There’s a saying that many of us know, “many hands make light work”. That is certainly true when we discuss the work our team members do at Care & Share! Whether you’re at the beginning of the process of helping to collect and sort the great donations we receive or helping to price merchandise and stock the shoppes. Or perhaps you are waiting on customers! We want you to know how vital your service is in supporting our mission.
Before you read further, take a moment and ask yourself…how many units (individual pieces) of products does the shoppe I work in sell in one day? How many units do you think the shoppe sells in a month?
Well, we have been gathering this data, and you may be surprised! Looking at our two largest shoppes, Clothing and Variety, we have found that our customers are finding a lot of things that they really need and like.
On a recent Saturday in February, Clothing sold 2,444 units of clothing. This included 860 pieces of women’s clothing alone, and 246 pairs of shoes! That Saturday was preceded by a Friday where 1,156 units were sold and followed by a Monday where another 1,002 pieces were purchased! In just three days, Clothing sold 4,600 items, including over 1,500 pieces of women’s clothing and 444 pairs of shoes! January 2023 sales for the month totaled 22,645 units, up significantly from the 16,972 units sold in the same month in 2022.
On the same Saturday in February, Variety Shoppe sold 2,778 units of merchandise. The three largest categories in Variety are Kitchen/Housewares, Decorative, and Toys which account for about 75% of sales. In January 2023, Variety sold 38,306 units of merchandise, including 16,260 Kitchen/Houseware items, 8,381 decorative pieces, and over 4,900 toys! Fabric/crafts and Linens also contribute significantly to Variety’s success. January unit sales in Variety were up 20% from January 2022.
We share this information because it is important to acknowledge your contribution to the success we are experiencing in all of our shoppes. Our donors are sharing tremendous goods with us and we’re honoring their gifts by processing and readying the goods for new life within our community. The work processing the donations is labor intensive, and your time with us makes the difference! It really goes to show the truth of the old saying about “many hands”. Achieving the level of merchandise sales would not be possible without the important piece of process that YOU contribute! We thank you sincerely.