LIHUE — Local thrift stores said donations are strong and steady with the new year.
Over at the Helen Mitsui Shared Blessings Thrift Shop in Kilauea, Susan Wright, who volunteers at the store, said that their donations usually increase at the end of every month.
“We get a lot of donations at our thrift store,” she said. “We move a lot of merchandise.”
On average, Wright said the store receives 10 donations a day, so they estimate around 3,500 to 4,000 donations per year, with around 10,000 annual shoppers visiting the store.
She said their donations don’t really increase at the ending or beginning of the year.
“The most popular times we receive items are at the end of the week or the end of the month,” she said.
At Shared Blessings, Wright said the most popular items are needs-based items such as clothing, towels, linens, kitchen items and housewares, but books are also huge sellers at the store.
“We’re probably one of the largest book re-sellers on the island,” she said.
They also donate books from the store to book carts in Princeville and the North Shore.
“There’s a huge community effort to pass books along, and we are a huge part of that effort,” Wright said.
“Recycle, reuse and reduce,” said Cindy Johnson, store manager at Blooming Tales Resale Shop in Lihue.
The 2,000-square-foot-store near No. 1 Chinese Barbecue on Kuhio Highway in Lihue, Johnson said, is operated by the Kauai Humane Society, with 100 percent of the profits earned going back to the nonprofit.
As far as donations since the start of the year, Johnson said the first week of the year was slow, because most people made their donations before the beginning of the year in order to get a tax receipt.
Since The Salvation Army thrift store on Rice Street in Lihue closed in early December, however, she said they have seen an increase of about five to seven donations per day.
“It’s definitely challenging, because we’re the only place in Lihue taking donations now,” Johnson said, “though it’s not as big as an increase I thought it would be.”
In all, Johnson said they get 10 to 15 donations per day.
Anela Pa, co-director of the Ho‘omana Thrift Shop in Wailua near the Coco Palms Resort site, said their store is receiving about two to three donations per day since the beginning of the new year.
That’s down from usual, but Pa said it was because their store is undergoing renovations.
“We are only accepting limited donations at this time,” Pa said.
In years past, she said they have received anywhere from two to three truckloads or two to three bags of donations per day after the new year. She said they receive a lot of donations from people who are moving.
With its primary focus as a training site for individuals in job-transferable skills, Pa said the store will celebrate 15 years of service to the community in October.
