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Savers national chain to open store in Olathe

Savers, Inc., a for-profit thrift store chain offering secondhand shopping in 200 stores across the country and in Canada and Australia, is relocating to Olathe. The chain will open shop at Mur-Len and Santa Fe/135th St., in a vacation spot near Home Depot.

With headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., Savers partners with 160 non-profit organizations, purchasing donated clothing and household items from them and reselling them. The store pays the non-profits more than $117 million annually. Among the used items the store sells are collectibles, furniture, clothings, and accessories. New merchandise, including closeout items, is also sold.

Savers was founded by William O. Ellison in 1954 in San Francisco, Calif. By 1970, the San Francisco store became a chain and its headquarters moved north to the Seattle, WA area. The chain employs more than 10,000 people. The company’s recycling program prevented 262 million pounds of unsold merchandise from ending up in landfills last year by reselling it domestically and internationally where the goods could benefit people in need.