Resale/Thrift/Second Hand

Goodwill Corporate Office

Goodwill can trace its roots back to 1902, when Reverand Edgar Helms of the Morgan Methodist Chapel in Boston, began Goodwill as a part of the church ministry. Helms and others in his congregation would collect items that had been left for trash pickup, then trained and hired the poor or unemployed to repair and resell the items.

Today, the 32,000 Goodwill locations still collect household items, clothing, furniture, and other items to be sold at store locations, however, the company also offers items for auction on sites such as eBay or on their own website shopgoodwill.com.

Picture of interior of Goodwill store clothing section

In 2013, an article published information regarding the substantial difference between what employees earn and executive compensation.

Forbes describes a blind woman earning only $3.99 an hour until Goodwill asked her to slash her salary to $2.75. The woman quit and was angered to discover that the CEO at that time, was earning a base salary of more than $434,000.

Goodwill is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

Goodwill

In 2013, an article published information regarding the substantial difference between what employees earn and executive compensation.

History

Goodwill is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

Tradesy Corporate Office

Tradesy was founded in 2012 by Tracy DiNunzio. DiNunzio wanted to sell some of her expensive accessories and found that there were very few options to do so. Tradesy is a peer to peer marketplace where sellers offer their pre-owned clothing and accessories.

Since 2009, she had been running Recycled Bride, a peer-to-peer resale marketplace where brides could buy and sell wedding dresses and accessories. She soon expanded her platform to women’s luxury fashion items. In 2019, the company began powering new third-party resale services via Rebag. Rebag introduced CLAIR (“Comprehensive Luxury Appraisal Index for Resale”) which provides sellers an immediate value of their bags.

In 2017, the company opened its first showroom on the ground floor of their corporate office building in Santa Monica, California.

In late 2019, the company acquired Fitz, an in-home service that helps women organize and make the most of the wardrobe, renaming the company Tradesy Closet Concierge.

Tradesy is the world’s largest peer to peer marketplace, with headquarters located in Santa Monica, California.

Tradesy

History

In 2017, the company opened its first showroom on the ground floor of their corporate office building in Santa Monica, California.

In late 2019, the company acquired Fitz, an in-home service that helps women organize and make the most of the wardrobe, renaming the company Tradesy Closet Concierge.

Tradesy is the world’s largest peer to peer marketplace, with headquarters located in Santa Monica, California.

Value Village (Savers) Corporate Office

Value Village was founded in 1954 in San Francisco, California, by William Ellison. The company operates a chain of second hand/thrift stores that donate part of the profits collected to various charities.

Known as Value Village in the Pacific Northwest and Savers in other parts of the country and in Canada, the company has approximately 315 locations and had annual revenue in 2012 of $1 billion.

Value Village asks for donations from the public, as well as receiving items from non-profit charities for resale. The company is not a charity, however, it is a for-profit business that donates a small portion of their profits to charity. Some states believe that the company is misleading people into thinking that most of the money they receive goes to charities.

Both Washington and Minnesota states have filed lawsuits against the company stating that their aggressive ad campaigns have misled the public into thinking their donated items would end up with charities receiving money, when, in some cases, charities received nothing in return, while others received only 5% from the sale of donated items.

In October 2020, some state regulators were cracking down on misleading thrift store operations.

In March 2022, a person posted on Tik Tok that prices were out of control when they discovered used Mason canning jars for $10 and $15 each.

Savers and Value Village is owned by Berkshire Partners and TGP Capital. Headquarters for the company remain in Bellevue, Washington.

Value Village

Known as Value Village in the Pacific Northwest and Savers in other parts of the country and in Canada, the company has approximately 315 locations and had annual revenue in 2012 of $1 billion.

History

In October 2020, some state regulators were cracking down on misleading thrift store operations.

In March 2022, a person posted on Tik Tok that prices were out of control when they discovered used Mason canning jars for $10 and $15 each.

Savers and Value Village is owned by Berkshire Partners and TGP Capital. Headquarters for the company remain in Bellevue, Washington.

Sneaker Pawn USA Corporate Office

Sneaker Pawn USA was founded by father and son team Chase & Troy Reed. Chase once wanted a cash advance from his father, who told him he should wait. Chase offered his favorite pair of sneakers for his dad to hold until he repaid the loan. Dad agreed and this transaction got father and son thinking.

After selling all of his shoes, 16-year-old Chase had the money they needed to rent a space and get started. Gently used shoes and what is known as Dead Stock Shoes (shoes that are new, in the box, but never worn and are no longer sold) are purchased on site, cleaned up if need be, then resold. The markup on shoes can be as much as 800%.

Sneaker Pawn USA started selling out of a friends apartment or the back of Troy’s car, but today has a brick and mortar store, as well as an active eCommerce site.

Sneaker Pawn USA

Sneaker Pawn USA started selling out of a friends apartment or the back of Troy’s car, but today has a brick and mortar store, as well as an active eCommerce site.

History

Unclaimed Baggage Center Corporate Office

Doyle Owens was selling insurance when a customer told him that Trailways was selling unclaimed baggage, site unseen. Doyle took $300 and bought every piece of luggage. Renting a house, Owens and his wife was shocked at the items they found in the bags and their value.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center is based on the same idea, only today the company has contracts with most of the airline companies. Bags are purchased at a flat rate. Employees of the company go through every item in every bag. Clothes are dry cleaned on site, other items are cleaned and appraisals are offered for more expensive items. The store has more than 40,000 square feet of space, but the company says it has no plans to sell items on line.

Unclaimed Baggage Center says it stocks at leas 7,000 new items every day. The company is still owned and operated by the Owens family with headquarters being located in Scottsboro, Alabama.

Unclaimed Baggage Center

Unclaimed Baggage Center says it stocks at leas 7,000 new items every day. The company is still owned and operated by the Owens family with headquarters being located in Scottsboro, Alabama.