Making waves across New York State, Thrifty Shopper has an impressive 65-year history and shows no signs of slowing down, now operating nearly 20 locations.
They sell gently used, hand-selected items at very reasonable prices and although clothes are their main source of revenue, they also offer home goods, toys, books, furniture and more.
More than just a thrift store, Thrifty Shopper has three very clear business goals: affordability, community and sustainability.
Their three-pronged mission shows up in every move they make, and 100% of their revenue goes to their nonprofit the Rescue Mission Alliance. Their goal is to fight homelessness and hunger—with a focus on helping vulnerable people in their community find the support they need.
So how do they manage to run a successful business while keeping their mission at the forefront?
Check out these key practices:
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Creating strong donor appeal
It may go without saying but, like any thrift store, donations are your bread and butter. To ensure success and receive high-quality donations, you need to communicate to your community what you do and why their support matters.
Thrifty Shopper clearly outlines which items are acceptable for donation and which are not. The key is to make donating easy and low-effort, so it becomes second nature in people’s routines—making folks turn to them after a little reorganization, downsizing, spring cleaning and so on.
They aren’t just looking for miscellaneous items—they aim to attract donors who contribute quality garments.
“We want to capture donors to support the mission but also those who are earth friendly and concerned with sustainability,” says Thrifty Shopper’s sales manager Brent Piech.
Their customer base includes individuals who not only seek bargains but also recognize the value of secondhand clothing and understand the store’s meaningful impact on the environment.
Their website also highlights how each purchase supports the Rescue Mission Alliance—a great strategy to drive engagement and educate their customers.
How to leverage analytics on all levels of your business
When it comes to mission-driven retail, one of the most important elements is understanding your data—a strong mission alone isn’t enough.
Thrifty Shopper started using Lightspeed in 2016. More than just the adoption of Lightspeed Payments, which sped up their checkout process tenfold, this team swears by Lightspeed’s reporting capabilities.
According to Brent there was a real shift in business strategy when they started leveraging Lightspeed as a reporting tool. For a thrift store with an attached non-profit, there are many moving parts, and these tools helped them understand and determine key factors that needed attention.
Brent relies heavily on reporting and finds value with Lightspeed and the ability to create custom made reports.
Weekly and recurring standard reports
Each week, Brent uses a custom, detailed sales and shipping report to track what each store sold and what inventory was shipped out. This allows him to monitor product performance and calculate the average selling price by category, giving the team a clearer picture of what’s driving revenue.
He also reviews donation activity, analyzing how many donated items are processed at each location and how many convert into sales. These insights help refine inventory planning and pricing strategies, ensuring stores are stocked with high-performing items that contribute to overall sales performance.
Fundraising reports
He also builds fundraising reports and is able to track all the different ways they raise money, including direct donations and small in-store campaigns.
‘Scan-Away Hunger’ is an annual campaign where customers are asked if they want to donate a $3.00 meal to pay for someone in the community. With the analytics tools, they’re able to see which fundraisers and which locations make the biggest impact.
Sales history reports
Brent also spends time creating and analyzing store sales history reports, which compare this month’s sales to the same month in past years. This helps spot trends in pricing, item popularity and identify which stores need more attention and which ones are performing better than others.
Operational monitoring reports
He also uses these reporting tools to monitor day-to-day metrics. He does category health checks—meaning he looks at how individual categories are performing compared to others, which can then help him with inventory management. For this, he monitors what products are being picked to send to stores, which helps with allocating products appropriately. Brent can also check for suspicious activity that may indicate theft or odd charges that could be fraud.
Key takeaways from data reporting
All in all, the data Brent collects does a lot to support their mission.
- Affordability: If they understand their consumers’ behavior, they can adjust their pricing to fit the needs of their community. They’re also able to use their data to improve efficiency, saving costs which will be reflected in their price tags.
- Sustainability: Brent does environmental reporting—meaning he tracks how much material they keep out of the landfill (like clothing, electronics, etc.) and reports that information to the county, which provides funding for recycling. Thanks to the donations they receive, they’ve been able to divert 14 million pounds of products from landfills to their stores annually.
- Community: The data has allowed them to stretch each donated item further, which means more support for those in need. It ensures stores have the right products at the right prices.
Building a team with a cohesive vision
When running a mission-driven retail store, building a strong team foundation is key. And for the Rescue Mission Alliance, their team is their top priority above all else.
That’s why Thrifty Shopper is very clear on what kind of team members they’re looking for. On their website, it says a great fit for their team would be someone who shops at thrift stores, garage sales and auctions themselves—and has an eye for hidden treasures.
They also have an easy-to-navigate volunteer form you can fill out right from the site.
As for Brent, he feels that the mission of Thrifty Shopper and the Rescue Mission Alliance makes his work worthwhile.
“I love the people I work with and I love what the organization stands for. It actually makes a difference and it actually impacts people’s lives,” he says. “When people here are able to break the cycle of addiction, find supportive housing and reestablish relationships with their family, that not only impacts that one person—it’s all the lives that one person touches.”
For the past few years, Thrifty Shopper has set a goal of opening one store annually, and Lightspeed has helped them get there. Although not always possible due to rising rates and the challenge of finding the right location, their ambitions remain high—especially because they know the community they’re supporting needs more help than ever.
“Since we started using Lightspeed we have been able to use the heat map in analytics to track where our customers are coming from and use the information to help us grow, by comparing market demographics when choosing our next store location,” Brent says.
The bottom line
When running a thrift store and a non-profit, it’s important to be doing it for the right reasons and to constantly be ready to evolve your practices.
Thrifty Shopper is able to create a meaningful impact on so many communities because they’ve allocated time and energy into leveraging reporting tools and using them to understand their customers and improve their operations. With these tools, they’ve been able to better serve their community by reaching more people, adjusting prices, understanding their pain points and more.
At the end of the day, their success comes from the amount they care and the incredible team they’ve built over the years with integrity and heart at the core of their mission.
Ready to get to the next level as a mission-driven retailer? Watch a demo to find out how Lightspeed can help.