Nonprofits Vie for Share of Charity Resale Business

Amy and Tom Paprocki of Jefferson
are rung up by St. Vinny's
cashiers Dora Urbina and Sue Huffman

CORAVALLIS, Ore. -- When Goodwill Industries built a $1.8 million thrift store on Northwest Ninth Street in 2005, Arc of Benton County Director Karin Frederick knew she had a problem.
The brand new 20,000-square-foot superstore was right across the street from The Arc’s Corvallis resale shop, a much smaller location with less parking and limited street exposure. And Goodwill had a secret weapon: a covered drive-through area for dropping off donations.
“It’s a beauty,” Frederick sighed.
Goodwill Industries is a juggernaut in the used merchandise trade, with more than 2,600 stores nationwide and a business model fine-tuned over a century of providing employment for the disabled.
For other nonprofits trying to fund their missions by reselling clothing, furniture, housewares and home electronics, going head to head with Goodwill is an existential challenge. The resale giant also opened an Albany superstore in 2002, and organizations throughout the mid-valley have discovered they must either compete for customers and donations or get out of the way.