Thrifting Tourism and Community Impact

Hello and welcome to the modern Retail podcast, a show about the ways the retail industry is changing and modernizing. I am senior reporter Gabby Barco First off, happy World Cup mononth to all. This week, we're celebrating the start of the event by talking about how brands and retailers are getting in on the action as the tournament comes to North America So later on in the episode, I talk to Alyssa Gregg, the senior director of Marketing and commommunications for Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington Seattle is the home of several World Cup matches this tournament, as well as the largest goodwill in America. And so we talked about what they're doing on match days and all the activations they have in store to really get in on the trend of thrifting as tourism, as well as solving soccer, of course But first, I'm joined by our executive editor, Anna Henssel Ana, welcome back to the show.. Yes, I'm so excited to be here and to talk about the World Cup. Are you a soccer fan, Gabby? Yes, I am. I follow it pretty closely. I am an arsenal fan in so are cheers here for everyone. Yeah. so you know, the last time they won I was fourteen. I don't want to do the math on that. So it's been an exciting couple weeks for me, but worship is always fun because I feel like You know, I guess I'm feeling patriotic against all odds this summer. And so it's kind of the one time every four years that everyone you know, checks in on what's going on in the space Yeah, I'm just I'm a big fan of global sporting events. likeike I love seeing, you know, what random team makes a Cinderella run and cheering for them. So I' I'm excited for, I think it's thirty nine days of soccer It is thirty nine. So yeah, this is a good time to mention for those unfamiliar, like this is literally the longest and biggest World Cup in history in the sense that it's got the most matches ever and it's about five weeks long, like you said, which also surprise, surprise makes it like primed for marketing moments, off course, as the brands will tell you, which is what we're going to be talking about today. But yeah, there's a lot of ad dollars. FIFA is very protective of its brand. so you do if you want to be an official sponsor or partner, you do have to pay up a lot of money, but brands are getting very creative around that. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But yeah, what was some what were some stats that you found really interesting around the sheer amount of revenue and dollars being poured into these five weeks. Yeah, so I feel like the World Cup likeike It's been talked about so much this year. You know, you have like the lead up to the big event. But as I was researching for this segment and just looking at some numbers, it really reminded me how big of a deal this is compared to past World Cups U So again, this is the biggest tournament ever. FIFA has expanded the number of competing teams from thirty two to forty eight It features one hundred and four matches, which is an increase of about forty games compared to previous tournaments and it's being hosted across sixteen cities across three nations, the U S, Canada and Mexico. And so when you've been talking to people in retail and advertising about the World Cup Ebody compares it to this is like sixteen Super Bowls, which is pretty crazy because obviously Super Bowl is a huge economic cultural moment and then you times this by like sixteen. And it also comes at a precarious economic moment. you know, there's a lot of fears right now around Will consumers cut back spending if gas prices and other prices continue to rise? And I also think just why there's so much interest in this World Cup in particular is There are questions about how much fans will show out given the like astronomical prices surrounding this. So with a lot of matches being in the US, a lot of tickets are more expensive. They're subject to the unique like resale economics of the US. One stat I saw is that when tickets initially went on sale, so like, The most expensive ticket for the most expensive match FIFA initially sold that at six thousand seven hundred and thirty dollars And the most expensive ticket for twenty twenty two World Cup And and again, this is the price that FIFA sold it at That was six thousand six hundred. So prices are so much more expensive. And then when you look at, you know the resale market, I think you have some tickets going for like ten thousand dollars plus U so You know, there's a lot of excitement around this But like Will people show up to the level that someome of these expensive sponsorships or investments are worth them Yes, so it is three billion dollars in sponsor revenue. And you know, this is obviously we were including like Coca Cola, adidas, like all of the big companies that are officially sponsoring the tournament. But you know you don't have to be an official sponsor with millions of dollars to participate as this week's editorial series on mododern Retail showed. myself and a few of my colleagues on our team wrote stories about how retailers and brands of All sizes are leveraging the biggest ever FuFO World Cup this summer. So Anna, yeah, I wanted to just ask you about what were some of your favorite instances of how retailers are tryrying to get in on this. Maybe we should start with malls because that one, we love malls here. on Moto retail, so it's always fun to see how they're constantly trying to reinvent themselves, in this case trying to be sort of like, Fan hubs Yeah What I also think is so interesting about this World Cup is seeing all the different players trying to get in on a slice of the action because again, I think, you know, this is going to create like billions in economic activity. So you have local tourism boards just looking at little things they can do. I think in Philadelphia, they extended the hours that the bars closed. So bars closed at like four AM during the World Cup And so one kind of sector that I feel like is really trying to get a slice of the World Cup action is malls. You know, it's been a tough few years, few decades for malls Um, although Recent data from Placer AI shows that traffic to malls