I realize that probably everyone reading this knows by now that we have a new thrift store, but, in the hopes that someone does NOT, I'll continue. :) Once again, I apologize for not posting in such a long time. It has been very busy, though.
The Thursday after arriving back from vacation (I believe the date was the 17th) we decided to shut down our huge thrift store. And so, in that one day, we managed to get just about everything out and by the end of the week it was completely cleaned out. We weren't sure at the time what God had in mind for us -if we were going to open another store, just do auctions, or stop everything all together. However, very soon after closing, we found a warehouse space to rent for a very reasonable price. It was also right around the corner (literally) from the church and offices. So we got it! All the donations started going there and we sorted and sent stuff to auction. Almost immediately after getting that place, we got a thrift store place! The cool thing? It's two doors down from the warehouse. It's also, however, much smaller than our last one; less than half the size.
We found out that we had the space on a Monday; unfortunately, all the staff but one are off on Mondays. But several staff members came out and worked with the residents like dogs to get all the fixtures in and set as fast as possible. By the end of Tuesday the store was ready to stock! Wednesday morning we stocked fast and furiously! We got as many people as we could to come out and didn't worry much about pricing; the priority was to open ASAP, and the only way to do that was to get the store full. We managed to do it and were able to open at 10am on Thursday morning -a huge God-thing -but those happen a lot around here. :)
Even though the store is less then half the size of our previous one, God has blessed us through it! We make, on average, more than the other store brought in, and have, more than a few times, exceeded $1,000.
We found out that we had the space on a Monday; unfortunately, all the staff but one are off on Mondays. But several staff members came out and worked with the residents like dogs to get all the fixtures in and set as fast as possible. By the end of Tuesday the store was ready to stock! Wednesday morning we stocked fast and furiously! We got as many people as we could to come out and didn't worry much about pricing; the priority was to open ASAP, and the only way to do that was to get the store full. We managed to do it and were able to open at 10am on Thursday morning -a huge God-thing -but those happen a lot around here. :)
Even though the store is less then half the size of our previous one, God has blessed us through it! We make, on average, more than the other store brought in, and have, more than a few times, exceeded $1,000.
Melanie, manager of the store, says, "We're getting a lot of enthusiastic feedback about this store - people are loving it! So much more fun for me, and less stressful - it's a lot smaller, newer, cleaner and easier to make look good. We are making almost the same amount of money, though, which is wonderful. Every morning I go to the warehouse and walk through and point to all the 'stuff' I want sent over."
In case you're reading this and want to check it out, the address is 941-C Canal Dr, Chesapeake, 23323.
UPDATE: I'm still working on getting our website up to par -unfortunately the hosting company just upgraded their platform and it's harder to keep up with now. It will be back to normal soon, though! For now, just keep checking here. :)
That's all for now; I'll leave you with some pictures of our new store.
More pics will be on the website soon!
His,
Bethany
