First-class Secondhand: Thrift stores help non-profits close the funding gap.
By Joseph Amster
As private and government funding of AIDS prevention and service programs decreases, nonprofit organizations are increasingly looking to different approaches to ensure a steady revenue stream. Many local AIDS service organizations launched their thrift store operations in the early 1990s and have seen these operations grow and change over the past two decades.
Out of the Closet
In 1990, AIDS Healthcare Foundation founder and president, Michael Weinstein, thought that a thrift store would enhance his organization’s fundraising, and the first Out of the Closet Thrift Store was opened on Oct. 1 of that same year in Atwater Village. It has grown to 21 stores in L.A. County, the San Francisco Bay Area and Florida.
“We needed to generate some other revenue, so Michael thought a thrift store could work,” said Jonathan Kreuyer, general manager of operations of Out of the Closet Thrift Stores. “It would also be a place where people could donate things to be purchased. These have been very successful operations for AHF — there’s a cash flow every day for the organization. We bring in approximately $10 million a year to the organization. For every dollar taken in, 96 cents goes directly toward patient care.”
As Out of the Closet’s operations has grown, Kreuyer has seen awareness and support of AHF increase. “We’ve seen an increase in donations throughout some of the areas, and some years, we’ve seen a little decrease,” he said. “We’ve seen the quality of the stuff go up and have seen the quality go down. We see new customers in our stores everyday. Our goal is to be able to identify that when our customers are shopping at Out of the Closet, they are shopping at a nonprofit organization and making them aware of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“Another challenge is to overcome the stigma of shopping at a secondhand store,” Kreuyer continued. “But, people are finding out that’s where the deals are and where for a couple of dollars, you can buy a nice Polo shirt – a brand-name shirt that’s still in great condition. People also feel like they’re giving something back to the community. When you’re giving us money, you’re not making someone else rich – you’re helping people affected by HIV and AIDS.”
Out of the Closet’s Long Beach location is one of its larger and more successful stores and has benefited from tremendous community support. “I’ve been working in this store since it opened, and I would easily say that of all the various stores I’ve worked in, this probably gets more donations,” said Michael Saunders, who as group store manager supervises Out of the Closet’s Long Beach, Pasadena and South Pasadena stores. “I actually ship merchandise out of this store to our other stores. I can literally fill up my basement storage in a weekend.”
The Long Beach store generates $38,000 - $40,000 per month, with sales jumping to around $270,000 during Halloween. “We have a reputation here in town,” said Saunders. “Our staff helps customers put costumes together. We also put costumes together from pieces so customers don’t have to — if we have time, we design costumes and sell those. We get donations from a lot of the local theater groups. When they purge their costume departments, they donate to here.”
As the Out of the Closet begins its third decade of operations, the ultimate goal may seem odd. “Our goal to be ‘successful’ is to [close operations] because [that means the] epidemic is over and people are taken care of, but we don’t foresee that happening,” said Kreuyer.
Out of the Closet’s Long Beach location is at 3500 East Pacific Coast Highway. For more information, call (562) 494-0340, or go to www.outofthecloset.org. Donations are picked up seen days a week. To donate, call (877) 2-PICKITUP.
AIDS Assistance Thrift Store
“We were all discussing how the Ryan White CARE Act money was being distributed to Long Beach, said AATS Executive Director Norm Halbert, describing the impetus of Long Beach’s AIDS Assistance Thrift Store, which launched in 1988 at a Fourth of July party. “Our understanding is that the money would come to Los Angeles and, based on budgets submitted to agencies, the money would be divvied up to various agencies and communities. It seemed like L.A. was consistently getting the bigger piece of the pie than everyone else, regardless of the number of clients they were servicing. Long Beach was only getting 50 cents for every dollar that L.A. got.
“We were talking about what we could do to balance that out and get some more money for Long Beach, and we came up with this idea of running a thrift store, selling donated items, and doing our own grant funding,” he continued. “It wasn’t meant to be something long term; it was meant to go just a few years. We didn’t figure that AIDS would be an issue for too many years. We thought they would find a cure, and we’d move on.”
Throughout the years, AATS has seen many changes in Long Beach’s HIV/AIDS community and has adapted with the times. “The number of agencies that were here years ago have either disappeared or have merged with other agencies,” said Halbert. “It’s shifted more to the drug users, homeless people or people who have been incarcerated and picked up HIV while in jail. In the beginning, it was more people like your neighbors, your friends, your lovers – people who were more gainfully employed and caught by surprise because education wasn’t yet available as to how to protect yourself.”
AATS works mostly with referrals from the CARE Program at St. Mary’s Hospital, providing clients with goods, as well as raising funds. “The whole shift has been from grant giving to giving away materials, clothing primarily. Money isn’t so much the issue in the community any more – our focus has changed from giving out grants to hospices, shelters and food banks – although we still do that,” said Halbert. “AIDS has moved into a more transient community, and clothing, furniture and household goods are the more necessary thing. We’re really the only clothes [provider] for the HIV community. There will also be instances where a client has passed away and can’t afford a funeral, so we’ll provide funding for simple funerals. We’ve also provided washers and dryers for shelters.”
Currently, AATS’ sales are around $60,000 - $70,000 annually. “It used to be greater, but the economy has had a huge impact on us,” Halbert said. The store continues to look forward, he added. “We’ve talked about splitting the space in half, because donations are down. We’re able to sell things to pay the rent, as well as give things away to the HIV community. We all love being here, but there’s the business of business. None of us came into this with any experience; we decided to do this and were very naive. We’ve met some wonderful people in the nonprofit arena, and we’ve met some snakes. But, it’s been an education that was totally unexpected.”
AIDS Assistance Thrift Store is located at 2011 East Fourth St. in Long Beach. For more information, call (562) 987-5353.
Revivals
Founded in 1990, Palm Springs’ Revivals Thrift Stores benefit the Desert AIDS Project. “As happens with a lot of nonprofits, people started donating items to help,” said Regional General Manager Michael Scarff. “There was a collection area by the office, and it just grew and grew.” What began as a 2,200-square-foot store has grown to five locations, including the upscale Gallery location, annually generating more than $3 million.
While most thrift stores generate the majority of sales from clothing, Revivals is different. “We’re very unique, in that our biggest selling items are furniture,” said Scarff. “When you go into most resale shops, most of the floor space is 80- to 90-percent clothing and about 10 percent [of household goods]. We do an incredible job with furniture and have for a long time. I think it has to do with the area: We have a lot of ‘snowbirds.’ They’ll buy second homes here and when they sell the homes, they won’t take the furniture back with them. The new homeowner has their own style, so they just donate the items. That’s one of the main reasons that we do so much in furniture.”
Having been employed previously by the Salvation Army and Goodwill, Scarff has the thrift-store business in his blood and really enjoys the work. “It’s kind of like Christmas every day, because you never know what’s going to come in the back door,” he said.
Another way in which Revivals’ stores differ from other thrift stores is that they take consignments and sell new merchandise. “We’ve refined what we do: We still have the donated items, but we also have consignment and buy new items. If we find that we’re not offering a good selection, we’ll go out and find it and sell it,” Scarff said. Revivals’ main location and the Gallery are located at 611 S. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. For more information, call (760) 318-6491 or visit www.desertaidsproject.org/revivals/.