Thriving Thrift Stores Build Sales With Customer Rewards

Many secondhand shops, which have seen their sales rise in the weak economy, are taking a page from their high-end counterparts’ playbooks and offering an array of perks to regular and bigger-spending customers, The New York Times says.

The customer-rewards programs introduced by charities and commercial thrift chains lend a more exclusive air to the bargain-driven businesses. Some regional Goodwill operations, for example, offer discounts to regular buyers. Housing Works, an HIV/AIDS group with a dozen New York stores, is selling $5 tickets for exclusive early access to its popular Buy the Bag events, at which shoppers pay $25 to fill a bag with clothes and accessories.