Upscale, downscale

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Thanks to Jerry Olson for sharing this article about the gentrification of thrift stores.

In short, it has become fashionable for people who are relatively well-off to shop at thrift stores. Looking at it one way, this is fine, and it may be a net positive. Buying second-hand clothing reduces waste and is good for the environment.

But a negative effect is that with increased demand, the cost of thrift store clothing has increased, making it less affordable for the lower-income people whom thrift stores exist to serve.

One wonders what to do about this problem, if one considers it to be a problem. It raises a number of marketing questions:

• What is the real reason that well-off people shop at thrift stores, beyond the stated, socially acceptable reasons around protecting the environment and saving money?  What are the more unconscious motivations?

• How do those wealthy folks who shop at thrift stores think and feel about low-income people?

• Should there be an effort to deter wealthy people from shopping at these stores?  If so, what emotional levers could be pulled in order to achieve that?

• What about people who buy from thrift stores and then resell those items at a mark-up?  Is that ethical?  If not, how could one persuade those individuals to change their behavior?