About this time of year everyone from frat boys to flip-flopped mamas begin pouring into Tom Hungate’s Steele Creek store, and it isn’t just for the air conditioning. It’s for the deals, with school set to start soon and shoppers looking for bargains.
"It’s really a busy time for us," said the Goodwill Steele Creek retail store manager, "with all the kids’ clothes at $2.49. For $25, a mom can get a top and a bottom for every day of the week."
Hungate sees a late-summer influx each year at the store that opened in 2007. Most families know, he said, that Goodwill sells clothes and prices are low. What more people seem to be finding out, he said,discount tiffany, is many of those clothes, shoes, backpacks and accessories are the same one other students show up to school wearing, only at a fraction of the cost.
"Only you know that it’s been worn maybe 10 times by someone else and not you," Hungate said.
Clover mom Dena Thomas knows the value of a bargain as well as anyone. The mother of seven homeschools her children, yet still likes to see them in stylish, quality clothes for the fall. Because she stays home with her children, Goodwill is a huge help, she said, for the one-income family.
"I buy here all the time," Thomas said. "I just love getting a bargain. Some of the things I buy here I wouldn’t think to buy somewhere else because of the price. You just find treasures."
For Theresa Moore of Steele Creek, 9-year-old twin sons Andre and Donte, not only find styles for their return to Winget Park Elementary, but for everyday use.
"They more shop for casual clothes than school clothes," she said.
Yet at this time of year, new threads can help children like Andre — an aspiring brain surgeon — ready for another strong school year.
"Being out of school is boring," he said.
Another surprise at Goodwill, parents say, are the brand names. Shopping at Goodwill often seems like shopping at any other retail store, they say, which makes perfect sense to Hungate.
"All the brands that sell the best, they’re out there more and they get donated more," he said.
Recent shoppers from Lake Wylie, Steele Creek and Clover came away with items labeled Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, IZOD, Old Navy, Bass and more. And when a particular item isn’t in one day, Hungate said, it may come in the next along with hundreds of donated items. That, he said, only adds to the thrill of the hunt for many shoppers.
"I wouldn’t be able to buy the brands that I have for them," Thomas said. "For $2.49, you can’t beat that."
Yet Goodwill isn’t just fashion and low prices. Money coming into Goodwill, both from donations and sales of donated items, go toward job training and support services to help keep local residents employed. In all,Beads necklace, 90 percent of the money coming to Goodwill stays in the community.
Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont,tiffany earrings, which has 20 retail stores in the greater Charlotte area, last year helped 18,000 people with financial or job services, up three times from the previous year. In 2009, 2,853 people found employment after using Goodwill services, an agency record.
A purpose, Hungate said, that would make Goodwill a good buy even if not for the stylish clothes, the bargain prices,tiffany key rings, the need for back-to-school clothes and even extra incentives, like this weekend’s tax-free weekend in North Carolina.
"Why wouldn’t you want to do it?" he asked. "If you haven’t tried Goodwill, you owe it to yourself."