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PTA thrift shops offer a wealth of goods at the right price

Posted on August 4, 2011August 4, 2011 by Staff

By Caroline Kilaru
Staff Writer
This story is the third in a series about thrift shopping in our community. This week, we profile the PTA Thrift Shop, which has locations at 103 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro and 103 S. Elliott Road in Chapel Hill.

Background
The Carrboro PTA Thrift Shop is my first stop for anything thrifty. The employees are friendly, the merchandise is interesting and the prices are good, with sales that make them great.

At its current location since 1979, the store will soon be rebuilt, almost doubling in size. The property will house the thrift shop as well as other retail, office and community space, emphasizing sustainability in construction and management.

Katherine Sanford has worked as a cashier at the PTA Thrift Shop for four years. Photo by Caroline Kilaru

The current store covers about 4,000 square feet of retail space and receives 400 to 550 tons of donations a year. Through its recycling programs, it keeps 275 to 300 tons of unsellable clothing out of the landfill annually and has recycled approximately 160 tons of scrap metal since 2008.

Where your dollars go
All sales from the PTA thrift shops benefit Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
Over the past five years, the thrift shop has donated $1.5 million to the district’s schools, and thrift shop leadership plans to grow that number through the rebuilt property.

“We are expanding to diversify our business model, to be even more sustainable and true to our stated mission to support the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in a more robust and intentional way, given the area’s growing population and state budget cuts, which will impact education funding into the foreseeable future,” said Barbara Jessie-Black, the PTA Thrift Shop’s executive director.

Lay of the land
The Carrboro PTA Thrift Shop fills two floors, with a large front patio used for displaying furniture and equipment. The downstairs level is packed with books, with several bookshelves upstairs as well.

The rest of the top floor holds shoes, clothing, fabric and accessories, as well as home décor, electronics, furniture, house wares and kitchen items.
There’s a smaller PTA Thrift Shop in Chapel Hill’s Village Plaza. Here you’ll find a smattering of furniture and a good house wares, book, clothing and shoe selection.

Best bets
The Carrboro PTA Thrift Shop is the largest thrift shop in the area, has a great selection and turnover and carries the full gamut of thrift-store offerings, from salad spinners to antique dressers.

Prices can be higher here than elsewhere – evening dresses and suits run as high as $8 to $10, and some large furniture costs in the hundreds of dollars. Consider the Carrboro PTA a sustainable Marshall’s-meets-flea-market, where you have the advantage of finding completely unique items, like out-of-print books and vintage bracelets, for a steal.

I guarantee that if shoppers come three times in one week, they can find a nice vacuum cleaner, CD player, telephone, iron or dish drying rack. Suitcases, athletic equipment and some surprises, like crutches and medical supplies, stream through regularly.

Time to go
According to Jessie-Black, store inventory volume is highest in the summer and at the end of the year.

“We have two surges of donations. One is when students are leaving and everyone is moving, in May. At the very end of the year, we have another surge, because people want to make sure to get their year-end tax receipts.”

The end-of-the-month stock is also plentiful, according to Jessie-Black.

“That’s the time we get calls from property managers emptying properties and from people moving out,” she said.

The store also holds two annual restocking sales. Each spring and fall, goods are sold by the bagful over three days, and everything shoppers can stuff into the bag can be theirs for $3 the first day, $2 the second and $1 the last day of the sale.

A few days later, the store reopens, completely restocked with new items. Lines for re-openings can wrap around the block. The restocking sales are usually in March and September/October; look for this year’s sale right before the Carrboro store’s closing.
Know before you go

The PTA Thrift Shop accepts cash, Visa, MasterCard, checks, IFC vouchers and school gift cards. The Carrboro store is closed on Sundays and holidays; the Chapel Hill store is open seven days a week, but closed on holidays. The Carrboro store accepts donations Monday-Saturday, while the Chapel Hill store accepts items Wednesday-Saturday.

Coming next week: a profile of the Club Nova Thrift Shop

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