Comparing the industries of thrift: Goodwill

In an effort to better understand the thrift store system, I present to you the companies that create these cheap havens. First up, we got Goodwill Industries International, Inc.

Goodwill in general has pretty solid thrift stores. All in all, Goodwill stores are a bit pricey but most have dressing rooms, something needed most of the time if you are a perfectionist and generally enjoy well fitting clothes. The best thrift store in my hometown happens to be a Goodwill.

Almost all thrift store chains are doing something good with the money they make. Well, at least they profess to. For example, check this out...

Goodwill Results 2008

• People served through employment and training programs: 1,525,451
• Workforce development services provided: 10,490,787
• People who earned a job with Goodwill’s help : 172,317
• Estimated total earnings of people who earned a job with Goodwill’s help: $2.3 billion
• Personal and family support services provided: 18,534,362
• Total revenue generated by Goodwill organizations: $3.28 billion
• Total revenue spent directly on programs: 84 percent
• Total number of donors (includes repeat donations): 64.4 million
• Total number of retail stores: 2,324

Revenue Sources

• Retail sales: $2.16 billion
• Industrial and service contract work: $597.2 million
• Individual/corporate/foundation support for mission services: $61.1 million
• Government support for mission services: $392.49 million
• Other revenue: $46.5 million

These numbers are provided by Goodwill on their website hither.

Goodwill tries to help people get jobs, get training for jobs, sell things to people who need jobs and generally be a good corporation to get people back on their feet. Pretty solid.

Check out those numbers under revenue sources. Retail sales equal $2.16 billion. That's a crap-ton of money coming from retail sales. Now I don't know if that equals only thrift stores or not but damn! Let's say it did for simplicity sake. Now the company has 2,342 retail stores. Crunching some numbers and the average Goodwill retail store makes $900,000 in sales. It makes me want to start a thrift store. This video on the other hand says that the average Goodwill makes $200,000 to $400,000. That's probably more accurate than my quick math, so the retail sales probably include something else I don't know about.



Check that out. Well done, Goodwill, Well done.