Style meets savings, sustainability in thrifting trend in Palm Beach County and beyond

Thrifting, a shopping practice long negatively associated with frugality and cheapness, is coming out of the closet — so to speak.

Secondhand stores are booming around the country as consumers increasingly look for ways to save on fashion and home furnishings while still looking stylish — not to mention, keeping these items out of landfills.

“Shopping thrift has saved me thousands of dollars,” said Katie Vahey, an employee of the Ashburnham school system in Massachusetts as she shopped in mid-July at a Leomister home good consignment store called Cutiques.

Vahey goes thrifting with a friend every week. Sometimes they look for clothes, sometimes other items. Most recently Vahey was looking for items to furnish her new apartment.

“I bought a $1,500 couch for just $200, and it’s barely used. I furnished my whole apartment with reused items; nothing is brand-new,” she said.

The Church Mouse has long been a go-to spot in Palm Beach. All proceeds from the 4,000-plus-square-foot resale shop of women's and men's designer clothing, antiques, artwork, furniture, and more, fund the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea's Outreach ministry.

As much as she likes the savings, Vahey is also appreciative of the uniqueness of her finds.

“I bought a painting I liked for $15. I looked it up when I got home,” Vahey said, adding she discovered it was the work of an artist who died young and whose works now sell for $200.

Secondhand stores are proliferating

In Palm Beach County, thrift and consignment stores can be found in almost every commercial district, tucked away in shopping plazas or in their own freestanding buildings. These resale businesses include national names such as Goodwill, the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity, as well as individually owned stores with clever monikers such as Second Time Around, Cheap Frills, Circa Who and Past Perfect.

With the plethora of wealthy barrier-island communities up and down the coast, high-end resale boutiques are also proliferating. In Palm Beach proper, the Church Mouse which opened for the season Aug. 18 at378 S County Road, is a longtime favorite for town residents and other bargain hunters. Proceeds from the well-stocked resale store, which is open only during the season, benefit the island's Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea — a common theme for many local thrift stores, as a matter of fact.

Meanwhile, some of Palm Beach's swankiest clothing castoffs make their way to CityGirl Consignment, which expanded this year to a larger space at 5311 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. The price tags may be a little off-putting at first, what with a Chanel handbag going for $2,000 and a Zimmermann skirt selling for $350.

But there also are racks of clothes for regular folks where prices are a little more down to Earth. And you may just find a deeply discounted gem buried on the regular-folk racks, such as items by Skull Cashmere, Calvin Klein and Driftwood. 

West Palm Beach interior designer Melody Smith says shopping thrift stores helps keep her own home fresh, allowing her to switch up art and accent pieces without breaking the bank. "I have quite a few items that I've picked up over the years."

Twice, she figures, she struck gold — landing pieces by artists still showing in galleries at the time. One of those finds was at World Thrift in Lake Worth Beach. "It was a fairly sizeable piece of wall art. I saw it from across the room. The place was rotten with dealers, so I held my breath, tried not to look excited and happy ... I'm racewalking but trying not to look like I'm beelining for it. I think it was like $25. The gallery value was closer to five grand."

Bracelets line a display rack inside the Church Mouse in Palm Beach during the resale store's first day of operation in the 2023-24 season.

Her other find was a giant floral she found a Nearly New Thrift Shop in West Palm Beach. She bought it for a home to be staged, but lucked out when buyers bought the home, but passed on the furnishings. Again, the value was many times the $275 she paid.

But the money isn't always the point. "If you just buy what you like, you really can't go wrong," Smith said.

Secondhand stores have also become part of the county's education landscape, with Panthers Closet, a thrift store with locations on Palm Beach State College campuses in Lake Worth Beach, Belle Glade and Boca Raton. The stores, which sell items for $1, are open to students only and are run by students in the honors program who are earning credits while also learning entrepreneurial skills in management, sales and team building.

Thrifting is having a moment

“Resale really has evolved from what we saw 27 years ago,” said Cutiques owner Cassandra Abramson, who with her husband, Neil, started their Massachusetts resale business almost three decades ago. “Shopping resale is socially acceptable now. It’s a choice rather than a necessity.”

Cost of living does influence the resale world, they acknowledged. While they have steady customers, both consignors and shoppers (the two frequently overlap), they are also seeing first-timers coming into their two stores: Cutie Patooties, a clothing store for all ages and genders, and Cutiques.

According to the 2024 Recommerce Report compiled by the National Association of Resale Professionals, the organization expects that 35% of secondhand shoppers in 2025 will be new to the experience. The report also found 58% of those new to resale cite cost of living as their motivation for purchasing preowned items; 53% are seeking cost savings on purchases of necessities.

Those trends aren't just happening at brick-and-mortar shops but online as well, through social media and e-commerce platforms such as Poshmark, Depop, eBay and thredUP. The Abramsons have also found success online through the tech company Resale World, based in Florida.

“It’s always interesting to see what someone in Arizona had to have at 2 a.m.,” Neil Abramson said, adding that the company ships nationwide.

By 2029, the report predicts, resale will represent 8% of total market share, reaching $74 billion in sales nationally and $291 billion internationally. Because it was complied with 2024 data, the report did not factor in the effect the Trump administration tariffs are predicted to have on shopping trends.

Cassandra Abramson pointed out that some families use the consignment cycle as a savings bank, setting aside sale proceeds for specific reasons such as a vacation, summer camp for their kids or paying down debt. “It’s a part of their financial plan. One family used the proceeds to go to Ireland,” she said.

It's not just about saving money, Neil Abramson said. Customers are choosing to shop more sustainably, citing the reduce-reuse-recycle green ethos.

“It’s about memories,” Cassandra Abramson said. “Customers will say, ‘My gran had this dish,’ and now they can purchase it and use it to serve their own families from the platter. It’s continuing the story.”

Brian Buckley of Leominster who was shopping at Cutiques the store with Michelle Mainguy in July, loves looking for that unique piece. That’s the thrill of the chase and the gratification of the find.

“You know the saying, ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure;’ I’ve bought a few interesting things,” Buckley said. While he likes to look, he was at the store with Mainguy, who is always on the lookout for vintage milk glass pieces for her daughter’s collection.

“She’s been consigning with me since she was a baby,” Mainguy said, remembering the clothing exchanges, selling outgrown sizes and purchasing larger outfits as her child grew. “Now she buys all her clothes vintage and resale.”

Neil Abramson, who was on the board of the National Association of Resale Professionals for many years, said younger shoppers are aware of the resale markets.

“Many younger shoppers are purchasing items with resale already in mind,” Abramson said.

“And they are happy that the sweater will have a life after they used it,” Neil Abramson said. “They really do look at it like that, practically.”

Reporting by Kinga Borondy of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Palm Beach Post staffer Kimberly Miller contributed to this story.