Goodwill Goes High-End, Opens Dozens Of Upscale 'Boutique' Locations
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- If you long for designer duds, but don't want to pay designer prices we've got good news for you.
Goodwill is going high-end, and opening upscale boutiques carrying the likes of Prada, Burberry, Gucci, and more.
At first glance the store looks like any other 5th Ave fashion boutique, with exposed brick walls, trendy mannequins, and funky displays.
"I started looking at the prices and the labels and I just, I just couldn't believe it," Holly Valdez said.
Valdez couldn't believe it because she was shopping at Goodwill, but not just any Goodwill, Valdez was at their new boutique, one of 60 upscale and modernized locations popping up nationwide.
The 48,000-SqFt boutique, just south of Union Square on 14th Street opened on Thursday to coincide with fashion week.
Shoppers quickly found that these weren't your typical thrift store deals, with designer goods like Marc Jacob shoes going for just $24.
"It's not your typical Goodwill because we deliberately made it not your typical Goodwill," Frank Talarico said.
Talarico said the shift in the popular thrift shop was made to compete with higher end consignment stores, but like the regular Goodwill stores all the items are donated.
"We found really good stuff, brand names you'd recognize in most any other store, but you get it here at a great price and really great value, and give back to people who really need the service that we provide them," Talarico said.
If there was any thrift store stigma still in existence you wouldn't know it at the new stores.
Leticia Leario drove 40 minutes to visit one of the nonprofit's newest boutiques.
"You don't even have to dig, you just have to know what you want and kind of just go through the rack," she said.
Shoppers said knowing that 92 cents of every dollar spent goes back to Goodwill's programs like employment services for people with disabilities, and issues like substance abuse, is just another incentive for them to spend.
Another high end Goodwill Boutique can be found on West 72nd Street.
