relevant discussion may be found on talk savers . please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met . december 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message savers inc. type private industry retail founded 1954 san francisco california u.s. headquarters bellevue washington united states products second hand clothing footwear bedding furniture jewelry electronics toys and housewares . website http www.savers.com savers in west roxbury massachusetts savers inc. headquartered in bellevue washington usa is a privately held for profit thrift store chain offering second hand shopping . an international company savers has more than 315 locations throughout the united states canada and australia and receives its merchandise by paying money to non profit organizations for donated clothing and household items and through direct donation by individuals . savers is known as value village in the pacific northwest of the united states and most of canada and village des valeurs in quebec . in australia and other regions of the united states the stores share the corporation s name . berkshire partners bought a 50 % stake in the company in 2000 . 1 freeman spogli & co. became the majority owner in 2006 . 2 leonard green & partners and tpg capital bought out freeman s shares in 2012 . 3 contents 1 business 2 business operation issues and transparency 3 controversy 4 references 5 external links business edit the savers business model involves partnership with local non profits and purchasing and reselling donated items . the non profits collect and deliver donated goods to savers which pays them for the items at a bulk rate regardless of whether they ever make it to the sales floor . savers has more than 160 non profit partners throughout the united states canada and australia which it pays more than 117 million annually . citation needed as of 2012 the company had 315 stores worldwide and reached 1 billion in revenue . 4 items deemed resellable are displayed for purchase in stores . savers also has a recycling program and attempts to recycle any reusable items that can not be sold at the stores as well as any items that do not sell over a period of time to make room for fresh merchandise . savers has buyers for its recyclables throughout the world and attempts to keep as much donated product out of the waste stream as possible . citation needed business operation issues and transparency edit in the united states and canada the business model for many non profits was that the organization would call homes for donations and a truck would pick them up . by the early 2000s many organizations like the association of community living partnered with value village because they believed it was too expensive to do the pickups and resell to used goods merchants . many of the contracts these organizations signed with value village provides a very small return compared to the perceived large amounts of money value village savers retains . according to an article that appeared in the alberta report in 1996 according to the times for every 1.00 that went to undersigned charities from some ellison owned thrift stores 2.55 went to the ellison associates . controversy edit on may 21 2015 the minnesota attorney general filed suit 5 claiming that the corporation was misleading the public . the attorney general pointed out for example that savers pays only a very small percentage to the non profit charities which partner with savers and for items other than clothing nothing . additionally the attorney general filed suit 6 against charities that partnered with savers for failing to monitor savers for compliance with their partnership contract . references edit investor buys value village stake freeman spogli spends 550 million on savers freeman passes savers inc. on to tpg leonard green in 1.6 b plus deal thrift store wars heat up with new players in st. louis market st. louis post dispatch february 9 2013 . 1 http www.ag.state.mn.us office pressrelease 20150521saverslawsuit . asp http www.mprnews.org story 2015 06 08 savers lawsuit external links edit savers us web site savers australia web site value village s web site village des valeurs s web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title savers & oldid 727720631 categories multinational companiesretail companies of the united statescompanies based in bellevue washingtoncompanies established in 1954hidden categories npov disputes from december 2013all npov disputespages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent 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