A man acquired an undisclosed amount of cash after robbing a bakery thrift store in Mesa on Wednesday.

In a tough economy, every dollar counts. Consumers are scrimping and saving. And when they do spend, they want the biggest bang for their buck. To stretch their budgets, East Valley consumers are visiting discount dollar stores in increasing numbers.

A longtime thrift store that provides transitional housing and case management services to more than 300 families a year, was vandalized this week.

About 100 residents of the Islands subdivision packed the Gilbert Town Council meeting Tuesday to protest a Goodwill store coming to their neighborhood.

May 11, 2005

NEW YORK - The souring job market and rising costs of the usual teenage indulgences — a slice of pizza, a drive to the mall, the hottest new jeans — are casing teens to do something they rarely do: be thrifty.

In a small thrift shop on a quiet stretch of Arizona Avenue, a group of women sift through piles of clothes and household goods, looking for anything that might catch the eye of someone who has happened upon hard times or someone who is looking for a great deal.

NEW YORK — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis aren't the only ones poppin' tags at thrift shops.

If early sales numbers are any indication, the hottest new shopping destination in the northwest Valley might not be a “big box” retailer or hip specialty boutique. It may be the recently relocated Sun Health Resale and Gift Shop.

About a half-dozen thrift and dollar stores dot Arizona Avenue from Ray Road to north of Warner Road.

A Goodwill store is scheduled to open May 20 at 2070 S. Power Road in Gilbert. The store and donation center will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Goodwill has also signed a lease for a new Mesa store at the northwest corner of Southern Avenue and Country Club Drive, in the building next to Bookmans formerly occupied by Gold’s Gym.

Chandler-based Bashas’ will close 14 more stores in Arizona, including seven in the East Valley, as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization. See a map of the closing stores

A Mesa eyesore is coming back to life. The vacant retail center on the northeast corner of University Drive and Greenfield Road once housed a Fry’s grocery, but the 100,000-square-foot site has been vacant and quiet for years. Come Nov. 4, the corner will be home to a new 38,000-square-foot Goodwill thrift store.

A general store that sells new and used merchandise has returned to Main Street in downtown Mesa, but a neighboring store owner and a city official say it’s not the kind of business they envisioned for the area near the new arts center.

Summer Tonsfeldt, 15, of Scottsdale, likes designer clothes. Especially when she can get them on a great deal.

Phoenix artist Joe Willie Smith pulls open the large door of his backyard studio, light falling on mounds of junk — a chaos of books, records, old amplifiers, tools, overtaking the room.

All of the Valley’s Metropolitan Mattress stores are changing names to the Mattress Firm to reflect a buyout by the Houston-based company.

The image, product line and operating margin of Goodwill Industries stores in the Valley have undergone major changes.

Goodwill of Central Arizona plans to open its first retail store in Gilbert on Friday at the northwest corner of Gilbert and Guadalupe roads. The not-for-profit snagged Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Robby Hammock to welcome shoppers from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The express lane is the linea rapida. Coke comes in glass bottles. Jalapeños are 99 cents a can and green chilies are on special up front for 79 cents a pound.

A little over a decade ago, thrift-store chic reigned supreme, with grungers and indie rockers mauling racks of vintage hand-me-downs in search of anti-fashion cool. These days, not so much. Thrift shoppers admit they hit Goodwill for more a pragmatic reason: “You get everything cheap,” says Mesa thrifter Jessica Kay, 22.