Nowadays, there's a tendency to buy high-quality goods at reasonable prices. It applies to everything - cloth, furniture, household items or books. Inside the thrift stores, you can find such riches that no one luxury shop can offer. And it's not about the prices, it's also about the unique feeling of looking for vintage and antique goods.

Also known as the charity shop, hospice shop, secondhand or resale shop, the thrift stores sell the items that have been accurately used. Usually, the charity companies open such stores to collect money for some charitable aim. There're cases when organizations use several items of thrift stores to help people who go through difficult times in their lives.

For the USA the thrift stores are a relatively new thing. The first shops began to appear in the 19th century because of the urbanization and immigration wave. By 1920s in terms of structure and organization, the thrift shops reminded the department stores. And they got their current name - the adjective "junk" was substituted by more appealing "thrift". According to IBISWorld report, now the thrift shops are a part of the industry with $14.4 billion income; and it will continue growing as the demand of purchasing in stores donating to the charities isn't going away.

The factor that makes the thrift shops industry so special is that there's no typical purchaser. Many Americans with different incomes enjoy saving their money by purchasing the true treasure items at such an affordable price. According to the GlobalData research, 26% of customers with high incomes visit thrift stores and buy secondhand goods. It's much higher than the purchasers who do shopping in big chains (like Target, Walmart, Old Navy) or big department stores (such as Bloomingdales and Macy's). Among thrift store customers, there're not only grown adults but also the children - 36% of teenagers from 14 to 19 age said they'd used the online platform to buy cloth and furniture in thrift shops.

What thrift stores do the American customers prefer most? In the industry, there are two leaders - Goodwill and Crossroads Trading Company. The first chain has one-third of all thrift stores revenue; for example, in 2017, it gained $5.9 billion. Its stores feature various assortment as every day more than 2,000 new items appear on its shelves. Now Goodwill operates more than 3,000 thrift stores across the USA and Canada and an online platform where you can also purchase good-quality goods for a reasonable price.

The Crossroads Trading Company has less number of thrift stores (just 37). Its stores allow the customers to sell their accurately used cloth for cash or trade it in the shop. At Crossroads, you can also find a small assortment of brand-new clothing and accessories.

 These are only two popular thrift store chains; in reality, many of them are in the US. If you want to know more, you can enter our section in which we'll provide everything about them - their locations, assortment items, prices and customers' feedback.