is stabilizing or even increasing in some cases And so I think a lot of Malls are looking at this as an opportunity to kind of like re inssert themselves into the cultural conversation and like introduce themselves to global tourists for the first time, of course, and like remind people that We are a premier tourist destination in whatever location So American Dream, which is located in New Jersey, they are hosting a thirty nine day fanfest. They're doing divations for like all thirty nine days. They're doing some events with local sports teams like the Giants and the Jets And I think for American Dream, it's all about like, You know, they had a very delayed opening. I think this is about re reminding people that like we are premier tourist destination in the New York, New Jersey area And then other malls, I think took the approach of kind of looking at like what part of our portfolio could this really provide a benefit to? So there' a mall in Miami that one of our senior reporter, Julia Waldo spoke with. and what was interesting is like You know, of course it gets very hot and humid in Miami in the summer. This mall, they said they're their restaurants kind of suffer a lot because of that. like summer is a tough time for restaurants there. So they're doing a dining passport where you know, if you visit X number of restaurants during the World Cup, I think you get like coupons or access to some perks. so It's just really interesting seeing the approach that some of these companies are taking around like, what part of our portfolio can we boost during the World Cup And then another area that we looked at is how this is impacting retail media networks So a lot of retailers have launched advertising businesses over the past few years. And if you look at like a grocery store, there's kind of the obvious use case of someone might look in that grocer shopping app and look for, you a certain type of creamer. And if you sell that creamer, you can run an ad and target that customer That's like lower funnel ad spend. But what a lot of these retail media networks are trying to prove is that our advertising isn't just for that lower funnel spend, that like we can be a part of cultural conversations too. So again, Walmart, I believe, is teaming up with Coca Cola to do some events around like game day culture. I know Best Buy is doing some World Cup themed events at its stores. It did a sweepstakes. worked with Len Noovo on experiential spaces in best buuy stores across the U S. and in Canada So again, it's just really interesting to see how all of these different players are showing up I myself wrote about sort of like Qote unquote, unofficial. you know, World Cup campaigns and I spoke to some brands about how They're you know catching soccer fever this summer by specifically not calling it FFA World Cup of course, but you know they're coming up with limited edition products or they're hosting their own viewing parties. Ollipop, for example, is going to be hosting parties and they have like a soda bar and you know, patches for jerseys and really trying to get the fans in on it on match days This is an example of what we call proximity marketing, right? So I't know, what are your thoughts on this? Be it's a topic we've written a lot about and it kind of takes inspiration of brands do the Super Bowl usually, where you can call it the big game if you're not an official partner of the NFL But yeah, so in this case, you can't say FIFA, but you can say like summer of soccer, I think some brands are calling it. And then that way the customer kind of puts two and two together, obviously Yeah, you and I both write a lot about startups, I feel like. And if you're a startup, you don't have you know, millions to spend on an advertisement. So you really have to get scrappy with how you're involved in these big cultural moments. And again, it's just kind of being precise about the language you use. you know, if you aren't a sponsor, you can't say like Cup you can't use the hashtag World Cup, but you can say, you know, We're having a watch party to celebrate the summer of soccer or something like that But yeah, I just think what is so interesting again about The World Cup is like I keep coming back to this idea of like how do you show up in big cultural moments? but I think that is what truly separates like the brands that continue to resonate and break through during tough economic times are the ones who show up in like are just like show up in big moments of culture in like smart ways and like people are constantly thinking and talking about them. And the World Cup is an important time to prove that Is there a favorite way that you've seen a brand show up? Gabby or like a really creative campaign Yeah, so I mentioned viewing parties. I feel like those make the most sense because especially in big cities like here in New York, obviously Metlife, which obviously is located right next to American Dream, which is why that's like a crazy hub for fans. But the rest of the city, you know, traffic is such a big topic of conversation. restestaurants, businesses want that traffic. So I talked to Mac Weldon, for example. Their VP of brand, Dan Annsel told me that they're hosting viewing parties in Brooklyn, for example, including the USA versus Paraguay, which has happened, if you're listening to this from the future already on Friday the twelfth. They're going to test one game and see what happens, but they're actually a long time sponsor of the Footy League, which is like an amateur league here in New York. And so they're inviting their members to a bar and doing giveaways. just having, you know an actual viewing party of the match and that way you can kind of it's like a community building event at the same time. And then I think on the food side, for example, like Credit Mager is doing localized discounting. So in New York and New Jersey, on matched days, customers are going to get fifty percent off any matcha drink much obviously being very trendy. So yeah, it's going to be available in all the locations in this area. And so it's like What better way to drive traffic on those days, right? than a discow, I feel like, that's like the tried and true way. So