Savers, a virtual paradise for secondhand shoppers, to close | News, Sports, Jobs

May 2024 · 7 minute read

Wailuku resident Tom Pollard shows off an autographed Toto record he found Tuesday at Savers. The thrift store was packed with customers seeking bargains before it closes its doors for good Monday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

KAHULUI — After 22 years of selling secondhand clothing, toys and household items collected from Maui residents, Savers thrift store is closing its doors Monday.

Employees began telling customers about the closure March 3, a day after workers said they learned about it themselves.

“It’s a bummer,” Wailuku resident Tom Pollard said after hearing the store at 380 Dairy Road in Kahului was closing. “I come here every day.”

On Tuesday, he spent $1.45 for a Toto vinyl record that was autographed by band members in writing that was fading but visible.

The Maui store manager referred questions about the closing to the company’s corporate office in Bellevue, Wash. A company spokeswoman there didn’t respond to messages seeking information this week.

Beginning Saturday, until the store closes for good, everything will be 50 percent off.

While Savers will no longer have a store on Maui, the for-profit Savers chain will continue its business relationship with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui, which has collected donations of clothing and other items from Maui residents and delivered them to Savers, said J.D. Wyatt, executive director of the nonprofit organization.

He said money generated from the partnership with Savers has supported the nonprofit’s programs, including a new one-on-one mentoring center serving 20 youths a day at Hale Makana O Waiale housing in Wailuku.

“They are very invested in our programs through this partnership,” Wyatt said Wednesday after talking with the head of the Western North America supply chain for Savers. “They don’t want to see us take any steps backward. The great news is we have done, in the last several years, such an exceptional job in the market, being a reliable supplier for them. They want us to continue on.”

Based on his talks with Savers officials, “they’re concerned about the Maui community and their customers,” Wyatt said. “They’re very thankful that they were able to have that retail presence and help our agency through the years.”

Wyatt said Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui has been the main contributor of clothing, accessories, housewares, toys, books and media sold at the Maui Savers. By the end of the year, he estimates the nonprofit will deliver 700,000 to 800,000 pounds of merchandise to Savers, which pays Big Brothers Big Sisters by the pound for the deliveries.

After the store closes, the organization will continue collecting donations from its five pods throughout the island, as well as residential pickups, Wyatt said. The drop-off pods are at Azeka Makai near Ace Hardware in Kihei; Wal-Mart in Kahului; Maui Family YMCA in Kahului; Napili Plaza near the fire station; and the Big Brothers Big Sisters office at 200 Waimaluhia Lane in Wailuku.

Once there are enough donations to fill a 20-foot container, it will be shipped to Oahu, where Savers has stores in Kalihi and Waipahu.

But the money from Maui residents’ donations will remain on island for the nonprofit’s programs, Wyatt said.

On average, only one or two items from a bag of donated clothing might be in good enough condition for Savers to sell, Wyatt said. But some donations include brand-name clothing, purses and other items that still have price tags, he said.

Big Brothers Big Sisters also does the collecting of Maui donations to the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii.

Women Helping Women, another nonprofit partner, hadn’t received official word about Savers closing earlier this week, said Stacey Moniz, executive director of the agency. 

She said Women Helping Women was receiving between $1,000 and $1,500 a month from the clothing and other donated items the organization sold to Savers at 30 cents a pound.

Even after stocking its ReVive Resale Boutique in Kahului, “We have a lot of excess donations we sell to Savers that generate income for us,” Moniz said.

“Our society is such a materialistic society,” she said. “We literally get tons and tons of donations. Savers is a good end point for it.” 

She said Savers would ship out clothing with torn or stained fabric that they couldn’t sell in the store to somewhere that it could be used.

“That’s always felt really good to us,” she said.

Last week, some employees were telling customers that the corporate decision to close the Maui store was based in part on the freight cost of shipping in products from the Mainland to sell at the store.

For Halloween, Savers was a popular shopping stop, with a selection of new costumes, accessories and decorations.

Wyatt said Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui had fulfilled its part by delivering an increasing amount of donations to the store, making drop-offs five to six days a week.

“In the last two years, we provided more product than any two-year period prior to that,” he said. “This agency did everything it was asked to do.”

Wyatt stressed that Big Brothers Big Sisters had “absolutely zero” say in the decision to close the Maui store.

“Clearly, I didn’t want the store to close,” he said. 

Wyatt said he believed Savers’ decision to close the store was based on many cost factors and was “a business decision based on profitability.”

“When you’re a big-box retailer, you make decisions based on the profitability of your organization,” Wyatt said. “Sometimes, even if a store is doing OK, it’s not doing OK for them.”

“Clearly, the Maui community was supporting that store,” Wyatt said. “Costs on Maui are a lot different than on the Mainland. If this store were sitting in Iowa, it would probably be continuing on forever.”

According to its website, Savers has more than 320 thrift stores in the United States, Canada and Australia, with some stores called Value Village. This month, online news stories reported the closing of Savers stores in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New York and the Chicago area.

The state unemployment insurance office on Maui hadn’t received notice from Savers about the store closing and the number of employees who would be losing jobs.

Wyatt estimated the Maui store has 20 to 30 employees and grossed $2 million to $3 million a year.

“That is a big retail puka that is leaving the Maui community,” he said.

Savers has operated from the 15,000-square-foot Dairy Road location since September 2004 after moving from the Kahului location that now houses Del’s Feed and Farm Supply.

On Tuesday afternoon, after word of the closure had spread, the Savers parking lot was full and the store was filled with customers looking for bargains.

“It’s kind of sad to know that they’re closing,” said Wailuku resident Daisy Delos Reyes, who has shopped at Savers for about three years. “I think that’s why a lot of people are here.”

Wailuku resident Pollard said the store was so crowded that he couldn’t find parking at first and left before returning.

Pollard, a musician, said Savers is one of his stops to look for vinyl records.

“I’ve found some good ones here, very good records here, to die for,” he said.

He complained that some vinyl records were overpriced at $18 but planned to return on a sale day.

His other finds included a guitar case that he bought for $10 a few weeks ago.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Pollard said. “I bought it and brought it home and it fit perfectly. It’s incredible.”

Before finding the guitar case, Pollard had sent away to China for a replica of the case that’s no longer made, he said.

He also bought a “really nice, fantastic” record player for $10 when it was 50 percent off.

“Nobody bought it ’cause it looks like a piece of wood,” Pollard said. “You can get deals here sometimes, really good ones.” 

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.

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