NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — In 2021, the secondhand market brought in about $36 billion.
Businesses are calling this era, the Thrift Store Renaissance.
And as we have seen in western North Dakota, thrift shops are popping up left and right.
The secondhand market is growing at 11 times the rate of the broader retail clothing, according to GlobalData.
Buying clothes, shoes, and more secondhand can significantly reduce fashion’s drastic effect on our climate.
“We don’t have a lot of clothes just sitting in our landfill, for one, it takes a while for that stuff to decompose, and the less of that we can have in our environment, the better too,” said Plato’s Closet Co-owner/Manager, Kaitlynn Wickstrom.
Recently youth around the country have caught on to thrifting as a cheap alternative to finding buried treasure.
Those who are involved in thrifting find it addictive because they are always searching for a great deal.
“Thrifty is something that we’re seeing is growing with our younger generations too. I’ve talked to a lot of them that come into the store here and they say, thrifting is where it’s at now. That’s what they do, they get together with some friends on a Friday and they go to all the different thrift stores in town and see how much money they can save,” added Wickstrom.
Thrift stores rely on their communities’ charitableness because it’s your charity that fills these stores in North Dakota.
For this reason, thrift stores and the community can see their efforts come full circle.
“I see a lot of the same face on a daily basis, whether it’s donating or thrifting and a lot of those people find different homes for certain things and just give back to others that are less fortunate,” said Minot Goodwill Store Manager, Richard Bartholomae.
Whether it’s giving back to those who are less fortunate or shopping for a deal, thrifting is on the rise, and it’s impacting our community economically and charitably.
The secondhand market is projected to reach $77 billion by 2025 according to online thrift store Thredup.