History
Our founder, William O. (Bill) Ellison (July 3, 1928 – May 25, 2008), grew up in “thrift” before the name was even coined. His grandfather and great uncle, Ben and Orlo Ellison, were instrumental in building the Salvation Army's thrift organization in the 1930's and '40s. Bill opened his first store in San Francisco, California in 1954.
By 1970, the San Francisco store became a chain, and its headquarters moved north to the Seattle, Washington area. Savers, Inc. went international in 1980 when it opened its first Canadian store on Hastings Street in Vancouver, British Columbia called Value Village.
In the last 50+ years, we've grown to more than 230 stores and have paid more than a billion dollars to local nonprofits.
Savers, Inc. is the parent company of TVI, Inc. Village Stores, Inc., Savers Australia Pty, Ltd. and Savers Recycling, Inc. TVI, Inc. operate in the United States under the trade names Savers and Value Village. In Canada, Value Village Stores, Inc. operates under the trade names Value Village and Village des Valuers. Savers Australia Pty Ltd operates in Australia under the trade name Savers. We employ more than 13,000 team members throughout the United States, Canada and Australia and have an optimistic plan for future growth.