One of the reasons thrift stores raised prices is “pickers”.
People go scarf up all the most desirable and designer clothes and resell them on apps like ebay, Poshmark, etc.
They jacked the prices up to take away the profit margin for “pickers”.
I see people running through thrift stores grabbing carts full of clothing that have no fit/style/gender rhyme or reason for the actual person buying them.
The money funds Salvation Army/Goodwill/etc and they are turning merchandise.
A reseller may be stuck with something for a year or more to get “top dollar”.
The scam is people who go to work for these companies (or have a friend pulling) to get items cheap before they hit the floor.
i see.
some thrift stores put some of the specialized stuff online for sale
and
some thrift stores have long had a special section of clothing (and another for other stuff) that they think may be especially valuable or desirable... and they mark up THOSE prices, without jacking up the prices on the 90% of regular stuff
(I think both approaches make good sense for the thrift stores, without doing too much damage to regular store shoppers who just need regular things at economical prices)