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Syracuse University junior Dylan Antigua usually goes thrift shopping once or twice every week as a hobby. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic and closures of thrift stores earlier this year, Antigua and other frequent thrifters were not able to shop in-store, which has caused the stores financial setbacks.

Like many other businesses, thrift stores changed during the spring and early summer due to the pandemic, which has been redirecting customers to online thrifting platforms like Depop or Poshmark. Once New York state allowed businesses to reopen, Syracuse thrift stores implemented health precautions and measures so they can follow public health guidelines to keep customers and employees safe.

The thrift boutique 3fifteen, which is located in Marshall Square Mall, was one of many thrift stores affected by COVID-19. Along with 18 other stores, 3fifteen is a subset of the company Thrifty Shopper, which Rescue Mission Alliance owns and operates. The store reopened its doors to customers in August. Victoria Shires, the chief development officer of Rescue Mission Alliance, said that there are hand and cart sanitizing stations and gloves available to customers upon request.

Dylan Antigua would go on online thrifting platforms during quarantine to kill time. Anya Wijeweera | Staff Photographer

All employees and customers are required to wear masks at all times, Shires said. Additionally, Rescue Mission Alliance allows a new 14-day return policy since all fitting rooms are closed. None of the Thrifty Shopper stores permanently closed, and the company opened a Thrifty Shopper Outlet in Shop City Plaza on the Northside, as well as an online Poshmark store in March.

While quarantining, Antigua noticed that he would go on online thrifting platforms such as Depop and Poshmark just “to kill time.” But he added that he neither bought more nor less online, and thinks he will still go online even though stores have reopened.

“I guess that’s just for me and concerning of being in public spaces and everything like that,” he said. “But I think eventually I’ll get back to like my regular habits of going to in-store and everything like that. But I know for now, I’m thinking online is definitely the way to go.”

Thrifty Shopper’s Poshmark store provided a small revenue stream for RMA during the store closure period, Shires said. Since 60% of Rescue Mission Alliance’s revenue comes from Thrifty Shopper stores, Shires said that between March and the beginning of May, the organization lost $3 million that would have gone to sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry in Syracuse.

Other online business owners, like Lauren Levin, a junior at SU, found that quarantine allowed her to produce more products to sell on her online thrifting businesses, Vintage Cuse and VintageU.

Because she did not have an internship or summer job, Levin had more time to find and sell more vintage items. Since incoming SU freshmen who had committed for fall 2020 were not able to get to the bookstore in the spring and summer, they bought Syracuse-themed vintage pieces from her online shop.

Lauren Levin, a junior at Syracuse University, found that quarantine allowed her to produce more products to sell on her online thrifting businesses, Vintage Cuse and VintageU. Anya Wijeweera | Staff Photographer

Levin said that she does not think the growth in sales was a direct result of the pandemic, but instead there was an increase in available products. And like Levin, Shires said their inventory of clothing and house goods, which is all donated, also increased, but not intentionally. Sometimes people dropped off donations to trailers and stores, even though the sites were unstaffed due to a temporary layoff in March through the end of April.

When all the stores reopened, people continued to drop clothes off, which increased the donated inventory by 35%. Despite this, the layoffs have caused understaffing, so Rescue Mission Alliance is looking to hire soon to help out with the operations, Shires said.

“The more staff that we can get, the faster we can process items, the faster we can get items out to stores,” Shires said.

Published on October 13, 2020 at 12:11 am