Area shoppers head to secondhand stores first

By Mollie Halpern
Investigative Reporter
Published: October 14, 2008

Not even the struggling economy will stop Jane Vaught from shopping for her grandchildren.
But, it does have her heading to *second*hand stores *first*.
In the past, she would have gone to straight to the mall.
“When they like limited too clothes and things like this you pay 40 dollars for them or three dollars for them here makes a huge difference”, says Vaught.
Vaught is just one of many customers who are changing where they shop these days.
The Salvation Army is seeing an increase in it’s sales…so much so, that it recently extended its hours to accommodate the influx of customers.
“Nowadays with the economy so high and gas prices are so high and food is so high people like to come here where they know they can feel comfortable and know they’re getting a good buy.“
Customers are also filling their shopping bags at Goodwill Industries of the Valleys.
In the past three months goodwill has seen a 5-percent increase in sales.
That’s across the 31 counties they serve.
Kelly Sandridge, of Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, says, “In this market when a when a lot of retailers are showing negative—it’s significant.“
Goodwill says while sales are up - donations are down.   
The same number of people are donating but the amount of what they’re bringing in here is far less.
“it is significantly lower in these economic times because people are holding on to what they’ve had in the past, says Sandridge.
While the feds figure out how to fix the economy—customers are staving off their own financial crises by becoming thrifty shoppers.
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