Germantown: Thrifty Bargains Keep Family Business Alive

During tough economic times many people have a difficult time finding a bargain when shopping for their everyday necessities. Suzanne Quinn, owner and manager of Bargain Thrift Center, has decided to give back to the community by creating what she calls the ‘Dollar Store’.

Located at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Bringhurst Street, the Dollar Store is your basic thrift store but with a twist – every item in the store costs a $1. This new idea is not really that new for Bargain Thrift Center customers, who experienced ‘Dollar Day’ sales prior to the store’s conversion on Sept. 6, 2010. Since these sales were such a big success, Quinn decided to make the cost an everyday event.

“The question was could we sustain a store, a thrift store where everything was $1 per piece or less,” said Quinn. “and so far with very limited data, four weeks of information, the results have been good.”

Not only have sales at the dollar store been successful, but Quinn’s other two Bargain Thrift Center storefronts have also seen good sales’ numbers.

The former furniture store has been converted into the regular priced store where all new products will sit on the floor for up to no more than three weeks before moving into the dollar store’s inventory. The two stores are separated by another privately owned business, which does not belong to Quinn. This allows shoppers to have easy access to both stores when they are shopping for the ultimate bargain.

As for the third Bargain Thrift Center store, it is a few blocks south of the other two stores on the corner of Germantown Avenue and Berkley Street. The warehouse is where all of the sorting, pricing and location placement is done for the stores. It is also where any remaining product is placed into a bailing machine to be sold at a wholesale level to recycling companies. The warehouse’s wholesale inventory has seen a noticeable decrease as a result of the dollar store's increased profits.

Bargain Thrift Center has been a family owned and operated business since 1976, when Quinn’s father, a former police officer from the 14th District, decided to start his own business selling second-hand items.

Quinn no longer owns the original store, but the other three stores have been added to the business's list of properties for a number of years. The former furniture store was purchased in 1985, the warehouse in 1992 and the most recent addition was the new dollar store in 2005.

Today Quinn is keeping her father’s business alive the same way her father did for almost three decades through organized fundraisers.

“We will work with groups – churches, schools, civic groups – where they will organize a clothing drive,” said Quinn.

There is a wide variety of items that are collected, but a majority of the items are reusable clothing, accessories and soft goods like linens, pillows and stuffed animals. Once the items are collected Bargain Thrift Center picks them up and pays the group or organization per pound. They have done their own fundraising for the American Cancer Society and their Relay for Life program for over twenty years. The Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Marlyn R. Fein Chapter is another group that they have been working with through fundraising efforts for about twenty five years.

Quinn has approximately 25 employees working at all three of the Bargain Thrift Center locations. She makes it her priority to hire local residents, which is one of her own ways of giving back to a community that has already given her so much more than she had anticapted.

“We have been a fixture here in Germantown for so many years. We have a really great relationship with the neighborhood, with residents,” said Quinn. “I feel like we are in a good place right now.”

For more information about Bargain Thrift Center, please visit their website at www.bargainthriftcenter.com or call 215.849.3225.

By Keisha Frazier and Lisa Wilk

Historical Society - Group 16