FOLEY - America’s Thrift Stores has officially opened its door and cut the ribbon with the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce. Located at 1200 North McKenzie Street (previously Fred’s), America’s Thrift Stores is dedicated to providing a unique shopping experience to customers, while also making a difference in the community.

“I am thrilled that we’re here in Foley,” said President & Chief Executive Officer Ken Sobaski. “We have known for a long time that there was an opportunity to open another store on the Gulf Coast and we’ve been looking for a place to do that, and this location is just perfect for us. It’s a perfect size store, it’s a great community with a lot of thrift shoppers, and we hope that when they come into our store they’ll realize this ‘isn’t your mama’s thrift store,’ but that we’re a very different shopping experience.”

Sobaski says while he knows thrift shoppers are treasure hunters searching for finds, America’s Thrift Stores wants to help make the hunting a little easier. With numerous categories and all clothing organized by type and size, he says employees want to make it as easy a shopping experience as possible.

The store’s signs proclaim that it’s a “new store every day,” which Sobaski states it is.

“Tomorrow morning this store will put out about 5,000 new items, and we do that every single day,” he said. “Part of the reason in doing that is thrift shoppers shop frequently, and if something’s not here today, it might be here tomorrow. If something hasn’t sold for a few weeks, we take it off the sales floor and either wholesale it, recycle it, or ship it overseas and put fresh things out on the floor.”

All items sold in the store are donated, which is an important part in the company’s ideals of giving back to the community. The store is known for its emphasis on reducing, reusing, and recycling. During 2019 the store kept 30 million pounds out of landfills. Along with an environmental initiative, America’s Thrift Stores also has many great charity partners. Here in Alabama that partner is Make-A-Wish Alabama, and every item donated contributes to the charity. Even items that do not find their way to the sales floor help towards donations.

“As a company we collected 50 million pounds of donations last year, and in the state of Alabama every donation we collect allows us to make a contribution to Make-A-Wish,” said Sobaski. “That means children with critical illnesses get a wish and that changes their life. Last year we gave nearly a million dollars to Make-A-Wish, and we nearly contributed three million dollars to all the charities we support across five states. We’re proud to do that because that’s about who we are. Giving is what we are.”

The Foley location offers two ways to donate: a drive-up area located on the side of the store where you can drop off donations, or a “Drop and Shop” cart located at the front of the store where shoppers can leave donated items on their way in.

The new location in Foley has brought up to 20 new jobs to the area, and full-time positions come with full benefits, a life insurance policy paid for by America’s Thrift Stores, an employee discount, holiday pay, and PTO after a certain amount of time.

“We believe in taking care of our people, it’s important for our people to have good benefits and to be able to afford to have those benefits,” said Jennie Fotovich, vice president of people and talent. “But the biggest thing that we want our employees to understand is that we’re here to make a difference in our communities, we’re here to make a difference in Make-A-Wish. This is a big way to be fulfilled, you’re helping to make a difference.”

To learn more about America’s Thrift Stores, check out their website at www.americasthrift.com, and stop by and check out the newly opened Foley location!