Another well known thrift store is leaving St. Paul.
Arc’s Value Village, a popular thrift store and donation center with four locations throughout the metro, is closing its store at White Bear and Larpenteur avenues on Oct. 13.
The store, located for the past 10 years at 1650 White Bear Ave. N. on the city’s East Side, will continue to accept donated items through Sept. 29, and a punch card promotion will continue through Aug. 31.
“We were never able to operate a profitable business at that location,” said marketing manager Rich Stoebe, in an interview. “Retail is a very difficult business, and there’s been a lot of changes, online certainly being one. Online is available for resale as well as used goods.”
In a written statement, store officials said they planned to focus on “growth opportunities” at their Bloomington, Richfield and New Hope locations.
“This decision was made to improve the overall profitability of Arc’s Value Village and revenue to support The Arc Minnesota,” said the statement, circulated on Thursday. “We appreciate the support of shoppers, volunteers and donors who have supported our St. Paul store, and we are grateful for the contributions made by employees.”
Proceeds from the 20,000 donated items that are collected daily help fund the Arc Minnesota, a nonprofit organization that supports clients with physical and intellectual disabilities through services such as counseling, housing placements and public policy advocacy.
Arc’s Value Village isn’t the only second-hand store to retrench, even as some other shops celebrate steady demand.
‘GENERATIONAL TRANSITION’
Saver’s, which operates some 300 used goods stores throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia, has shuttered multiple metro locations, including a Valu Thrift store that closed in April within St. Paul’s Sun Ray Center. The Animal Ark thrift store left East Seventh Street in early 2016.
The sudden churn within the thrift store industry has alarmed some observers who expected second-hand goods stores might be immune to competition from online sales.
“In my eyes, it’s just a big generational transition, and the stores weren’t keeping up with current trends,” said Nick Soderstrom, owner of the Bearded Mermaid at West Seventh and James Avenue in St. Paul. “The Levi jeans, the flannel shirts, the ’90s bright colors, the Warner Bros. t-shirts, that’s what’s in demand with the college kids.”
Many shops that have closed “were running the bottom-of-the-barrel stuff — grandma’s old clothing. And that’s not back yet,” Soderstrom added. “I have kids that are totally excited about the end of summer so they can come school shopping at my shop. I’ve been in business since 2012 with zero signs of slowing down.”
Meanwhile, several thrift store companies have also opened new locations in recent months. Goodwill Easter Seals Minnesota opened a new West St. Paul shop last summer, and its largest store in Minnesota at University Avenue and Griggs Street in St. Paul in 2015.
Little more than a week ago, Flying Pig Thrift celebrated the grand opening of its store at 722 Snelling Ave. N., which sits on the corner of Snelling and Minnehaha avenues in St. Paul.
The shop, which relies almost entirely on volunteer labor, donates all proceeds after expenses to Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration and St. Paul Almanac.
“In our case, we’re in a really nice neighborhood, and we’ve got a really great landlord, and we’re all volunteer-stocked,” said Flying Pig store owner Melody Luepke, who manages some 2,200 square feet of sales floor in memory of her sister Heather Valdez, a thrift store enthusiast who died of pancreatic cancer in 2018. “We’re lucky to be here and we’re happy to have a thrift store. We’re getting some good reaction.”
