Savers, Inc. headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, USA, is a chain of thrift stores for personal profit offering second-hand shopping. An international company, Savers has more than 315 locations across the United States, Canada and Australia, and accepts its merchandise by paying money to nonprofit organizations for donated clothing and household items, and through direct donations by individuals. Savers are known as Value Villages in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and most of Canada, and Village des Valeurs in Quebec. In Australia and elsewhere in the United States, stores share a company name.
Berkshire Partners bought a 50% stake in the company in 2000. Freeman Spogli & amp; Co. became the majority owner in 2006. Leonard Green & amp; Partners and TPG Capital bought Freeman shares in 2012.
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Business
The Savers business model involves partnerships with local nonprofits and buying and selling donated goods. Nonprofit organizations collect and deliver goods donated to Savers, who pay them for goods at bulk rates regardless of whether they ever get to the sales floor. Savers have over 160 non-profit partners across the United States, Canada and Australia, who pay more than $ 117 million per year. In 2012, the company has 315 stores worldwide and reached $ 1 billion in revenue.
Items that are considered to be for sale will be shown for store-bought. Savers also have recycling programs and try to recycle reusable items that can not be sold in the store, as well as any unsold items within a certain period of time to make room for fresh goods. Savers have buyers to be recycled around the world and try to keep as many products as possible from the waste stream.
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Business Operation and Transparency Issues
In the United States and Canada, the business model for many nonprofits is that the organization will call home for donations, and a truck will pick it up. In the early 2000s many organizations, such as the Community Life Association, partnered with Value Village because they believed it was too expensive to pickup and sell back to used-goods merchants. Many of the contracts signed by these organizations with Value villages provide a very small return compared to the large sums of money owned by Value Village/Savers. According to an article that appeared in the Alberta Report in 1996 "According to the Times, for every $ 1.00 that goes down the undersigned of some Ellison second-hand store, $ 2.55 goes to Ellison's colleagues".
Controversy
On May 21, 2015, the Minnesota Attorney General filed a lawsuit claiming that the company was misleading the public. The Attorney General pointed out, for example, that Savers pays only a very small percentage to a nonprofit charity partnered with Savers (and for items other than clothing, nothing). In addition, the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against a charity partnered with Savers, for failing to monitor Savers for compliance with their partnership contract.
References
External links
- US Borrower Website
- Website Savers Australia
- Values ​​Web Site
- Village website des Valeurs
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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