Photo: Kim Tunnicliffe / WBZ News Radio
CAMBRIDGE (WBZNewsRadio) - Just minutes from the Kendall/MIT Red Line T station sits a massive unique thrift store, known for selling new and used clothes both from the racks and from a huge pile on the ground floor, known as 'By The Pound,' where shoppers pay by the weight of their finds.
The Garment District is nothing new, the Cambridge retailer has been open since 1986, offering everything from seasonal wear to every fashionistas staples.
It all began as an off-shoot of a textile company called the Harbor Textile Waste Co. They manufactured and sold wiping cloths and gloves to a variety of industries. In 1981, the company decided to put a few bales of clothing out every Saturday morning for people to browse through and pay by the pound. A few years later the Garment District opened to complement the Saturday morning tradition, which still continues today.
The concept is simple, you grab a bag, dig through the 850 pounds of clothing on the ground, weigh it and pay. It's just $2 per pound.
"It gets all cleared out at Friday night at 6 o-clock and all new stuff on Saturday morning. So Saturday mornings are very very busy, there's usually a line out the door on Saturday mornings." Susan Rowe, Manager of the store told WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe.
Now open 7 days a week, no two days are the same for eager thrift-store shoppers excited to find their next hidden treasure.
What's more, The Garment District advertises themselves as a "green" business since Day 1. Only a small fraction of the bulk clothing sold is purchased, and whatever remains goes to the 'By The Pound.' Items that don't sell are eventually passed onto other businesses for various uses, such as rags and recycled into products like rugs and car mats.
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports
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