those are just some of the examples I was thinking about Yeah, absolutely. I think I'm most interested in kind of how The local small businesses, the restaurants, the bars, creative ways that they are coming together Like even in Minneapolis where I live, obviously we aren't hosting any World Cup matches, but of course, the soccer bars are doing watch parties. They're bringing in food trucks. The city is shutting down streets in certain areas really encouraging people to come together. And like I do think that is what is the most powerful. peopleople remember those moments where they're together in person, right? And I wanted to shout out this quote from Jessica Ramirez, who's a favorite, modern retail source of ours. But she had a newsletter looking at the different World Cup activations And she really kind of honed in on this idea of localization and like that kind of being I think that will be a key driver of success for a lot of brands. And just this quote she had is What I kept coming back to is this, local economies are the bridge They're the engine that gets people through while the bigger picture finds its new normal. And I think again, that gets back to the idea. there's a lot of questions about how much will people show up for this and spend while the economy is kind of in flux right now. And local activity is going to be kind of a real key sign of that. But on that note, Gabby, I wanted to ask you about the conversation you had with eververgreen goodwell. So first of all, like why I know we'll get into in this segment, but like Why is Goodwill doing stuff for the World Cup Yeah, I definitely think localized U marketing is going to be on display this summer. So when I talk to Evergreen, Goodwell and Alyssa, their director of Marketing and Coms, so This is what it is is that the biggest Goodwell in the world happens to be in Seattle and it's right near the stadium where six matches are going to be played this summer. And so they were just thinking, you know ing is so big, especially when it comes to things like soccer jerseys and like vintage merch that a lot of fans look for. And then that's also overlapping a lot with other trends which is what they're seeing is that Gen Zie and younger shoppers really love thrifting as like a tourism activity. So that's something they're seeing in their stores where they're coming in, especially you know people overseas who don't have goodoodws, but they're seeing it on social media. like here's all my finds that I found that is something they're trying to capture. So the foot traffic is happening near that area is something they they really want to capitalize on, especially because there's going to be seven hundred fifty thousand visitors expected in the city for this yeah, for this World Cup. And so they're doing things like screen printing and like DJ days on match days and yeah, it's just going to be literally blocks away from where everything's being played. So This is obviously a very like thrifty example of a retailer doing this because they are very mission driven and a nonprofit, obviously, they're not Walmart or Target, but yeah, we had a really great conversation on how they leaned into their you know, like immigrant employees, for example, to help source or go through a lot of those donations and find all those gems of jerseys that people will hopefully buy Yeah, I see what you did with your insertion of Thrifty there, and I can't wait to listen to the segment Thank you. Yeah. Thank you again for joining me on and I'm sure we'll talk about this for the rest of summer. Okay, and now here is my conversation with Alyssa Gregg, the senior director of Marketing commommunications for Evergreen Goodwell of Northwest Washington so, welcome to the show Thanks so much. Happy to be here Yeah, so I'm excited. we can get right into it about you know, everything that your specific network of Goodwill is doing for this World Cup, given that you are your store is right in smack in the middle of all of the excitement with six World Cup matches being played in Seattle this summer. So yeah, tell us a little bit about the store and then we'll get into this jersey thrifting campaign or activation that you have going on pretty much the entirety of the tournament Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, Evergreen Goodwill, our territory spans five counties in Northwest Washington. So if folks don't know, we are part of a broader goodoodwill network, each Goodwill operates independently and that's by design, so the money generated from the stores directly benefit the local community C our territory includes Seattle which is home to our flagship store, the largest goodwill in the world It is seventy thousand square feet. So this thrift store is massive. And it's just a couple blocks away from the stadium that's going to be hosting these games. So obviously a big retail moment and opportunity for us Thrifting has turned into, especially with younger people, this sort of like destination activity. So we've seen folks who will travel to Thrift, especially for the largest goodwill in the whole world. And so we're sort of leaning into this opportunity as folks are visiting Seattle to position it as a destination and doing some fun activations in the store around that as well Yeah, so this is where this soccer thrifting campaign, right on site is coming in, which is that You want to really capture this young tourist heavy audience that's coming into the city and encouraging them to shop. But obviously like it sounds like a really big store, it's very overwhelming. So let's talk a little bit about the curation and how you sourced and how you plan to merchandise some of these products. So that people can and, you know, in between whatever they are doing around the activities and hopefully find the jersey they're looking for, anything else, obviously that they might be wanting to thrift Yeah. So over the last few weeks, our team has been sorting through the hundreds of thousands of donations that we receive to try and find vintage soccer jerseys, secondhand merch, and curate a collection of items for folks that are visiting Seattle. We're leaning into what makes Goodwill unique and true