Self-proclaimed shopoholic Susan Cupps has found an oasis just two blocks from her downtown Omaha office.
Reserve: Goodwill in the Market opened in late April and, ever since, Cupps, 48, has stopped in several times a week.
“I love that store. Nothing compares to Reserve,” she said of the store at 13th and Howard Streets. “I keep telling my fiance: I'm getting the best deal possible.”
Cupps isn't alone in being attracted to the store offering goods cherry-picked from Goodwill donations across the metro. Goodwill officials report that in May, the first full month of operation, Reserve sales exceeded budget projections by 34 percent.
The deals are what draws Cupps, who likes high-end brands. She's gotten an authentic Dooney and Burke purse for $40, Buckle jeans for $17 and 7 For All Mankind crop pants for $30.
“Those pants would have been $89 at a department store. I can't afford to spend that kind of money.”
The mix of retro and contemporary high-end men's and women's fashion and accessories plus housewares at Reserve is intended to create an entirely different shopping experience from the typical Goodwill retail store.
Nationally, Goodwill operations in 18 cities run 25 boutiques. Some, like Omaha's, have a concentration of wedding dresses included in their offerings. Others double their space as a local art gallery.
The first Goodwill boutique opened in West Palm Beach, Fla. in the 1980s. That city now has five boutique locations. Omaha's Goodwill boutique is the newest to open and it's surpassing expectations, said Randy Parks, vice president of retail operations for Goodwill Omaha.
The boutique is just one of the ways Parks and others on the local Goodwill team are trying to stretch the earning potential of donations to do the most for the mission of helping anyone who wants to work find a job.
Other local Goodwill locations let shoppers buy by the pound, focus on electronics or shop online.
Parks wanted to bring Goodwill to downtown and said the boutique concept was the best fit. Prices are a bit higher at Reserve than other local Goodwill stores, he said, because of what's available there.
“It's my responsibility to generate good revenue for those donations,” Parks said, and the boutique is proving to be “the right thing for the mission.”
How donations are sold and in what format is up to each of the 165 different local Goodwill entities, said Lauren Lawson-Zilai, spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries International in the Washington, D.C., area. The only requirement is that donation sales benefit the mission. “The boutiques break the false preconceptions people have about a Goodwill store,” she said.
Nonprofit Goodwill is just one place Omahans can buy — or take — their retro or otherwise unique clothing and housewares. Some, including Dundee's Scout Dry Goods and Trade, offer cash or store credit for similar goods.
Others, like Flying Worm Vintage, find all their own stuff to sell. Flying Worm, at 1125 Jackson St., hasn't noticed any decrease in traffic or sales since Reserve opened a few blocks away, said manager Katie McLeay.
“When people shop vintage and they shop thrift, they view all the stores. You want to see all of it because every store is different,” McLeay said.
For Gail Klemp and her daughter, Alexandra, Reserve was a good fit for their summer shopping needs. The pair enjoy shopping together and, Gail said, Reserve's offerings match her daughter's style for the right price.
And, Gail said, the atmosphere at Reserve suits her daughter's find-it-fast shopping mentality better than a standard Goodwill.
“She'll go with me (to the neighborhood Goodwill), but she doesn't have the patience to look through everything,” Gail said.
The appeal of concentrated high-end and retro goods in an easier-to-navigate setup led the Portland, Ore., area Goodwill to recently open a second boutique.
“Lux is very popular, but they want it at a discount,” said Dale Emanuel, spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette in Portland. “You've got a rare treat in your town.”
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