Thrift stores thrive in down economy

If you decided to cut back on holiday shopping because of the failing economy, you weren’t the only one. Sales are down for a number of businesses with some even being forced to close.

Though many local businesses in Bloomington are still afloat, that doesn’t mean they aren’t hurting.

Sue Shelden, manager of A Different Drummer, a gift shop located at 2664 E. Second St., said the business was forced to cut back.

“It was definitely down from last year,” she said. “We made a point of not over-ordering things, and we kept our inventory levels within reason.”

A Different Drummer has been in business for more than 25 years, but this past holiday season was far from being one of its best. Though she admits the economy is down, she in part blames the media for lack of sales.

“A lot of it was media-based, the media telling people not to buy,” she said. “It’s across the board – no one’s buying anything.”

Nicki Aten, Ivy Tech student and part-time employee at clothing store Pitaya, can sum up the flow of customers there in three words: “really, really slow.”

In fact, Aten said December was the slowest month of the six that she’s been employed at Pitaya. She noticed a few characteristics of shoppers last month.

“Most people went for sale items instead of full price,” Aten said. “I noticed a lot less people came in as usual. It was a lot less busy at Christmastime and during the holidays.”

To help combat the effects of the economy, Pitaya introduced a buy-one, get-one-half-off sale, which was originally intended to be temporary.

“We started a huge holiday sale,” she said. “After the holiday, we decided to keep going with it.”

While business at A Different Drummer and Pitaya has been slow, not all companies are suffering in difficult economic times.

Some say they are prospering.

Plato’s Closet, a clothing store that buys and sells used clothes, has had its best year out of the seven it has been in Bloomington.

“A lot of customers came in and talked about how broke they were, and how they came here instead of Abercrombie,” said general manager Jenni Johnson.

She said she thinks the bad economy has helped her business.

“I think we’re only going to do better as time moves on, especially with the economy going down,” she said. “I think that’s going to affect our store in a positive way, because we also buy clothes off of people, so people can make money by coming in here.”

She said the store has been swamped with people coming in and selling items.

“People have been lining up to sell stuff,” she said. “Some people just wanted to sell some clothes to have Christmas money.”

While Shelden and others haven’t had as much luck with the economy, they will press on.

“We’re in it to stay,” Shelden said. “We’re seeing some of the companies that we’ve dealt with in the past go out of business because retailers haven’t been paying their bills, so that’s a little scary, but we’re just going to keep providing good service and fresh things, so I think the new year looks great.”