Designer Thrift Stores Help Those Most In Need

Posted on 14. Dec, 2009 by Radhika Gupta in Money and Economy

By Radhika Gupta

Known for attracting top designer merchandise and budget fashionistas, the Housing Works thrift store in Chelsea is filled most Tuesdays with shoppers armed with vouchers.

These shoppers are the homeless, the people who are HIV-positive, as well as the drug addicts, who are receiving social services, job training and health care services, all supported by Housing Works. They are the “certificate holders” who get to shop at the store with their vouchers.

They walk around the mid-century furniture scattered around the store, peer into the glass cases filled with designer sunglasses and funky costume jewelry before heading to the back where racks of designer clothing await them should they choose.

“People come in disheveled after living on the street and are just so thankful,” said Dana Cook, manager of the Housing Works on 17th Street in Chelsea, the first of 10 thrift shops that have positioned themselves as being a destination for both the fashion conscious and people in need. The certificate entitles the holder to a free product from the store. For some this may be his or her second pair of pants or the first-ever item of furniture for a previously homeless person, who has received accommodations through Housing Works.

The thrift division provides as much as 40% of the financing for its parent, Housing Works Inc, an organization dedicated to helping homeless and poor New Yorkers living with HIV or AIDS.

But the Housing Works thrift shops have never been your typical secondhand shop. It is selective in what it resells, how it merchandises, retailing only new or gently used high-end products donated by shoppers and fashion designers. Recent donations included a piano, an 18th-century desk from the singer Harry Belafonte and a 500-piece collection of Yves Saint Laurent clothing.

At a time when shoppers are skittish and major retail chains are reporting dismal sales figures, thrift stores operated by Housing Works are expanding. The nonprofit organization has just opened a new outlet in trendy Soho, taking the total up to 10 stores, with three openings in the last year. With celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker extolling the virtues of the thrift stores on YouTube and models donating their last-season Prada dresses, this store has made thrift chic and fun among the Manhattan party crowd.

“Sales are way up since last year and we are easily meeting our budget,” said Cook.

When the economy goes down, thrift stores do well but Housing Works, unlike other thrift stores like the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, is riding the trend better than most. In fact, the store promotes itself more as a fashion destination with tempting, stylized window displays, artfully arranged vignettes and a cool factor that attracts movie stars and celebrity interior decorators. Combine this with prices marked down to 20% of the original value and you have an unbeatable combination of innovative philanthropism.

The first store started in Chelsea and was the size of a small corridor and large pieces of furniture had to be sold from the street outside the store. Today the store occupies a 4000-square-foot sprawling space.

Richard Vorisek, the president, joined the company 18 months ago after working for Ralph Lauren, the high-end fashion designer for the last five years as vice president and has twenty years of corporate retail experience under his belt. In his new role, Vorisek has introduced an aggressive online sales site and is pushing for increased partnerships and donations from big-name fashion designers such as Marc Jacobs.

His actions, helped by recession-conscious fashionistas, are paying off. This year, sales of apparel and furniture at Housing Works have increased by 10 percent over last year to $12.5 million and are forecasted to increase by 20 percent next year.

Vorisek, who took a 70 percent salary cut when he joined Housing Works, says that the entire premise of the charitable store and the organization is one of payback to society and of second chances and forgiveness.

But by playing to the nuances of a fashion-conscious market, abundant celebrity endorsements and regular monthly events featuring artists and creative designers, thrift chic is adding to the bottom line of countless homeless, faceless New Yorkers.

“The sale of this Art Deco-style sofa for $200 will provide food for one person for four weeks,” said Connall McMenamin, 78, who has been volunteering at the Chelsea store for 10 years.

More than half the workforce at the thrift stores are volunteers, while some work for minimum wage. McMenamin joined when he lost two close friends to AIDS in 1996. In fact at Housing Works, one quarter of all employees are formerly homeless people living with AIDS and HIV, many of whom have struggled with chronic mental illness or chemical dependence, making finding employment an almost impossible proposition.

“They are some of our best employees,” said Cook.

Cook, who worked for many community organizations before joining Housing Works a year ago, says that although some days the workload makes her want to scream, she believes that Housing Works has a clear mission and that their income-generating policies will never overpower the goals of the nonprofit.

When something is working a new word appears for it. Philanthrocapitalism is a new term coined by management guru Don Tapscott, for organizations such as Housing Works that are using business and management skills to make social programs more successful.

An increase in sales has created one problem for the nonprofit, though. Donations have decreased and people are using sites such as eBay to get better prices for their items. The organization is exploring ways to get corporations and individuals to increase its donations.

McMenamin however had an exciting day last week.

“One lady came in to drop six pair of designer shoes, nearly new. And I served Marisa Tomei, the actress, although I didn’t know who she was,” he said, with a chuckle.

Some people come in which just the clothes on their backs, commented McMenamin and go out clad as fashion models wearing designer clothing.