Stores Where Shoppers Can Spend A Little, Give A Lot -- Thrift Shops Help Community, Thrill Bargain Hunters
Bargain hunters know they can bag anything at Eastside thrift stores.
Designer clothes, including silk blouses, Chanel suits and Coach handbags, flow into the Junior League's Wise Penny Boutique and Overlake Service League's Thrift Shop in Bellevue.
Old records, pots and pans, funky jewelry and great dishes can be scooped up at the Children's Hospital Thrift Store in Redmond. Furniture can be found at Goodwill in Bellevue.
Hanging around shops for a perfect picture frame? Try again in a few hours. Thrift shops rotate in new merchandise as quickly as shelf space opens.
And all these wares, including some things you wouldn't allow through your front door, come from friends and neighbors.
Discarded household items sought by telephone solicitors frequently end up at Shop & Save Thrift Store in Kirkland and Value Village in Redmond. The charities behind the solicitors, such as the Northwest Center, formerly the Northwest Center for the Retarded, get paid for the donations collected.
Bellevue Christian School supporters and families are urged to contribute to the Aslan's shops in Issaquah and Bothell. St. Margaret's Episcopal Church has its own thrift shop, as does Church of the Redeemer in Bothell. Proceeds go to community human-service programs.
Overlake Service League groups, Children's Hospital & Medical Center guilds, and Junior League members support their respective thrift stores.
A shopping adventure
Shopping at them can be an adventure. And sometimes customers get lucky, like George Porter of Bellevue did.
He frequents area thrift stores on weekends and when he has time between work appointments.
"I found a new vase - it still had the department-store price tag of $49.99 - for 25 cents," Porter said. "It looks great filled with dry flowers."
Porter doesn't buy thrift-shop clothes or shoes, but just about any other household item is fair game, if the quality and price are right. He likes the recycling concept, too.
"Sometimes I just bring home stuff and turn around and sell it at my own garage sale," Porter said.
Penchant for recycling
Indeed, it is our Northwest penchant for recycling that makes secondhand stores successful, says Lyn Hoerler, Children's Hospital Thrift Store manager. People want to see stuff reused.
"It makes sense, when we all know how expensive clothes are, to buy top quality items at a low price," Hoerler said.
In February the 13-year-old Children's Hospital shop surpassed $1 million net. Volunteers who put in 500 hours a month help keep the profit margin large.
And TVI, the corporation behind Value Village, ranks as one of the top revenue-producing private companies on the Eastside, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Not everything gets sold or is even sellable. Upfront they smile, but workers behind the scenes sigh over broken merchandise that goes into the stores' trash bins.
Payment for the dumping fees cuts into what the stores can give back to the community.
Thrift stores seek clothes that are clean and usable. Hoerler's shop has a washer, dryer and volunteers who iron. But not all shops have that luxury.
She even has someone who purchases the thrift store's discards.
Last week was typical. A rag company in Seattle bought 1,000 pounds of clothing from Hoerler's store, giving back 5 cents a pound.
On one occasion, Hoerler even gave back a donation.
"We had just set a beautiful cut-glass punch bowl and cups out when a woman walked in the store, took a look at them and started to cry," Hoerler said. "She and her brother had been going through their mother's things, and the brother had brought us a load of stuff.
"Turns out she couldn't bear to part with the punch bowl. We gave it back to her."
Porter says one of his treasures is the taillight lens for an old Model A.
"It was such a deal I couldn't resist," he said. "I don't have a Model A, but someday I'll find someone who needs them."
Sherry Grindeland's phone message number is 206-515-5633. Her e-mail address is: sgri-new@seatimes.com
--------------------------- Some shops accept furniture ---------------------------
Looking for furniture or have some to donate?
Not all thrift shops offer or accept furniture, but many do.
Try Alsan's Bellevue Christian School shops in Issaquah and Bothell, Eastside Community Aid in Kirkland, Goodwill in Redmond, the Thrift Shop for Mercer Island Youth & Family Services, St. Margaret's Thrift Shop in Bellevue, Shop & Save Thrift Store in Kirkland, Value Village in Redmond or St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop in Carnation.
------------------------------------------------------- Hey, bargain hunters, here are some places to check out -------------------------------------------------------
Bellevue
Goodwill, 14506 N.E. 20th St., 425-649-2080.
Overlake Service League, 167 Bellevue Square, 425-454-6424.
St. Margaret's Thrift Shop, 4228 128th Ave. S.E., 425-641-6830.
Wise Penny Boutique, 145 106th Ave. N.E., 425-452-8145.
Bothell
Aslan's Too (Bellevue Christian School), 18827 Bothell Way N.E., 425-485-5401.
The Butterfly, 10216 N.E. 183rd St., 425-486-3552
Helping Hands Thrift Store, 19213 Bothell-Everett Highway, 425-481-6682.
Carnation
St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop, 4501 Tolt Ave. S., 425-333-6944.
Issaquah
Aslan's Bellevue Christian School shop, 1175 N.W. Gilman Blvd., 425-392-4500.
Kirkland
Compass General Store for Lutheran Social Services, 11849 1/2 98th Ave. N.E., 425-820-5117.
Eastside Community Aid, 12637 N.E. 85th St., 425-803-6993.
Salvation Army Thrift Store, 355 Kirkland Ave., 425-822-6593.
Shop & Save Thrift Store, 6613 132nd Ave. N.E., 425-881-0803.
Mercer Island
Thrift Shop for Mercer Island Youth & Family Services, 7710 S.E. 34th St., 206-236-3625.
Redmond
American Cancer Society Discovery Shop, 14840 N.E. 24th St., 425-869-7523.
Children's Hospital Thrift Store, 15137 N.E. 24th St., 425-746-3092.
Value Village, 16771 Redmond Way, 425-883-2049.