More Seattle-area shoppers turn to Evergreen Goodwill amid economic uncertainty

Seattle Public Schools students return to the classroom today, and the uncertain economic climate has more families turning to thrift stores for their back-to-school shopping.

Seattle is home to the biggest Goodwill in the world, according to Evergreen Goodwill, the nonprofit’s Northwest arm.

At the SODO store, foot traffic is up about 9% compared to this time last year. A spokesperson for Evergreen Goodwill said that’s about double the increase they’re used to seeing.

Jennifer Le Zotte, a historian at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, who wrote a book on thrift culture, said this rise in demand for secondhand goods is typical in times of economic uncertainty.

“ I can reflect back to other economic crises that I've studied from the 1930s to the 1970s, and you certainly see a rise in demand when there are economic crises or recessions, depressions, or even whisperings of that,” Le Zotte said.

Beyond clothing sales, the store is seeing an uptick in demand for homewares and small appliances, like Crock-Pots, suggesting Seattleites are tightening their budgets in a variety of ways.

But at the SODO store on a recent Friday, several shoppers complained about a perceived increase in prices.

“ Part of that just has to do with supply and demand,” Le Zotte said, explaining that higher demand leads to higher prices. “There are more and more people consistently, at least from the 1990s to the present... recognizing the value of used goods in the general population. As that value goes up, there's more competition for high-quality clothing that isn't fast fashion, clothing that is made more to last.”

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Still, Evergreen Goodwill said prices have only gone up about 14 cents per item on average – roughly 2% -- across categories. Because that’s an average, price increases on some higher-quality items could appear to be larger, while other categories have seen little or no change.

Le Zotte also has another theory for the mismatch between perception and reality when it comes to secondhand prices.

“As secondhand clothing has gotten slightly more expensive, firsthand clothing has gotten much cheaper," she said. “So, I think the perception is skewed by the fact that firsthand clothing has gotten about as cheap as it can get.”