Where the listings come from
Store names, addresses, phone numbers and websites start from open geodata: the Overture Maps Foundation places dataset, which includes Foursquare OS Places and OpenStreetMap contributions. We keep thrift, charity, consignment and resale stores, remove duplicates (same name and street in the same city), and drop stores that are reported closed or that asked to be removed.
A city gets its own page when it has at least two stores; towns with a single store are listed on their state page, so no page is built around one listing.
What we check on store websites
11,632 of the stores (56.4%) have a website. We read those websites and record only what each store says about itself: departments, weekly sales and discount days, what it accepts as donations and when, whether it picks up furniture, whether it sells online, and the cause its proceeds support. So far 7,560 store pages have been read; each store's card shows the month its website was checked. A detail the website does not state is left blank rather than guessed. We write each detail in our own words and do not copy the store's text.
Because stores change their hours and sales often, every card says where its details came from, and the store's own website or a phone call is the final word.
Corrections from owners
We write to listed stores and ask them to check their card. When an owner sends a correction — new hours, a changed phone number, a moved address — we apply it and mark the card "Updated by the owner" with the month. 153 listings carry that mark today. Corrections are free and never change where a store appears on a list. Owners can also ask for a listing to be removed, and the removal is permanent.
Population, places and rankings
Stores per 100,000 residents use the U.S. Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distances to the nearest store use the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer place file and are measured in a straight line. Chain shares match store names and websites against 13 thrift and resale chains; everything else counts as independent. Rankings and "best" lists are ordered by how complete a listing's data is — no store can pay for a position.
How often it is updated
The directory is rebuilt from the source data and owner corrections every day. Each study states the date of the data it uses.
Research built on this data
- Thrift Stores per Person: Which States Have the Most (2026 Data)
- Thrift Store Deserts: US Towns Where the Nearest Thrift Store Is More Than 20 Miles Away
- Who Runs America’s Thrift Stores? Chain vs. Independent Shares by State (2026 Data)
- Which Thrift Stores Take Furniture — and Which Will Pick It Up
- Donating to Thrift Stores: Where to Drop Off and How the IRS Deduction Works
- Thrift Stores That Sell Online: How Many Shops Run a Web Store, State by State
- Where Your Thrift Store Purchase Goes: The Causes America's Charity Shops Fund
- Best Days to Go Thrifting: Weekly Sales, Color Tags and Senior Discounts
Found a mistake?
Write to us through the contact page — a store that closed, a wrong number, a missing shop. Corrections are usually applied within a few days.