If you think you have to spend big bucks to look good, The Thrift Store is ready to prove you wrong.

The store will host its first "Well Dressed for Less" all-ages fashion show at 6 p.m. Thursday. Models will be showing business and casual wear for summer and spring. All clothing and accessories featured were donated to the store, with sales benefitting The Club for Boys.

"We are excited to show folks that you do not have to spend a fortune to look great," said store co-manager Jeanni Gossard.

Store employee Dixie Oyler pitched the idea after seeing a similar style show on "Good Morning America." The economic aspect is timely, considering the recent layoffs and rising unemployment rates in the area.

The show also is a way to promote the store, which sells furniture, books and housewares.

"We've worked so hard to jazz it up," Oyler said.

New customers might be surprised by what they find on the racks. A black pinstriped women's suit sells for $5, as do most dresses. Most pants and blazers are $4. Shirts are $3.

A Deborah Murray jacket is priced at $15, but the original price tag - still attached - says $149.95.

Brands range from Old Navy and Gap to Chaps and Pierre Cardin, from J.Jill and Coldwater Creek to Haggar, Dockers and Levis.

"We're pretty picky about what we put out in the store," Gossard said.

Clothes that don't make the grade are baled and sent to Third World countries.

Store sales account for more than 40 percent of the operating budget for The Club for Boys, which serves more than 1,400 local boys.

Total store sales for the year are up from last year, Gossard said. It's impossible to say what role the economy might be playing, but she is seeing many new customers.

Thursday's style show is free and open to the public. Refreshments and giveaways are planned.

There also will be a silent auction. Prizes include a two-night stay at Palmer Gulch Resort, flowers from Victoria's Garden, a pedicure and facial from It's Your Place, $100 worth of Avon, Starbucks coffee, Arbonne and Mary Kay products, and gift certificates from The Factory.

The Thrift Store is at 319 North 3rd St., across from The Journey Museum. For more information, call 341-8878 or go to www.tcfbthriftstore.com

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8419