After sitting on a Goodwill thrift store shelf for four weeks, used items that fail to sell now have one more shot at snagging a customer’s attention.
Goodwill earlier this week opened its second metro-area outlet store, at 13600 E. Mississippi Ave. in Aurora. Based on the early success of the model, the nonprofit Goodwill intends to expand the concept here.
The outlet stores sell most items by the pound — rather than on a per-item basis.
“The more you buy, the less you pay,” said Ric Berninzoni, Goodwill vice president of retail operations.
The price per pound for less than 19 pounds is $1.49; above 19 pounds and up to 49 pounds, the price drops to 99 cents per pound. Books are always 49 cents each, and glassware is 59 cents a pound. Televisions and furniture still have per-item prices.
Customers sort through bins to load up their shopping cart, which is weighed at the register. The scale at the register automatically subtracts the weight of the cart, so cashiers can move long lines faster without unloading full shopping carts.
At Monday’s opening in Aurora, a crowd of more than 100 people waited for the doors to open.
Customers had mixed reactions to the store, but still waited in long lines with loaded shopping carts.
“The space is not big enough, it’s really crowded and hard to move around,” Tamara Maccarrone said. “But I found some good stuff.”
Maccarrone left with a hair dryer and an accent table, among other things.
Meaghan Carabello, Goodwill spokesperson, estimates the majority of customers purchase more than 50 pounds on average.
Previously, items that weren’t sold at the thrift stores were auctioned off by the pound, usually to wholesale buyers. Doing it that way became a problem as Goodwill continued growing, because there wasn’t enough storage space to keep up with the volume, Berninzoni said.
The outlet store in Aurora occupies more than 50,000 square feet, and most of it is used for storage of more than 4,000 boxes.
The store is the second in the metro area and among only a handful of similar stores across the country. The first Goodwill outlet opened in Westminster on West 74th Avenue and Federal Boulevard in August.
Two months later, Berninzoni knew the store’s model was a success. Eventually, he plans to have four outlet stores in the Denver area.
“About two months afterward, we had fixed some kinks, we learned a lot, and we brought those lessons to this store so we can have things running smoothly,” Berninzoni said.
He said opening the outlet stores has been inexpensive. While the profits are much smaller at the “secondary-market level” as Berninzoni called it, it does give them a second chance to make more money rather than selling the leftover items to ship overseas at even lower prices.
Berninzoni also said part of the idea is to keep as much as possible out of landfills and to get the most out of each donation.
A spokesperson for the Association of Resale Professionals said only time will tell how successful the outlet concept will be with consumers.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1638 or yrobles@denverpost.com
