No. 18 Vol. 7
My Life Publications • 1-800-691-7549
July 2022
Hackettstown’s Trinity Thrift Shop: Offering Quality Goods at Low Prices for 50 Years
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By Elsie Walker aureen Storey, of Long Valley, said, “Are they saving? You betcha! We have quality goods for low prices.” She was talking about the Trinity United Methodist Church’s Trinity Thrift Shop in Hackettstown. Storey, who is the director of the shop, shared that one customer characterized it as “a thrift boutique”. Many clothes have designer and well-known labels. The shop also has accessories, jewelry, housewares, furniture (in its annex), books, art, toys, antiques, vintage items, and more. A wide range of customers purchase items at the shop with the proceeds going to help the ministries of the church. The shop, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, is located at 211 Main Street, Hackettstown and takes cash and credit card. The thrift shop started in 1972. The church had held a rummage sale and there were leftovers. The pastor at the time challenged the ladies of the church to find another way of selling the items. The thrift shop began in the church basement and, as the church accumulated more property, it moved and grew. The shop now consists of the shop on Main Street and an annex called “the Barn” which is located behind Trinity House at 212 E. Moore Street. The shop also sells items online via eBay. Its eBay seller name is trinitythrift1833. The main shop is where the clothing, accessories, household items, etc. are sold. Unlike some shops where you have to come a certain day of the week to see the newest
arrivals to the shop, at Trinity Thrift Shop, “there are new things on the floor every day,” Storey shared. Also, the same items don’t stay there forever; everything is only on the floor for eight weeks. “Our biggest seller every day of the week is women’s clothing” she added. With that, she shared some of the designer name and brand name labels people can find at the shop: J Crew, Kate Spade, Talbot, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren, Chicos, Old Navy, some of the brands from Target and more. Some items are new and still have the tags on them. Storey shared a statistic from the online thrift shop, thredUP, that the average woman will wear an item up to five or maybe three times and be done with it. This reflects a benefit of thrift shop shopping. “Here is a way to have trendy things and not contribute to the waste that fast fashion creates,” said Storey. The Barn is the annex housing some selling rooms and other functions. There, one will find the Furniture Gallery (which has furniture, rugs, and lighting) and a room of seasonal items. In this structure is also where eBay selling is carried out. In addition, donations of goods to the shop are also received there and sorted. However, before donating, people should look at the thrift shop webpage to see what types of items can be donated plus when and how donations are taken. The webpage is www. catchthespirit.org/trinity-church-thriftshop/. Storey noted “there is a broad spectrum of customers.” They range from new immi-
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grants looking for items to help them get settled to those who love to thrift shop and everyone in-between. Those that come for the love of it take joy in sharing the great treasure found on a particular shopping day. What happens to those items that the shop can’t sell? Storey explained that some items are donated to a thrift shop which helps Purple Heart Veterans while others go to a shop which helps the Federation for the Blind. Also, towels that can’t be sold go to local animal shelters for the dogs and cats. Soft items and clothing are given to a company that pays the shop by the pound for them. The company re-sorts those items by climate and then they send them to places in the world that are in need Proceeds from the shop go to the church for its various ministries. There is also a jar in the shop where people can put contributions which go on to help particular ministries like the Appalachian Service Project where people from the church travel to Appalachia and stay for a week helping to
make homes safer and drier for the residents in one of the poorest places in the United States. The shop has six paid staff, including Storey, and a group of volunteers. Storey noted that some volunteers have shared with her their reasons for giving their time to help at the shop: it gives the person a purpose, it’s giving time for a valuable cause, and doing things for others makes a person happy. One volunteer told her that she gives her time because she is selfish: she just gets so much from helping at the shop. “[There’s] a sense of community and family here,” said Storey. The shop is in need of more volunteers and information on that can be found on the shop’s webpage. The thrift shop is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Its phone number is (908) 850-3669; the Furniture Gallery number is (908) 852-2247. For more information, follow the shop on Instagram at trinitythriftshop211.