Thrift store’s logistics:

a study of multiple cases in federal district

Abstract

With people's growing concern about environmental issues, thrift stores are emerging as a sustainable alternative to reduce the impacts of the textile industry. And, in this context, it becomes a good business opportunity in which there is little competition and low initial investment. However, in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, companies suffered impacts on their businesses and needed to undergo adaptations to adapt to the new reality. Thus, micro and small businesses - as in the case of thrift stores - also needed to reinvent themselves to overcome the challenges encountered. Thus, the objective of this work was to analyze the main operational and logistical aspects of thrift stores in the Federal District during the Covid-19 pandemic. As for the method, the research was exploratory-descriptive, with a qualitative approach. And, through content analysis, a multiple case study was conducted, interviewing 6 (six) thrift store owners in the Federal District, selected for accessibility. The interviews were conducted through a semi-structured script and the main results showed that the thrift stores work with the return of used clothes to the secondary market, going through a process of recapture of value and contributing to the environment, becoming a profitable way even in the face of the crisis caused by the Coronavirus. However, the results also showed that, for this, micro and small entrepreneurs had to undergo adaptations in their operations and logistics, one of them being technological changes.