Recent visit to the Goodwill store

[JRMILLER]

Goodwill, if you are wondering, is a place where people donate their unwanted clothing, DVD's, furniture and other assorted cast-offs. Volunteers that work in the store take the items in, inspect them and place them on racks and shelves for people to buy at hugely discounted prices. A short-sleeved shirt, for instance, generally sells for $4 here.

There are a couple hundred of these stores in the US and Canada -- it is an amazing business model, by the way, wish I would have thought of it!

Anyway, the store in my town, Delaware, OH, generally has a pretty good selection of used skirts, I would guess 100' of skirt racks total.. You might think that a lot of women wear skirts in Delaware and there are some, but most women seem to prefer pants and shorts.

I visited a Goodwill store in Dublin, OH earlier today and searched and searched for the skirt rack. They had tons of pants for women and tops, but I could not find the skirts. Finally, over by the changing rooms, I saw a 10' long rack with skirts.. 10 feet! That's all they had!

Not sure how to explain it, Dublin is an affluent town, probably more so than Delaware, but just 10 feet!

Needless to say, I could not find anything useful there...

[Caultron]

Women aren't wearing as many skirts, so they aren't buying as many skirts, so they aren't discarding as many skirts.

[pelmut]

A proprtion of the donations in the U.K. come from house clearances after an elderly relative has died.  Older women tend to have more skirts and these tend to be in the larger size ranges, so there is a moderate but steady supply as long as you aren't too squeamish about who wore them last.

[mishawakaskirt]

My store in my hometown. Has perhaps has one 25 foot long rack of skirts. Skirts do certainly seem to be out of favor. Skirt going extinct? Not if we can help it. Right gents? I'm doing my part to give old skirts a new home.

Reducing the trouser population one skirt at a time.

[SkirtsDad]

The charity shops near me usually only have a 1m rail for skirts -little more than a yard - however I have 9 charity shops to choose from within half a mile, and there as a lot in town too. I do not know of any charity shops that do house clearances and, unless the sell furniture, most are not able to collect. Most of the skirts in my local charity shops are brought in by students.... They do still wear skirts although not most of the time from what I have seen.

[denimini]

The charity shops near me usually only have a 1m rail for skirts -little more than a yard - however I have 9 charity shops to choose from within half a mile, and there as a lot in town too. I do not know of any charity shops that do house clearances and, unless the sell furniture, most are not able to collect. Most of the skirts in my local charity shops are brought in by students.... They do still wear skirts although not most of the time from what I have seen.

Same here, when I travel, most about 1 metre rack of skirts, some 2 or 3 metres and a few with no skirts at all. Melbourne has some big supermarket style charity shops called Savers, a bit more expensive but has 10 - 15 metres or more of skirts.
Some country towns I pass through have quite a few skirts, I think they are a bit more old fashioned and women stick to skirts. I would imagine that up near the Gold Coast in Queensland would be a good place to buy mini skirts because of the climate and better socio-economic status. One just has to keep looking and sometimes a real gem appears.

[moonshadow]

I've never had the least little bit of trouble finding skirts in my area goodwills. There are usually twice as many trouser racks than skirt racks. But the skirt racks are at least 50 feet long, plus they put the dresses on a separate rack normally against the wall. The dress rack is normally about half the size of the skirt rack. Then there are rows and rows of blouses and shirts, then usually a few racks for men, a rack for jeans, one for dress pants, one for nice shirts and one for casual shirts.

On the skirt rack there is usually anywhere from 3-5 feet per size with medium and large being probably the most common.

Then there are the non-charity stores. The box stores like Ross and Burkes Outlet are usually good for a few skirts. Once in a while walmart might carry a style or two. Cato has an average selection of what ever is trending. I've never been in a Peebles but I suspect they'd have a few skirts too. Dress barn goes without saying.

Magic Mart always had a nice selection of skirts and dresses but as of November this year all magic mart stores will be closing for good. I never purchased much from there as they were a tad pricey and every time I'd skirt shop there I just got an odd vibe from the store workers and other patrons. (Ever feel like your not welcome somewhere?)

Misty Mountain Designs in Bristol tn has a great selection of boho and hippy like skirts and the proprietors and employees are VERY supportive. They are a tad pricey (about $35-$65 on average per skirt) but their skirts are just simply beautiful and worth the extra coin. The store workers are wonderful too. Your won't find a more friendly bunch.

Other than that there are countless little "women's [only] boutiques" that I just assume stay out of unless I'm invited to shop there by a manager. They strike me as the type of places that have a shot gun and bible waiting to discipline me on my arrival. I generally only shop places that also sell mens clothes unless I know the store is supportive of m.i.s.

[Kirbstone]

Mind you, there are precious few stores here whose proprietors arm themselves with a shotgun and a Bible !

Right now I'm mid-way through an interesting read by J.D.Vance, 'Hillbilly Elegy'...an autobiographical look at the hillbilly culture and livelihoods in Kentucky and Ohio.

Tom

[john62]

Recently took a holiday in Iceland, a long way from Oz. Most of the time temp. was about 14C and a fair bit of sun, I counted less than five skirts on women and none on men. On the way home sister wanted to shop in Germany, we went to a large Gerry Weaver ? factory outlet, the place was very large, did not see one skirt on any rack, a small number of dresses and 95% jeans/pants etc.

John

[hairy]

A proprtion of the donations in the U.K. come from house clearances after an elderly relative has died.  Older women tend to have more skirts and these tend to be in the larger size ranges, so there is a moderate but steady supply as long as you aren't too squeamish about who wore them last.

Secondhand skirts or indeed second hand ANY clothing is not for me. Not only is some of it from dead people theres a lot of other reasons too. How about clothes moth eggs hatching out in your house years later, and any number of of other bugs.

