On the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 26, the University of Denver’s on-campus thrift store hosted its Winter $1 Sale where they sold clothes, DU gear, water bottles, trinkets and more for just a dollar per item. The sale took place in the Grand Forum of the Community Commons from 1-5 p.m., with around 150 students and staff members making purchases throughout the event.
This is the second year of the $1 sale, but the thrift store plans on making it an annual tradition and hopes it will grow every year as it has since last year. Jacob Tonozzi, a sophomore at DU and the thrift store lead, gave some insight into the growth and changes since last year.
“This year the winter dollar sale was put on to promote the big opening of the thrift store after its relocation, but it is also an annual effort to reimburse old donations back into the DU community at a really affordable price,” Tonozzi said.
The thrift store team felt that the event was very successful and was happy to see the growth over the past year, despite the store not having been open this fall quarter. “I was really proud of the team for being super organized and on top of it, it was definitely a team effort that was needed and a team effort that was provided,” Tonozzi said.
“I think because the thrift store hasn’t opened yet and the freshmen haven’t seen the store open yet, we got a lot more attention and excitement from the DU community which is super cool. Last year we made $372 and this year we made $708 which is a big increase and is super awesome and exciting,” Tonozzi said.
Over 700 items were sold, which may seem like a lot, but thousands of items remained when the event was over. The remaining items were split between what will be donated to local thrift stores and what will join the rest of the thrift store’s items to be sold once the store opens on Friday, Feb. 3.
The store tries to limit waste as much as possible, and the $1 sale is a way of recirculating donations that may not be bought from the store at full price. “A lot of donations that don’t sell at regular price at the thrift store we sell at the dollar sale instead of throwing them out or donating them to Goodwill where they often do end up getting sent to landfills,” Tonozzi said. Despite this, they will still have to send some items along to different thrift stores where they can hopefully find a new use.
The thrift store began because every academic year when students move out of their dorms at universities across the country a surplus of items go to waste that end up being bought new by the next class of students. The thrift store was created to eliminate some level of the waste that is created in this process and provide access to clothes and other items for all DU community members.
The campus thrift store is operated by the university’s Center for Sustainability, which is located in the Green Suite in the Community Commons. The center also operates a bike shop where students only pay for the parts and not the labor, a food pantry available for any student or faculty member free of charge and a ‘Gear Garage’ which rents outdoor gear to students. In addition, the center also monitors energy, waste and mobility at DU and hosts various events throughout the year, among other projects.
“Although we are opening next Friday, we have yet to resume our bookstore and Gear Garage operations, but we’re really excited to get those programs back on their feet in the near future,” Tonozzi said.
The thrift store originally opened in Fall quarter of 2021 and was located in a back room of Centennial Towers, along with the Gear Garage and bookstore. This year, the administration elected to relocate it to a space in Centennial Halls that was previously used for the dormitory’s corner store. Throughout the Fall quarter, the thrift store team was working to prepare the new space and sort through their inventory to decide what they would be selling when they open.
The thrift store receives all of its inventory from student and staff donations and claims to be overflowing with items ranging from any type of clothes you could imagine to books, appliances, trinkets, games and more. Since the store has not officially opened yet, they are not currently accepting donations, but will announce on their social media (@sustainabledu on Instagram) when they are open for donations.
“The goal is to essentially help enforce that sustainability is not just about preserving the environment but also incorporating socioeconomic equity into everything that we do. We really prioritize providing affordable and accessible items,” Tonozzi emphasized.
Throughout the remaining weeks of the quarter and the rest of the academic year, there is a lot in store for DU students and staff coming from the Sustainability Marketplace.
“One goal we have would be more engagement with the community and more education efforts about fast fashion, the unsustainability of trends, and how you can be fashionable and also conscious of not only your environmental footprint but also your impact on people in different socioeconomic classes than you,” Tonozzi said.
Overall, the thrift store wants to emphasize that it is a resource not just for undergraduate and graduate students but also for all faculty and staff members and that there are a lot more projects and events in the works.
“The thrift store is also going to do more pop-up sales and events and more community engagement in general, to make the thrift store something fun and exciting that people always have in the back of their minds so that they know they can use the thrift store whenever they want,” Tonozzi said.
