The Free Store at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a community-based resource for our students, staff, and faculty. It is dedicated to helping students meet their basic material needs while preventing landfill waste by providing an inclusive and cost-free space for the campus community to acquire gently-used secondhand items.

All items at the Free Store are donated by members of the UT and greater Knoxville community to prevent used clothes and other items from reaching landfills.

Please note that a VolCard holder must check in any guests at the Free Store.

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When can I visit the Free Store?

The Free Store is open Monday through Friday at 915 22nd St! Our store is open to all members of UT community, including students, faculty, and staff, and is wheelchair accessible. Service animals are also welcome at the store.

Current Hours

In addition to our open hours, we will hold pop-ups throughout the school year at different locations on campus. Follow our our Instagram @freestore_utk to find details about these and other events, and also to keep up with any schedule changes we may encounter throughout the semester. Hours will change each semester as our student workers keep the doors open around their school schedules.

How can I donate to the Free Store?

Outside of our end-of-semester donation drives at residence halls, we are always accepting donations of gently-used items.

You may drop off your donations anytime at 915 22nd St in the donation bins on the front porch.

Please do not leave donations outside of donation bins.

What can I donate to the Free Store?

*Due to an excess of items, the Free Store is not accepting school or office supplies for the foreseeable future. If you need to donate these items, we recommend a local organization, such as the Knox County Schools Teacher Supply Depot. Please consult their website and reach out to them at https://www.knoxschools.org/teachersupplydepot before donating.*

Can I request items from the Free Store?

Absolutely! You can not only request items, but you can also fulfill others’ requests. To request an item, fill out the form below, including as many details as possible about what you would like to request. As we operate strictly through donations, we cannot guarantee we will have the item(s) you request, but we can put you on a list in case something comes in. If you are looking to fulfill a request, you can check out the document below to see what people are currently looking for then reach out if you think you could be of assistance 🙂 

Requested Items

How do I volunteer?

During volunteer shifts, we will sort, weigh, and organize donations. Volunteers are welcome to come late or leave early, as they need. Also, volunteers are welcome to shop at the Free Store after their shift, or hold on to anything they find while going through donations. Overall, volunteering with the Free Store is a great way to engage with and give back to the UT community while also gaining valuable experience and insight with social impact work.

Summer volunteer hours will occur on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with 2 shifts each day: 11am-1pm and 1pm-3pm. Shifts are flexible though if you are unable to make it on time or stay for the entirety of the shift. Just shoot us a message on ServeUTK if you need to let us know about any schedule constraints. We so appreciate the support of all of our volunteers and hope that you will choose to join us if you haven’t already.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us. Thank you for your commitment to making our campus more sustainable!

Sign up HERE!

Why does the Free Store matter?

It’s an inclusive, cost-free resource to reduce financial strain on students and help them meet basic needs.

The Free Store is open to all members of the campus community. Students, faculty, and staff who visit our permanent location or on-campus pop-ups will never be asked any questions and may take as much or as little as they need.

By offering students an equal chance to take items for free, the Free Store is removing the stigma that surrounds financial insecurity. The cost of college can leave many students on a tight budget or going without necessities.

In a survey conducted by the Office of Sustainability in 2018, students reported that the monetary and convenience aspects of the Free Store were the most important to them. That is shifting in 2019, with more students answering that reusing items is important to them.

It reduces the environmental impact of UT students.

Buying new clothes is one of the single most harmful things an individual can do to the environment in terms of energy and resource consumption. Extracting raw materials from the environment to make household items consumes natural resources and produces greenhouse gases. Purchasing a clothing item online, for example, might seem like a minor purchase, but once you take into account all the water that was used to grow the cotton to make the shirt, the physical space required to grow the cotton, all the oil needed to harvest, manufacture, and transport the shirt, and the cardboard box it came in, your new shirt actually has a massive carbon footprint.

For clothing and other textiles, water is also a key issue. The table below lists how much water it takes to make everyday clothing items.

How much water are you wearing?

Source: watercalculator.org

When you choose to buy used clothing instead of new, you reduce the number of resources required to make new clothing and keep old clothes out of the landfill. According to a 2016 survey detailed in the Washington Post, the average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing every year.

Read More: 

How to stop 13 million tons of clothing from getting trashed each year