to us, which is the secondhand items, the upcycling. And so we're hoping to invite folks in who aren't just looking for a logo that's slapped on something, that's really trying to find something that they can upcycle while celebrating these games The other thing that we're doing is that On june nineteenth, Seattle is hosting the US first Australia game, which is going to be huge And following that match, we're inviting customers to visit our flagship store where we will have live game day screen printing. So on site screen printing Folks can purchase a secondhand shirt. so we will have a ton of blank shirts available and blank tote bags that they can get screen printed on site We've partnered with a local artist here from the Seattle community to design something that celebrates soccer, celebrates Seattle, and really will give customers a unique, truly one of a kind souvenir that they can take home It is celebrating the local community, it's keeping stuff out of landfills, and it's inviting customers to sort of participate rather than just have this be a transactional thing of something we're trying to sell. I think this is a good time to start getting into you know, like thrifting tourism, that's what I'm calling it. but there is a phenomenon that I think you and I both noticed, especially online of people going you know coming the US. or going to other countries and really seeking out these sort of like TikTok hotspots. and Goodwill is one of them,, where people like to treasure hunt and then show their halls on social media. now This obviously the soccer merch and screen printing campaign is not necessarily one to one to this, but I imagine you do want to promote the store, everything that you're doing and then yeah, the sort of discovery aspect while people are coming in, right? Because obviously at the end of the day, you do want to Drive sales. Yeah, absolutely. So just to give you context, this store that our flagship store loone, we get ten thousand unique items that hit that store floor every day So unlike other retailers where there's like these sKUs of the same amount, it's like every single thing is unique and different. And you're right. we've seen this trend, especially among Gen Z, younger customers of, you know, they will travel for those rare finds. And this this store in particular is chock full of them But even other stores in our network that are in particular communities, especially communities that have a higher household income or in a particular neighborhood that's sort of considered hip and cool You know, the donations from that community is what folks find on the sales floor. And so people will travel to those particular stores and they're well known within the local thrift network of which ones to go to. So yeah, we're absolutely leaning into that during this time. Goodwill isn't in every country. So for some of these folks visiting Seattle, this might be the first time that they've stepped into a goodwill ever And for them to experience the largest one in the world is pretty damn cool I will also say, you the deeper point of this is that it isn't just a fun retail moment. And I think this is really what differentiates Goodwill from other vintage or thrift stores is that E purchase at these stores is being reinvested into the local community. And so I think folks can feel really good about you know, traveling to a city and spending their dollars somewhere that's actually benefiting the local community. And that's that's, you know, that's something I think Any city that's h hosting these big sporting events grapples with is like the pros and cons and who benefits from that The way that we're doing this is really inviting folks, both local and folks who are traveling to experience that, to travel to the largest goodwill, and to spend their money in a way that is really actually benefiting the local community as well Yeah, speaking of, can you give us a little more color on what people can expect to see in store, maybe some dates, some events that you're holding. I know you mentioned the screen printing event, but yeah, what else can we expect over the next five weeks Yeah, so the biggest dates for us is june nineteenth and june twenty fourth. both game dayay match days that we will also be hosting those on site screen printing events. So folks can come in, there will be curated racks, customers can select items to have a custom screen printed on site There will be a DJ. and you know, we really just want to create an environment where People again, it's not transactional. We want to invite the community in to experience a fun shopping and like local Seattle moment, right Yeah. And then I wanted to ask you a little bit. You mentioned you know thousands of items that your team has been sourcing to prepare for this. Can you tell us a little bit more about I'm just curious, you know, I' a soccer jersey of Fion auto myself. And so I wanted to ask about, yeah, who is the team that's been curating it? How do they know, you know, what are the more valuable not to, you know, assign value to certain teams, but maybe like a messy shirt from the two thousands might be a little bit more valuable than some others. So Yeah, so do you have like a team of self appointed experts that went through these boxes and boxes of products Yeah, you know, the process of what happens from the time someone donates an item to when it gets on the sales floor is truly fascinating. That's like a subject for an entire another podcast. But I will say that we have an entire team, a production team that inspects every single donation that comes through a back door and and sorts them and prices them. And these are folks that have been doing this sometimes for twenty plus years, you know, they've been with the organization. So they really have an eye for what's gonna to sell and what's not That being said, you know, sometimes there's stuff that like slips through the cracks. You'll see this all the time at Goodwill. That's like price for five dollars then it's worth a whole bunch more. So y Grail of thrifting. That's what I have I've read it. O someone says they found something for twenty dollars Yeah, it happens the time. You know, we