Denver’s Arc Thrift Stores offer low-cost alternative in times of tight money, low supplies. And Santa visits!

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Things are different for Santa these days.

The jolly old elf, for the most part, cannot allow children to sit on his lap, instead opting for nearby chairs. Masks are mandatory, only to be pulled down for photos. And the Christmas lists are, to say the least, different.

“It’s been a lot simpler the last couple years,” said Jim White, 70, who’s played Santa at charity-nonprofit events and thrift stores for the past four decades. “It used to be, ‘I need a phone or the latest video game (console).’ Now it’s just smaller things — ‘Anything will be fine.’ ”

The kids that White tends to see — such as at a Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver event at Empower Field at Mile High on Tuesday night — are thrilled when he hands them a $5 toy voucher for Arc Thrift Stores. The fact that their parents are already holiday-shopping there shows White, who recently retired from a long career of service at Volunteers of America, that they could use the extra help.

In this week’s case, White will appear as Santa from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Arc Thrift Store in Central Park Shopping Center, 7485 E. Illif Ave. That follows appearances in recent weeks in Brighton, Lakewood and elsewhere, where kids could visit, stop for a distanced picture with Santa, and generally let out some of their frustrations from the past year.

One in five Americans will shop at a thrift store during a given year, about the same number who will shop at a major department store, according to a study commissioned by the online resale platform ThredUp, and reported by communitynews.org.

Supply chain issues, high shipping costs, staff shortages and spiking prices are also rampant, on- and offline, this season. But thrift-store shoppers can save roughly 50% to 80% on the cost of the same item (if new) from a department store, according to a USA Today column.

Customers who shop at Arc are also supporting programs that give work opportunities to people with disabilities and other nonprofit programs. The need is constant.

Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post

Jim White, aka Santa Claus, listens to what Chase Carroll, 8, wants for Christmas during “Thunder’s Christmas Party at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Dec. 14, 2021.



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