New Annandale thrift store promises to be community partner

The racks are filling up at the new B-Thrifty store in Annandale.

Budget-conscious community members will have a new source of clothing and household goods when the B-Thrifty store opens later this month.

The store, at 4223 John Marr Drive, Annandale, is in the new retail center that replaced the Kmart. 

The store will offer clothing, glassware, furniture, picture frames, art, CDs, DVDs, shoes, accessories, jewelry, toys, TVs, computers, and more, says owner Christopher Travieso. 

Lucky shoppers occasionally find “treasures,” such as an antique worth thousands of dollars, that was overlooked by an appraiser, Travieso says. 

B-Thrifty stocks thousands of new items every day and has about 60 employees per store. 

This will be the third B-Thrifty store. The first one is in Woodbridge, and another one opened in Camp Springs, Md., about four months ago.

Travieso has been in the clothing business since he founded his first store, at age 16 in Caracas, Venezuela. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1993 and developed the B-Thrifty concept in 2011.

“We are a new kind of thrift store,” he says. “B-Thrifty is upscale, friendly, clean, and good for the environment. We save a lot of water and trees by recycling and repurposing. We create jobs.” 

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All those benefits are good for the planet and extend the quality of life, Travieso says. 

The B-Thrifty stores have a Free Clothes for Kids program. Families can come to the store every six months and collect six free items per child. No ID is required and no questions are asked. The giveaways are done discreetly so other customers don’t know. 

There are also discounts every day:

• Seniors get a discount on Tuesdays. Everything in the store is 30 percent off for people age 50 and up. 
• There’s a 35 percent discount on Wednesdays for members of the military, police, firefighters, nurses, and teachers. 
• Monday is Customer Appreciation Day, with 30 percent off everything in the store.
• Every Thursday, BIP (B-Thrifty Important Person) members get a 30 percent discount. 
• Everything is 50 percent off on all federal holidays. 
• In addition, every day items with two colored tags – say purple and green, or blue and orange – are marked down. Discounts can’t be combined. 

B-Thrifty has received numerous awards and certificates of appreciation – from Fairfax County and Prince William County officials, nonprofits, military organizations, and others. 

“Our vision is to be a business that works with the community,” Trevieso says. “We are a business that creates a better community for our kids.”