Clothing Organization

[superthriftcity]

In imaging the setup of our new store I wonder if organizing the clothes is really such a good idea. My boss and I have been visiting thrift shops thoughout south Florida and we see everything from complete organization to absolutly none and everything in between. Does organization matter as to how fast you sell the clothes as well as how much looking people are really willing to do? Can you ask a few % more for going through the time and trouble? Help???

[Bruce]

we've always found that fairly good organization helps our shoppers find clothes that they are looking for faster.
basically, separate by child and adult clothes, then mens and womens, then by style of clothing, then finally by size.
less work for your shoppers, mean happier shoppers.
there is more work for you, charge a little more, then there's more money for the charity your store works with.
in all aspects of your new venture, make it easy on your clients, the shoppers.

[tmitchel]

I manage 2 Salvation Army stores due the generous donations we get we have large supply of clothing = we color tag our clothes with 4 colors after one month that color tag is removed from the rack to keep our inventory new and moving.  As far as the rack of clothes we do the kids (seperate boys and girls), woman, men then we break that down in to plus size, maternity, uniforms, we hang our shirts in groups of sleeveless, short sleeve, long sleeve.  We do not size our clothing due to the fact alot have their tags cut off and you must then @ the size, but we do colorize the clothes according to spring and winter line up.

[TripleRThrift]

We've had the most issues with dealing with clothing. We have a VERY small store, and clothing can take up lots of space, and since it is the most common donation, can over whelm your store.

We have a 3 room store, 2 large rooms, with a smaller room in the center- we call this our "closet" and it has clothing racks for dresses, coats and linens as well as tables with large labeled plastic totes sorted by Ladie's S & M, Ladies L & XL and Ladies Plus, so on and so forth. What works ( kind of ) for us, is we pass out plastic shopping bags and let people fill up their bag as much as they can and the price is 2.00. It somewhat keeps the clothing under control. Kind of, we still though, get more donations than we can handle.

We are a privately owned store, not a non profit, but in our area, the only thrift store that takes donations in a suburb of Reno, so we get more than enough to keep us going. What we do, is once every week or so, I g through the clothing and pull out a few garbage bags FULL, and put them on craigslist for free to people that need them. This has created good will with the community and instead of the clothing going to waste, or going to another thrift store, it finds a home where it is needed.

People like the bag thing and they enjoy the price. Which can't be beat anywhere. I personally dislike the clothing the most, it can be the most work- and in our experience- the least profitable.