Philly AIDS Thrift’s Donation Milestone

Last month, Philly AIDS Thrift handed out sizable checks to local HIV-fighting orgs AIDS Fund (their main beneficiary), the Mazzoni Center and Feast Incarnate, helping the tacky-but-fab secondhand go-to in Queen Village reach a new donation-giving milestone. In the shop’s seven-and-a-half years in business, it’s peddled enough vintage tees, shabby-chic home goods and albums your parents would have loved to raise $535,450 for Philly charities — a feat store manager Tom Brennan says was reached faster after their 2011 transition from a cramped space on Bainbridge Street to a roomier, busier location on Fifth. “After moving … we’ve bumped up the monthly [donation] amount three times … [almost] doubling our old store’s donation much sooner than any of us expected. … We’re on track now to be giving away $100,000 every six months going forward.”

To celebrate, the store is hosting a three-day sale event from Fri., Jan. 25 to Sun., Jan. 27. There will be a different bargain each day: On Friday, all items under $5 will be 50 percent off; on Saturday all items priced $6 to $20 will be 50 percent off; and on Sunday, you can snag anything from $21 to $1,000,000 at half-price.

Hold up … Do they actually have something in the store that costs a million dollars? “No, we don’t currently have anything in the store valued at $1,000,000,” says volunteer coordinator Christina Kallas-Saritsoglou, “But tomorrow is a new day, so here’s hoping.”