comes in and it goes out to help the community."
For the store's fiscal year 2005 - Oct. 1, 2004, through Sept. 30, 2005 - the amount of the goods supplied through vouchers equaled $38,222, according to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Hillsborough District Council. And the Society's food pantry next door, which is run entirely by 25 volunteers, handed out $80,941 in food.
The pantry is stocked with food bought by the store and through donations, including those from the USDA that account for 10 to 15 percent of the food.
The Nebraska Avenue store and the one in Ruskin contribute to the food pantry at the San Jose Mission in Dover, which gave away food totaling $175,188 in fiscal year 2005, much of it to migrant workers.
Plans include opening three additional stores, according to Andrew Plummer, president of the Society's Hillsborough District Council. The first one may come as early as the spring.
When five stores are up and running and providing a source of funding, the Society has bigger plans. Plummer's business card spells it out: Visions of a soup kitchen by 2010.
FAST FACTS
Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store
12310 N Nebraska Ave.: (813) 977-7057; (813) 977-3597 (furniture pickups)
1311 Third St. NE in Ruskin: (813) 645-5255
Accepts: Visa, MasterCard or cash. No checks.
Always needs: Volunteers and donations.