are doing our best to curate the items and price them correctly and get an experience and a selection of merchandise that our shoppers are really gonna to love. And we always we really lean into that sort of like there's rare finds. Every day, folks come into the store and they'll find stuff that is just like you know compared to buying new is pennies on the dollar But yeah, we've got our production team, as you mentioned, you know, it's a team of folks that work have worked for our organization, but they they themselves come from countries all over the world. So they have their own teams that they love, they know what they're looking for, and we're hoping to curate a fun collection of stuff that is really representative of all the teams that are participating Yeah, and you know, we talked a little bit about how social media, especially Instagram and TikTok have really um helped resale, secondhand explode am young people for the last few years. but I'm curious about how your promoting some of these activities in the campaign the summer through your online channels because I believe Goodwill also has specific localized pages, right? So yeah, how are you reaching people and spreading the word Yeah, you know, so I'll say this as the director of markarketing for Goodwill, we are nonprofit. and so every dollar we spend on advertising It has to be really thoughtful, right? because the majority of our budget really needs to be reinvested into the work we're doing in the local community. So as I've approached this, what we've found to be most effective is really working with local influencers who are embedded in the community, who are in the know about what's going on and can help us reach that younger audience, specifically that are looking for those experiences and really engaged in the thrift culture and thrift talk I mean, thrift Dock is a whole thing. So We are working with local influencers to help spread the word and promote these events But you know like you've mentioned, this is part of the social media culture is like these folks that are excited about finding these things and sharing their halls with their followers. And so a lot of this stuff is just happening organically, which is great for us. And you know, I think that it is reflective of the times we live in, especially where younger shoppers are looking for brands that align with their values in terms of sustainability and giving back to the local community as well Yeah. You mentioned influencers. I'm kind of curious about that. Can you say a little bit more? Is there like curating involved or yeah, how do you work with local creators on this It really depends and differs based on the person that we're working with. Some folks that we've worked with in the past are really folks that are embedded in the Seattle community and often talk about places to go or you know they're part of Thrift Talk and you have their own following. And so we invite them in and work with them to kind of create content specifically about goodwill But there are other folks that we've worked with who are fashion designers or you fashion influencers in their own right who really love working with us because they are able to sort of tell people what's possible with drrifted fashion. And in some cases, we've actually partnered with influencers to curate their own collections that are available in store That's not what we're doing for World Cup necessarily, but at other times throughout the year, we've had pop ups and curated collections specifically with the community folks in mind. Yeah, so Alysa, we can wrap up, but I would love to just get a little bit of color before you go on what the vibes are like in Seattle and what you're expecting this summer because you know a lot of cities across North America are preparing for an influx of So yeah, what's the atmosphere like and what are some of the businesses across? the city preparing for Yeah, I mean, as you can imagine, the city has been preparing for months. I think they've been working with a lot of local businesses on how we can drive traffic and take advantage of this moment to support the local economy. So you know with seven hundred fifty thousand visitors in the city, for us, flagship store, we anticipate about O eighty thousand customers visiting our flagship store during those four weeks. So it's a big opportunity for us, but also the other businesses in the area And I think what an interesting thing I've seen is these businesses sort of popping up out of nowhere just to take advantage of this moment. So there's like newew restaurants popping up, new stores popping up that were empty storefronts. And it'll be interesting to see what happens during these games and after if those businesses stick around. But there's a lot of businesses and brands trying to attach themselves to the energy of this big event You know, I think one of the things that goodoodwill is doing that that I think other brands could learn from is like We are trying to start and approach this with like what's true about our brand and our community and leaning into that as opposed to you know just trying to mimic official merchandise or sort of do something that feels transactional Yeah. and I know the Pacific Northwest obviously has this historic love of the game and soccer in general, you guys are a really big pocket within the US of fandom. So I imagine a lot of that energy is maybe going to be informing some of what you'll be doing on the ground day and day out Yeah, absolutely. There is a huge fan base here. So I'm excited to see how this plays out bothoth for the local fans and the folks that are visiting the city and also the, you know, the businesses that call Seattle home as well Well, thank you again for joining us and yeah, enjoy the matches You as well. Thank you for listening to this episode of the mododern Retail podcast, a show by Digitay Media. If you haven't already, please subscribe and head to Apple Podcast to leave us a review and a rating Find more of our coverage at modernreetail. co and follow us on socials like LinkedIn and Instagram at modern retetail You can also follow me at Gabriella Barco. That's B A R K H O on all socials. See you next week.