CLOVERDALE, Va. – A thrifting staple of the Roanoke Valley closed the doors of its store in Roanoke last week. Tim & Zach Thrifty Finds, which had been operating at a location in Cloverdale, announced on Facebook that the cost of theft was too much to sustain the in-person location.
“It’s (retail theft) quite an impact because most of the stuff we have in our store is purchased by us,” Co-owner Timothy Head said.
Among the items stolen was a rare Michael Kors bag worth almost $1,000 at resale, marked down by the shop to $200. Shop owners were forced to turn to Facebook to track down the thief and the bag.
“That’s not the first thing we’ve had stolen. We’ve ran inventory within the last week and realized there’s dozens and dozens of items that have been stolen over the last 30-60 days,” Head said.
One solution would be adding more security measures, but for businesses the size of Head’s that just isn’t in the budget.
Small businesses don’t have the resources that the big corporations do to pay people to stand at the door and check receipts or have cameras throughout the whole store or motion devices," Head said.
The issue isn’t just limited to Head’s store. According to Capitol One Shopping, in 2022 alone, Virginia retailers lost almost $2 billion due to theft.
Head was optimistic about the company’s future. Although the Cloverdale store will now be used to house company operations, the store will still have a fully functioning online presence.
“We don’t look at it as a store closing. We look at it as a store shifting its focus into a different direction,” Head said.