Charity Shops in trouble too!

Mary Jane posted this as a comment. I hope she doesn't mind if I've posted it here. In the UK, exactly the same thing is happening. It's interesting that the same thing is happening in both countries.

"[I] was talking to a woman who does marketing for second hand shops that benenfit adults with developmental challenges.

The adults' vocational programs benefit from the money raised in the three shops they have in this area and some of the adults work in the shops.

The marketing woman surprised me when she said the shops' revenues have decreased since the economic crisis began. She reports that they have a stocking problem. Their donations of saleable have reduced greatly and she gave two reasons for that.

People have less stuff to donate because they aren't buying as much new stuff to replace their old stuff.

The second reason for the decline in their revenues is competition. A large number of second hand shops have recently opened in this area, most of them raising money for their own good causes. This reduces the number of donateed items as well as the number of shoppers.

So maybe we will soon see "going out of business" signs plastered across second hand shops? They will have something in common with the high end shops in these parts."