The Hoarders Attic Thrift Shop

What Products or Services does your business provide?

We are a family owned second hand / thrift shop. We sell all types of items from clothing, shoes, other apparel, electronics, housewares, antiques, collectibles, and more. Our inventory changes regularly.

What types of advertising are you currently doing, and what types of advertising have been most successful for you in the past?

We have our website, tried Facebook Marketing, Val-Pak, Hometown Values Quarterly Mailer, and just posting regularly on our social media platforms. We are also on Bing, Yelp, Google and other online sites.

Are there any certifications, awards, or media recognition that your business has received?

We have had articles in both The Federal Way Mirror and The News Tribune. We were also featured on Tacoma TV in their Business Matters Segment back in August 2019 which can found on YouTube.

Tell us about your employees.

As a family owned and operated business, we only have 3 of us here on any given day and all of us have been here since the beginning. We opened our shop to help provide a financial future for our son with cerebral palsy through a future third party trust once we become profitable. The idea was to be able to get him the things he needs through the trust without affecting his disability benefits.

What is the story behind your business?

The idea behind starting our thrift shop came from when our three boys were in boy scouts. We gathered up free items off of craigslist and did yard sales over the summer to help pay for the program. After a few years of doing this we had talked about how we could do the same thing to provide for our disabled son by opening a secondhand shop. After meeting with multiple people who had experience with the disabled population and how different things worked, we moved forward with starting the process to open our shop. It has been a struggle staying in business. When covid hit, we were forced to shut down for three and a half months. If it were not for our family having loaned us the money to purchase the building we are in now, we would have had to close the doors. They have worked with us on our repayment of the loan which allowed us to remain open.

Tell a story about a great customer experience.

Recently, we have had a new customer coming into the shop every couple of weeks who is in a wheelchair. One of us helps him through the shop look at things out of his reach. He always comes in with a smile and brightens up the room. When he is done with his shopping, we help him get everything bagged and tied to his wheelchair so he can roll along his way until the next time we see him.

Explain why a customer should consider your business instead of going to a competitor.

We are a small family owned and operated business. We already have prices that are lower than all of the big box stores without the need for a regular discount day or tag where these places raise their prices by a large amount to offer you these discounts. We also carry a lot of items that some of these stores do not sell in store. We believe in supporting our community by offering these lower prices daily and we do still offer discounts on occasion to help move old inventory.

What extra services do you offer that people might not know about?

We are a Wish Local and Amazon Hub Counter location. When you order from Wish.com, you can select our shop when we show up as the ship to store option and save on your shipping costs. The item is delivered here and we scan your QR code when you come in to get your package. With Amazon the same thing applies. When we show up as a Hub Counter location, you can select our shop and have your package delivered here . We scan your bar code and give you your package. These programs allow you to have your packages delivered without the fear of having them stolen off your porch or out of your mailbox.