Whether its through the hand-me-downs given to us by our friends and family, or the countless amount of clothes we find on the racks and shelves of our local Goodwills and Burlingtons—thrifting has becoming more and more popular in recent years. However, these aren’t the only two stores where you can find plenty of cute clothes or stylish shoes, since, there all sorts of other thrift stores that have sprouted up around Arizona, some of which are not only chances for you to discover new pieces for your closet, but also help you give back to your community while you do it.
One of these stores is Valley Bloom over on Alma School Road. It’s both a traditional thrift store as well as a non profit charity, a charity that, according to their website, is focused on “meeting the real needs of children and adults in crisis.” They are not only focused on helping you find a new addition to your closet, but have a particular focus on helping children. This means that every time you pick up a sweet new sweater or a new pin for your backpack, you’re helping provide clothes for thousands of children across the state. Last year, Valley Bloom raised enough money to help more than five hundred homeless teenager and provided clothes for more than 8000 students.
Valley Bloom Thrift Shop is located at 2326 N Alma School Rd, Chandler, AZ 85224
But Valley Bloom isn’t the only thrift store that’s helping our city out, since there are also spots like Deseret Industries. Deseret Industries is well known for its mix of high-end items at a low price, such as luxury purses and plenty of adorable decorations for every shopper’s home. It also works closely with The Church of Latter-Day Saints, in order to help provide job opportunites to those in need. They say on their website that their main mission is to “create better lives for people in the community,” and to “assist the associates enrolled in our job training program with whatever help they need to find employment.” Not only do they help provide our community with more affordable clothes items, they also help provide more chances to work for those who may need a bit of help with their resume. This means that when you help yourself to some clothes at Deseret Industries, you are also helping the employees there work their way up in life as well.
Deseret Industries Thrift Store and Donation Center has three locations in the Phoenix area. One location is at 1695 E Williams Field Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85295
In a time when thrifting has become more accessible for everyone, shoppers now have the chance to help not just themselves, but everyone else out as well.
