'Secondhand Sunday' may be a new holiday shopping tradition

TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — A few weeks ago, Jalissa Smith opened Sew Used, a new thrift shop in Tempe. “It wasn’t until this year that I had the opportunity to have an actual retail space,” she said. “So now I do a little bit online, and I do a little bit in person. The entire journey is just me having a passion for loving clothes, but more of being a businesswoman, loving sales, loving to talk to people, and always improving my process.”

Smith and Justin Gonzalez search high and low for inventory. They have about 1,200 treasures in their shop, and they restock regularly. “We have to go to those last place stops where we’re just digging and digging and digging,” Gonzalez said. “Smelly old shirts. Smelly jackets. Wool that’s shriveled up. You really have to be patient and have the mindset and the eye.”

This weekend, they’re looking forward to a busy “Secondhand Sunday.” It’s secondhand e-commerce company Poshmark’s push to make thrifting part of holiday shopping traditions. “I think thrifting is the most popular it’s been,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going to have two racks outside and a lot of good deals.”

Traditionally, Black Friday is a day of deep discounts at major retailers. Then there’s Small Business Saturday, where shoppers last year infused an estimated $17.9 billion into small, independently owned retailers and restaurants. Now, at the end of the weekend, there will be the second annual Secondhand Sunday, a day to buy something that’s already been used. “It’s just a way of basically not having those items go to the landfill,” Smith said.

According to Poshmark, just one-third of people would shop secondhand for gifts, but 92% of people said they’re open to receiving secondhand gifts. “When we introduced Secondhand Sunday last year,” Manish Chandra, the founder and CEO of Poshmark, said in a statement. “Our goal was to not just create a moment, but a movement encouraging people to think differently about shopping secondhand during the holidays.”

Smith believes secondhand shopping gift-giving can be more personal. “I’m a track person,” she said. “If there was an Olympics that I just loved from the 80s, I could never purchase that [memorabilia] in the store, so I would have to go second hand. “You can look up ‘80s Olympics shirts, and you find those. You can find people selling them, and so you can tailor gifts to whoever you’re giving it to, and it has such more of a meaning.”

During Secondhand Sunday, Poshmark said it will team up with ShopGoodwill.com and will host a series of live, online shopping events. “Posh Shows has transformed the shopping experience on Poshmark, with shoppers spending over 70 million minutes watching Posh Shows last month alone, and we’re excited to bring that addictive, fun live experience to holiday shoppers this year,” Chandra said.

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