[denimini]

Secondhand skirts or indeed second hand ANY clothing is not for me. Not only is some of it from dead people theres a lot of other reasons too. How about clothes moth eggs hatching out in your house years later, and any number of of other bugs.

I wash the clothes I buy when I get home and I already have moths around the house in summer, but they only eat woolen items. As for dead people; it would be clothing that they wore when they were alive and not after they died. I recently bought a Kathmandu brand cotton & hemp skirt for $1 from a charity shop, and it still had it's tag on it displaying a price of $119.98 ......... all good unless someone had a heart attack and died after seeing the price while trying it on.

[denimini]

I've never had the least little bit of trouble finding skirts in my area goodwills. There are usually twice as many trouser racks than skirt racks. But the skirt racks are at least 50 feet long, plus they put the dresses on a separate rack normally against the wall. The dress rack is normally about half the size of the skirt rack. Then there are rows and rows of blouses and shirts, then usually a few racks for men, a rack for jeans, one for dress pants, one for nice shirts and one for casual shirts.

I do see a lot more variety of skirts on eBay in the US, sadly postage is the deal breaker.

Then there are the non-charity stores. The box stores like Ross and Burkes Outlet are usually good for a few skirts. Once in a while walmart might carry a style or two. Cato has an average selection of what ever is trending. I've never been in a Peebles but I suspect they'd have a few skirts too. Dress barn goes without saying.

Most of the uncharitable stores I visit don't have skirts I like and if so would be too expensive.

Other than that there are countless little "women's [only] boutiques" that I just assume stay out of unless I'm invited to shop there by a manager. They strike me as the type of places that have a shot gun and bible waiting to discipline me on my arrival.

I know the type of store; like walking uninvited into a Masonic Lodge.

[crfriend]

I am given to understand that there has been a bit of a kerfuffle in this thread where the moderators had to get involved recently, and which there is no context for me to actually latch onto in the historical record (which is dismally bad in phpBB -- where a DELETE is just that, and doesn't leave a trace).

Would the participants please contact me via private message or e-mail so I can get some idea of what happened? Specifically, I'm trying to latch onto what seems to have enraged political sensibilities.

Many thanks in advance.

I was a bit "busy" when my cell' 'phone rang this afternoon as I was dealing with trying to control a sailboat on Boston Harbor in what may have been a microburst. ("It's coming from everywhere at once!!!" I've had my excitement for the day, thank-you-very-much!)

[r.m.anderson]

denimini:

I do see a lot more variety of skirts on eBay in the US, sadly postage is the deal breaker.

Yes that can be a deal breaker but if the item (skirt) has no bids and may be headed for another
auction round*** or I give up lost interest - don't be afraid to ask (contact) the seller make an offer
you do not have to pay priority postage rates - regular first class may be just fine although slower
than the priority for delivery - sometimes the rates are real close for no contest.
Another option if the seller can be trusted is scratch the tracking service but often ebay incorporates
that in the ebay mailing system.

Still another option look the sellers items over for a combination rate - 2 skirts (items) for the S & H of one.

You will never know - nothing ventured nothing gained.

*** another auction round - look at the sellers previous items in auction (Completed Listings)
if the same item has appeared before maybe it is time for the seller to dump it and move on.

At the Goodwill stores or any thrift charity venue look the skirt merchandise over for any flaws imperfections
missing details maybe even some dirt off the store floor - make an offer to the cashier clerk or store
manager. Another option here is come back and shop on the days they have senior bulk bargain blue Tuesday
sales whatever to get a discount. Skirtsdad could probably give you some pointers on this !

If you want something bad enough make an effort - don't give up easily unless it is a definite budget killer !

Shop smart

[SkirtsDad]

At the Goodwill stores or any thrift charity venue look the skirt merchandise over for any flaws imperfections
missing details maybe even some dirt off the store floor - make an offer to the cashier clerk or store
manager. Another option here is come back and shop on the days they have senior bulk bargain blue Tuesday
sales whatever to get a discount. Skirtsdad could probably give you some pointers on this !

I can only talk about the UK charity shops, and I've worked in four of those. The garments are checked for missing button, dirt etc., and those that are unfit for sale are sold on for rags. However, people are only human and occasionally some detective items get through. Most charity shops will give a discount on an imperfect item, however, because of the handful of unscrupulous shoppers out there that will, let's say, rip off a button on purpose, then the managers may simply apologise and withdraw the item. If you are a regular then this is not likely to happen.

Remember that the person on the till maybe A volunteer and generally will have no authority to reduce the price. You'll invariably have to speak to the manager or assistant manager.

All the charity shops I work in are now on a two week stock cycle. If there is plenty of stock to go out, anything that's been out for over two weeks is removed and sent to another shop. Customers don't buy if the stock is not changing. Anyway, on the ticket should be a date, often day/month only, so you should be able to work out which is the older stock. You are more likely to be able to negotiate a price on something that's been out for two weeks as it will be removed and sent on. Even though area managers want the shop to stick to the two week rule the reality is that some stock, especially if it is a top brand, will stay out longer - I didn't say that

Sales vary. Some have two anual sales, summer and winter, where all donated items are £1. These will typically last 3 or 4 days. In the last you you may find everything is 2 for £1. Others have flash sales so you are unlikely to know when these will be as the are determined by takings, for instance. They are more likely to be the end of a week when takings are low, but it's definitely not always the case.

The option to guarantee a discount is go and volunteer! Even if you are only doing 2 or 3 hours a week you should get your official discount of 20 or 25 percent.... But some managers will give you quite a bit more ..... especially if the item is over its stock date. One used to charge volunteers £1 for any item removed because of stock rotation.