A long rack of button-down shirts on the sales floor of a City Thrift store in Kansas City

    About City Thrift

    Kansas City's Thrift Store. Since 1924.

    Owned and operated by City Union Mission. Every dollar stays local.

    A volunteer serving a meal at City Union Mission in Kansas City

    Our Story

    A Thrift Store With a Mission.

    City Thrift exists because of City Union Mission. The Mission has served people experiencing homelessness in Kansas City for over a century — shelters, meals, recovery, family support — and has done that work without interruption since 1924.

    The thrift stores are how the city helps fund it. Every coat dropped off, every dining set sold, every regular who walks in on a Saturday morning keeps that work going. We're not a chain. We're a Kansas City institution that happens to sell secondhand.

    About City Union Mission

    Since 1924

    100+

    Years supporting Kansas City through City Union Mission.

    Across the Metro

    4

    Locations — three retail stores and one drop-off center.

    Every Dollar

    100%

    Local. Proceeds stay in Kansas City, funding the mission.

    A City Thrift truck loaded with sorted donations bound for one of the Kansas City stores

    Where the Money Goes

    Shop. Donate. Repeat.

    The cycle is simple, and it's the whole point. Neighbors donate the things they no longer need. Our team sorts, prices, and puts those donations on the sales floor. Shoppers fill carts with what they find, and every dollar at the register goes to City Union Mission.

    The Mission turns those dollars into beds, meals, classes, and second chances — work that happens within a few miles of every store we run. When the community benefits, the community donates again. That's the loop, and it's been running for a hundred years.

    A City Thrift staff member tagging incoming housewares at a back-of-house sorting table

    Who Runs This

    Real People. Real Stores.

    City Thrift is staffed by managers, sorters, drivers, and volunteers who know the regulars by name and care about where the money goes. Some have been here for years. A lot of them came up through the Mission's programs.

    It's not a corporate chain run from somewhere else. It's a Kansas City crew running Kansas City stores for a Kansas City mission.

    Join our team

    How You Can Help

    More Ways to Be Part of It.

    Shopping and donating are the front door. Volunteering, organizing a donation drive, partnering as a business, or hosting a bin — there are quieter ways to keep this work going, and we'd be glad to have you.