On a sunny late October morning in 2011, the CAT Thrift Store first opened its doors to paying customers. In the last 12 years, the modest 2,500 sq. ft. shop has earned over $2.2 million in income for Cat Adoption Team and our mission.
Nestled in a shopping plaza in the Raleigh Hills neighborhood of Southwest Portland, the store is accessible to many customers in the metro area. The unique boutique boasts a large variety of new and gently used treasures from footwear to books to games to paper goods and more.
The thrift store sources its goods from client donations and rotates items every few weeks, so you’ll always find unique products on the sales floor. Thanks to the ‘yes, please’ and ‘no, thank you’ lists on its website, the shop is able to cut down on unwanted items and sell most of what folks donate. For the items that aren’t a fit for the store, we work to recycle as many as we can, rather than having them end up in the landfill. For product recycling, we work with Ecoworld Trading, Got Sneakers?, and GRC Wireless, to name a few. Last year, the thrift store made over $700 by recycling items that couldn’t be sold. That’s good for the planet and our bottom line!
In addition to being a shopping destination, CAT Thrift Store serves to provide alternative housing to adoptable cats and kittens in our care. Those that do not adjust well in the shelter environment have an opportunity to thrive at the store. Over 150 #CATalumni once briefly served as CAT ambassadors and called the thrift store home. Next time you visit, check out the door by the register—it’s a veritable billboard of all the cats that have spent time there.
The CAT Thrift Store is such a cool location with lots of unique finds, and I love that they have the area with a cat for adoption. I hadn’t been there before we went to see Franky, but enjoyed looking around at all the cool stuff available for purchase. The sectioned area Franky was in was a neat, comfortable room and he could interact with the shoppers as they would come by and had the kitty TV on, which he seemed to enjoy. It was a really cool experience to adopt a cat, and I love how resourceful CAT is to include that as part of their adoption area. Not only is it fun for the shoppers but also for the cats to get a different experience and more exposure.
— Ashlee, Franky’s adopter
Learn more about the CAT Thrift Store, schedule a donation, and view our hours by visiting catthriftstore.org or following us on Facebook or Instagram.
