{"id":1774,"date":"2022-04-22T14:20:51","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T18:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2022-04-22T21:02:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-23T01:02:33","slug":"thrifting-and-second-hand-shops-downtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/thrifting-and-second-hand-shops-downtown\/","title":{"rendered":"Thrifting and Second Hand Shops Downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cars fill the parking lot beside the Rescue Mission thrift store, its entrance marked by an oversized sign. The door opens with a welcoming jingle to signal the arrival of the next customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Couches, carpets, mugs and glassware, and endless racks of clothing fill the large warehouse space. Each item is labeled with the price and each rack is organized by category,  from work clothes, athletic attire, undergarments, shoes, and purses. The store is unique among second-hand stores downtown, frequented by customers from all walks of life, whether that be college students looking for one-off items for their costume party, parents buying winter coats, or a customer looking for bargain homeware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe depend on word-of-mouth,\u201d Laurie Andary, assistant manager of the store said. \u201cI make sure the shop runs smoothly and that items get from our donation bins onto the shelves for sale as efficiently as possible.\u201d These bins sit by the front entrance,easily accessible to donors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andary believes in the importance of building relationships. \u201cWe interact with three different communities: those who donate, those who shop and those who pray.\u201d Her goal, too, is to ensure that whether a shopper is coming into the store for appliances, shoes, work clothes, or a small trinket, anyone should feel welcome, regardless of their personal circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe never want people to feel ashamed coming into our shop.\u201d She gave the example of an individual who came in one day to buy appliances, and then came in another weekend \u201cjust because they want something like a pocketbook or keychain,\u201d as a gift for themselves. The Rescue Mission prides itself on ensuring comfort for their broad clientele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other second-hand stores Downtown, the thrift store itself supports their larger Rescue Mission organization that provides life-changing services to their clients. These include programs for recovering addicts, meal and community religious outreach programs, clothing drives, and medical and dental assistance. Andary believes that the Rescue Mission is the only, \u201cone stop shop\u201d in the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer Averice Hicks called the store \u201ca staple to her community,\u201d and prefers to shop there over other competing second-hand shops in town because \u201cit is the least expensive spot with the highest quality items.\u201d While sifting through racks of skirts and button down shirts, Hicks explained that she spends around $100 per month on clothes at the Rescue Mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work around here and need a uniform for my job, so I\u2019ll come to the rescue mission once a week to buy my professional attire.\u201d Hicks also said the alluring aspect of thrifting, explaining that \u201cthrifting isn\u2019t for just one type of person. You see people from all walks of life come in here.\u201d She believes that the thrill of panning through racks of clothing in hopes of finding a single item can be an \u201cexciting\u201d and enjoyable activity for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andary seconded this notion, saying that some customers shop at second hand shops out of necessity and others shop for leisure. From Andary\u2019s perspective, though, she believes that \u201cthis line sort of draws itself,\u201d explaining that students who come into their shop are \u201cnot collectors,\u201d and that they are looking for more fashion items, including scarves or vintage tops, and not necessarily \u201ca winter coat for the season ahead.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>\"\"
\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cars fill the parking lot beside the Rescue Mission thrift store, its entrance marked by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-semester-spring21","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1793,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions\/1793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}