More Cape Fear shoppers turning to secondhand stores for Christmas gifts

WILMINGTON (WWAY) — Christmas is just a few weeks away, which means the time to get your gift shopping done is running down.

The National Retail Federation is projecting that holiday spending will exceed more than $957 billion this year — a new record and a between 3-4% increase over 2022.

But many people are turning to thrift and consignment stores to get their shopping done, instead of going to big box stores.

Susana Fernandez is an employee at the Wherehouse in Wilmington. She says thrift stores are a great alternative for shoppers.

“Because some of the brands of furniture we have here are the really sturdy ones or the really high brand kind of furniture but its at a lower price than what you would find at like Home Goods or something.”

Overall, the secondhand and resale market is expected to total more than $53 billion this year.