‘Hoodwill’ vs. Goodwill – The New York Times

Most days around 10 a.m., Tyshawn Kennedy, 35, who goes by Ty, opens what he calls Hoodwill, a play on the name of the well-known thrift chain Goodwill. Like a Goodwill, what Hoodwill sells depends on the donations it receives. And like a Goodwill, Hoodwill attracts customers who seek affordable items. Sometimes they’re looking for something rare or valuable.

But Hoodwill lacks a front door, price tags and a license to operate. Kennedy and a cohort of men sell donated goods straight from the bags in which they arrive across a stretch of public sidewalk near Bond and Schermerhorn Streets in Downtown Brooklyn.

“Can I have just one bag, ma’am?” Kennedy asks a woman carrying donations to the Goodwill store, just past the Hoodwill vendors.

She smiles and hands Kennedy both bags.

“It’s a fresh drop!” he calls out, while Hoodwill’s customers open the bags, grabbing the pieces they want. Many are regulars who wait all day to see what Kennedy will get.

About one out of five people Kennedy approaches gives him donations. On a good day, he accumulates over a dozen bags. The Goodwill store typically gets many more.

What Is Affordable?

Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey operates 30 retail locations, including the one in Downtown Brooklyn. Katy Gaul-Stigge, its president and chief executive officer, described Goodwill’s mission as helping “people with disabilities and barriers to employment gain independence and connect to the power of work.” It is a registered nonprofit.

At the Downtown Brooklyn store, a pair of jeans or shoes runs anywhere from $8.99 to $29.99. Electronic lamps cost $7.99 to $19.99, depending on their size and whether they come with a shade; electronics can vary widely, with some pieces marked at $3.99 and others, like a gaming system, as high as $59.99.

Goodwill’s prices are “very reasonable,” Gaul-Stigge said.

At Hoodwill, most clothes cost $2 to $4. Electronics are almost always under $10. Kennedy also sells housewares, like mugs and dishes, for a dollar or two. Bedding is basically free because no one wants it.

Mayelin Rodriguez, speaking in Spanish, said she used to shop at the Goodwill but​​ found better offerings on the sidewalk for better prices. She said she has been shopping at Hoodwill for 14 years.

While Hoodwill remains focused on the sidewalk, Goodwill has developed an e-commerce presence. Goodwill stores are instructed to reserve more valuable items for sale on online platforms, including Goodwill’s own website. There, shoppers can bid on items in timed auctions, like one for a Chanel Cruise 2023 halter top that was going for $551 with nine hours 21 minutes left. Shoppers can also buy certain items outright: A 5.24-carat diamond ring in a platinum setting was available for $61,999.

In contrast, Kennedy has sold a 2000s-era Dior saddle bag (with some makeup stains) for $5, a 1980s silk Chanel scarf for $2 and a vintage Marlboro T-shirt for $2. An online vendor is asking $450 (at the time of publication) for the same T-shirt.

Kennedy is aware that he sells designer and collectible items for almost nothing. He doesn’t care. “Truthfully, I could sell it online like everybody else, but I don’t have the time or patience,” he said, adding that his customers “don’t want to spend real money.”

“They look at you getting it for free, and you’re selling outside,” he said. Unlike Goodwill, Hoodwill has virtually no overhead. There is no storefront to lease and no insurance or employee benefits to pay.

Selling valuable and designer items for low prices is a marketing strategy, Kennedy explained. “You never know what you’re going to get, so you come back.”

Gaul-Stigge acknowledged that entire categories of valuable and designer items, like instruments, oil paintings and jewelry, no longer appear in Goodwill’s stores. But, she said, the presence of resellers at the Goodwill store proves that valuable items still come through.

The Corner Conflict

Two large signs above the Goodwill read: “Donate Inside Only” and “Your Donations Accepted Inside = 100% Reused & No Trash on Our Streets.”

Goodwill also often posts a security guard at the street corner to discourage donors from giving to Hoodwill sellers. One morning, Kennedy and the security guard got into a fight.

“You took the bags from me, man!” Kennedy yelled. According to him, the donor appeared willing to give him a few bags, but the security guard intercepted the donation. To “address the quality-of life-concerns in this area,” Gaul-Stigge said, Goodwill has “invested significantly in store security.”

