Everything Old is New Again

Photography by James Moore

Stretch Your Dollar and Save the Planet

It doesn’t take a Harvard economist to understand how much prices have risen in just the past few years. Inflation has sunk its teeth into the American consumer and refused to let go, putting the squeeze on families through higher grocery, energy and consumer goods prices.

August 2024 statistics from CBS News listed five fast-growing-ticket items including eggs (up 126 percent over 2019); frozen orange juice (up 71 percent); bread (up 54 percent); coffee (up 50 percent) and yogurt (up 48 percent). 

And that’s just groceries; the recent back-to-school buying spree added to many households’ financial strain. Investopedia reported last year many families tightened their belt on school spending to include just the actual pens, paper and glue while reducing spending on technology (down 13 percent) and clothing (down 14 percent).

In such inflationary times, many families are looking to save a buck anywhere they can and there’s no better way to stretch a dollar than by thrifting. Credit card company Capital One reported that roughly one-third of clothing and apparel items purchased in 2023 were secondhand, saving shoppers an average of $1,760 annually over buying new. Sixty-seven percent of secondhand spending went for clothes.

At Ozarks Healthcare Foundation such numbers are not surprising. The organization operates three thrift stores in its service area, the oldest dating back decades, giving shoppers the chance to stretch their budget while benefiting the hospital. 

“We offer all kinds of gently used clothing and home items at all of our locations,” said Karen Yarbrough, manager of the Ozarks Healthcare Foundation. “In our Thayer and West Plains location we also have some furniture items.

“The thing about our merchandise is, it’s constantly changing. About the only thing we turn away are large appliances because we just don’t have the room but other than that, you never know what you’ll find when you visit one of our stores.”

The benefits of thrifting, be it in donating items or purchasing them, go beyond the pocketbook. As Capital One noted, shopping at thrift stores is a good way to recycle as clothing and other items are reused versus ending up in a landfill. The company reported that of the 17 million tons of textile waste produced in the U.S. annually, 15 percent is recycled, with every secondhand clothing purchase saving nearly 8.5 pounds of carbon emissions and almost 90 gallons of water. 

Yarbrough said the same thinking is at work at the Ozarks Healthcare Foundation's thrift stores, where every effort is made to make use of what’s donated. Clothes that are not suitable for resale end up in a bag of rags, for example, rather than just thrown away.

“We do everything we can reasonably do to keep donated items out of the landfill,” she said.

The best part of shopping at any of the foundation’s three locations is all profits go directly to support the funding needs at the hospital be it physical improvements or to purchase needed equipment. 

The foundation operates three thrift stores, located at 1807 Porter Wagoner in West Plains; 612 S. 6th in Thayer; and the newest location at 516 Third Street in Gainesville.