MapQuest calls it South Industrial Hwy; those familiar with the street know it better as Ann Arbor’s “Resale Row.”
Ann Arbor’s Parent Teacher Organization Thrift Shop, the Klothes Kloset, the Salvation Army and Recycle Ann Arbor’s ReUse Center are the powerhouses on Resale Row that are taking it easy on customer’s bank accounts.
Those who are feeling the economic struggle can feel optimistic when they enter any of these four locations.
“When the economy is bad, people want to sell their stuff,” said Susan Soth, manager of the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop. Ironically, Soth says PTO is never at a loss for donations. In 2010 alone, the PTO Thrift Shop donated $100,000 to Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation, which in turn writes grants for Ann Arbor Public Schools.
How can a thrift shop accumulate such a profit?
“We have lovely donors,” Soth said through a smile.
The generosity of the donors is clear by the full-size leather couches, kitchen tables, computer desks, pianos and a multitude of books — all organized in a manner that even the most obsessive-compulsive person could appreciate.
Great deals on household necessities, paired with knowledge that all profits end up back in Ann Arbor’s Public Schools keep people buying. Schools get to vie for the donations in two ways.
The first is a donation drive in which the school has one month to collect items to donate. The PTO then takes its truck to the school and if they fill it, the schools gets $1,000. This occurs three times a month. Because of its popularity, there is currently a waiting list for schools to participate in the donation drive.
“Show your Support” is the second way schools can earn donations. The process is easy: the school signs up to be on the waiting list to participate, and every time a customer spends five dollars at PTO they get a token to put in one of three plastic containers representing the three featured schools.
The school that gets the most tokens receives $500, the second place gets $350 and the third place gets $200. Representatives at the schools promote for a week or two before, encouraging people to go in and help contribute.
During PTO’s Memorial Day weekend sale, when everything is half off, Soth says people come to the store a day or two before to scope out what they are going to get. The day of the sale is very busy.
“It’s absolutely crazy. … they line-up,” said Soth, drawing an imaginary line with her pointer finger around the building. In contrast, just a 17-second drive south of the PTO, things are calmer on Resale Row.
“My business is down by 50 percent since 2007,” said Patricia Wojtowicz, Klothes Kloset consignment storeowner for the last five years.
For those who are new to consignment, it is an agreement in which a seller pays the person who owns the item a portion of the proceeds from the sale. The 40-year-old Klothes Kloset store specializes in upscale ladies
consignment.
“I’m a nit-pick, I look in armpits and the crotches [of all the clothing],” said Wojtowicz.
Strict guidelines, an incentive for the customer, and a continuous clearance section are the points of difference inside Wojtowicz’s store. All items must be freshly laundered or dry-cleaned in order to be consigned. The incentive: contribute gently worn clothes or accessories to Klothes Kloset and get 50 percent of the profit from the sale.
Items are held for a 60-day period, and if they are not sold in that time, they can be picked back up to be reclaimed. Items not picked up become property of the Klothes Kloset, which they either keep to sell or donate to the Purple Heart in Detroit.
“Everyone should be able to come in here and afford something,” says Wojtowicz.
Generally, the clothing at Klothes Kloset is 30-50% off the original price. Over-the-shoulder Coach bags, strings of pearls and sparkly rings behind the glass counter catch the eye immediately. The shoes look brand-new — and very well might be. There are fittings rooms and full-length mirrors around the store for quick glances.
Wojtowicz is the only employee of Klothes Kloset and keeps the store impeccably neat. She also feels that buying
consignment is an attitude and belief. An up-to-date computer system that tracks each item up for sale and a “bargain that’s hip and in style” cements the Klothes Kloset’s right to shine on Resale Row.
Go less-than-a-mile north of Klothes Kloset and there is perhaps the most well-known thrift shop in Michigan, the Salvation Army. The half-cement, half-dirt parking lot welcomes the diverse community to browse the immense selection of hand-me-downs and sometimes brand new merchandise.
Communications and Marketing Supervisor of the Salvation Army Dellbert Bunch says donations suffer from a lull during the months of January, February and March. This is due to generous donors making most of their contributions during the holiday months.
“This is not the thrift store from when your parents were younger; we’ve evolved,” Bunch said.
Bunch says of the 25 thrift stores, Ann Arbor is one of the top donors, and “they pull in one of the top amounts.”
The profits of the thrift stores fully fund the Salvation Army’s Detroit Adult Rehabilitation Center or A.R.C., which houses up to 300 men at a time.
With the semester coming to an end, students in the dorms at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan have the opportunity to donate their unwanted furniture to the Salvation Army by scheduling a pick-up time with Bunch.
On a larger scale, the donations specialist, Stephanie Franks, is available to set up a donation drive which lets larger groups of people get involved.
The donation drives take about two hours, and Bunch says they are non-intrusive and won’t take up the student’s
whole day. For the last five years, the Salvation Army has come to Ann Arbor during the move-out of students and they pick up donations of old furniture.
The Salvation Army receives its merchandise from about 1,000 drop-off donations every week. In addition, it picks up from roughly 35-40 personal donors every week.
The Salvation Army offers home pick-up from donors in five counties: Macomb, Oakland, Livingston, Washtenaw and parts of Wayne. For more information regarding opportunities to donate, go to salarmythrift.com or call 1-866-GIVE-TOO.
Backtracking south down Resale Row is Recycle Ann Arbor’s ReUse Center. According to its website, the 20,000-square-foot building retail space accepts donations of reusable household goods, office supplies and building materials that it resells to the general public at affordable prices. The ReUse Center was founded in 1996 by Recycle Ann Arbor as a continued effort to reduce waste and conserve resources by providing an environmentally positive alternative to discarding reusable items.
EMUA friendly staff, clearly labeled areas and directions hanging from the ceiling with arrows make shopping effortless.
The ReUse Center is like a miniature Home Depot with lower prices. Some items are slightly more broken-in than others, but the quality is still great. Since the PTO thrift shop does not accept computers, those customers get referred down to the ReUse Center where there is a testing area to make sure the items work properly.
The ReUse Center’s drop-off station is open 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.s The ReUse Center offers free pick-up service for qualifying donations. An added bonus to recycling is that all donations are tax deductible. A complete list of items that are acceptable to donate is available at www.recycleannarbor.org.