“For years and years and years,” Gaul-Stigge said, Goodwill has asked “neighborhood stakeholders” — including the police, the Department of Sanitation, the local councilman and business development groups — to intervene against Hoodwill.

The New York Times repeatedly reached out to the New York Police Department for comment but did not receive a response.

In a written statement, the Department of Sanitation said that it has “several upcoming interagency enforcement operations” planned with the Police Department to enforce street vending laws in front of the Goodwill, “organized in coordination with the local council member and at repeated request from community members.”

Lincoln Restler, the City Council member for District 33, said he respects “the hustle of what it takes to get by in New York City,” adding that when he “came into the City Council in 2022, this was already a long-established issue.” Goodwill and Hoodwill are in his district.

At first, he said, he saw little reason to intervene. “Is it really harming anyone that they are selling goods and making a buck? There are bigger problems in the world,” he recalled thinking.

But over time, Restler said, complaints from Goodwill and constituents mounted. He heard reports that some sellers aggressively solicited donations from people heading into Goodwill, sometimes grabbing bags from their hands. And, he said, after the sellers packed up each night, clothes and other debris were left behind.

The New York Times approached four neighboring businesses; none of them was willing to comment on the record for this article. Restler thinks many donors do not realize they are not giving to Goodwill when they donate to Hoodwill sellers. “There is an element of deception,” he said.

On a Saturday morning, The New York Times approached every person who handed donations to Kennedy; no people said they believed they were donating to Goodwill. The most common reason for giving to Hoodwill instead of Goodwill was Goodwill’s prices.

Jeremy Carr, a TikTok thrifting influencer and one of Hoodwill’s donors and shoppers, said Kennedy and the other sellers should be “protected.”

Regina Myer, president of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, said in a written statement that for “years, illegal vending has blighted the neighborhood as potential donors to Goodwill have been aggressively intercepted for their goods, sidewalks have been strewn with trash and residents have actively avoided the area.”

Kelly Carroll, executive director of Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District, said she is worried about a “satellite outpost” of street sellers at a nearby Salvation Army who also “intercept” donations. “We see them communicating” with Hoodwill, she said.

Benjamin Rex, a reseller who has been shopping at Hoodwill for a few years, said the sellers have become some of his “closest connections in New York.” They are “working-class guys trying to make it,” he said.

One seller, who asked to stay anonymous because he has received several tickets in the past few months for selling at Hoodwill, has looked into getting a vendor permit, but he said he was discouraged by restrictive eligibility requirements and a waiting list.

For years, getting a street vendor permit in New York City was difficult because the number of permits was capped far below demand, leaving many vendors waiting for years or operating without one. That system is set to change after the City Council approved legislation that will dramatically expand the number of available vendor permits over the coming years.

Mohamed Attia, managing director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, said the reforms are a “great start.” A permit, he said, provides the “recognition from the government” that street vendors are operating “legitimate businesses.” But, Attia said, there is no guarantee that the reforms will meet the staggering citywide demand for permits.

Hoodwill is “fighting a lot of obstacles,” Kennedy said, so it “is not at its peak anymore.” According to Kennedy, the older generation of sellers said “it was even better back in the day.”

“It used to be all the way around the corner,” he said.

The Objective

“My goal is to try to get at least $200, $300 a day,” Kennedy said. “I try to push myself.” After dropping out of school around fifth grade, Kennedy spent time on and off in jail and prison, starting when he was around 18. Having a criminal history made it difficult for him to find a job. Hoodwill, he said, allows him to support his three stepchildren. The sellers, Kennedy said, have built a sense of community.

Gaul-Stigge said the objective of Goodwill stores “is to create a revenue source for Goodwill’s mission and to model inclusive employment.” But, she added, Goodwill loses money on its stores. So it depends on funding from other sources, including the city government, to run its programs. She said Goodwill funded work force development and other community programs that served more than 12,000 people last year.

At Hoodwill, Kennedy sometimes lets people take things for free, as with an older woman who stopped at Hoodwill without shoes and received Ugg boots. “If a homeless person is walking around New York City with no shoes, and they ask for a pair of shoes in the store, they can’t get it,” Kennedy said. “I am not going to go so hard about something I am getting for free.”

Over time, Kennedy says, his own views of Hoodwill have evolved. Kennedy used to walk by and think of the sellers as “these dirty people.”

“Now I look at it different,” Kennedy said. “I’m over here doing it.”