Article: Store chain banks on thrift

SEATTLE - When Connie Wood's 9-year-old niece recently visited from Florida, she needed some warmer clothes for the iffy Seattle summer. In another time, Wood might have taken her to a department store. But in this cooling economic climate, she decided to try Value Village.

Wood was a first-time customer at the thrift-store chain, but she's not the only shopper turning to Value Village to stretch her dollars these days. At the Crown Hill, Wash., store, second-quarter sales grew by more than 10 percent, and across the Northwest, sales are up 7 percent.

"Business is good," said Mark Adams, who supervises three Value Village stores. "We've been busier since gas prices have gone up."

The ...

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