RETAIL—Trends suggest Goodwill Industries is going upscale

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The next time you clean out your garage, don’t expect Goodwill to take all your junk.

The longtime nonprofit organization has gone decidedly upscale with its Los Angeles retail stores and the effort is paying off with increasing sales. Attendants armed with lists of do’s and don’ts now scrutinize every donation at some stores as the organization makes a conscious effort to focus on high-quality, newer items that sell better. But bargain hunters beware: the vintage treasures of yesteryear are harder to find.

Jarred Cairns, who used to make his living hunting down vintage “one of a kinds” and reselling them, has noticed the new look and higher prices. “Urban Outfitters now looks in some degree like a Goodwill,” the Silver Lake resident said. Of the 26 Goodwill stores in the greater Los Angeles area, 11 have been given a new look with upgraded colors and layouts. Merchandise is now sorted by color and category rather than size, and dressing rooms have been added.

In addition, merchandise is shuffled every six weeks, with slower-moving items banished to a clearance center in Lincoln Heights. Two new stores planned to open this year in Sherman Oaks and West Covina will be outfitted with the improvements.

It’s obviously not your grandparents’ Goodwill.

“Goodwill many years ago had the image of the little boxes in parking lots, where you could just put something in that image has changed,” said Richard Guiss, a spokesman for Goodwill Industries of Southern California.

The change is making a difference. Sales at Goodwill stores in the greater Los Angeles area jumped from less than $13 million in 1997 to $17.6 million in 1999.

Adele Meyer, executive director for the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops, said resale and thrift stores have become big business.

“The for-profits of the industry have gotten to be very upscale and very profitable, and it has been extending into the nonprofits,” said Meyer, whose organization has 1,000 members nationwide, including Goodwill.

The Goodwill store in Portland, Ore., has taken the upscaling to a new level with hip television commercials, a Club Goodwill that offers special discounts, and even a caf & #233; serving gourmet coffee and sandwiches.

In the process, it’s become one of the most profitable Goodwill stores in the nation. Guiss said there are no plans any time soon for the Los Angeles stores to mimic the Portland approach, but Goodwill outlets in L.A. and Orange County have teamed up to sponsor radio ads.

The downside of all the upscaling is that shoppers who used to find treasures and vintage items buried on Goodwill shelves are no longer patronizing the remodeled stores.

Anna Huling, a Los Angeles designer who frequents thrift shops for ideas for her own line of apparel, said it’s harder to find vintage clothing and fabrics at the “new look” Goodwills.

Huling has increasingly been turning to Salvation Army stores and even St. Vincent de Paul outlets in funky neighborhoods for retro looks.

“In terms of old vintage styles, I don’t see the selections being that great (at Goodwill),” said Huling. “By the time you go to Goodwill you’re not finding the good finds.”

Before the change at Goodwill, Huling said the finds were “phenomenal.”

Employing more people

One upshot of the increase in sales is that Goodwill is able to employ more people. Because the organization is a nonprofit, revenues go back into training and keeping more people employed.

Goodwill Industries of Southern California was founded in 1919 to educate, train and place people with disabilities or other disadvantages into the workplace.

The retail operations only account for part of the organization’s revenue stream. Other sources include contract jobs like packaging, shrink wrapping and retail display packaging for other companies.

Along with the store and merchandise upgrades, a plan is in place to increase advertising.

With the new outlook and attention to detail, Meyer thinks traditional retailers could take a few tips from thrift stores like Goodwill.

“There are some gorgeous (thrift) stores and a lot of them give much better service than regular stores,” she said.

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