Pay attention Neighborhood Companies launches boutique at Lebanon thrift retail outlet spot

On Jan. 15, Hear Local community Companies, a secondhand keep chain that employs its proceeds for group projects, declared on Facebook that it would be opening up a boutique segment in their Lebanon thrift retail store place on Jan. 18. In accordance to the write-up, the house will function as a way for extra expensive clothing to be concentrated in one particular spot.

“Our primary mission is to supply a place exactly where cost-effective apparel is readily available for all people in the Upper Valley,” the publish mentioned. “However, we have heard from some individuals that they’d like to see a space wherever some of our increased good quality, more expensive apparel can be seen with each other.”

This final decision has prompted mixed reactions from consumers. Recurrent shopper Sarah Stewart, a Hanover resident and nonprofit fundraising guide, said she thinks the boutique opening was a very good shift on Listen’s section due to the fact she thinks it will create more earnings to fund  community function.

“Their key mission is not the thrift store,” Stewart stated. “That’s a person of the means that they pay back for their real perform, which is giving out heating subsidies and housing subsidies, and running a food items pantry and accomplishing neighborhood foods.”

In accordance to a latest Valley News posting, Pay attention allocates $1.25 million a year to operate its social provider courses — all around 25% of the income of their a few diverse thrift shop places in Lebanon, White River Junction and Canaan.

According to Stewart, an additional profit of the boutique is its potential positive environmental impact, citing h2o use and waste produced by the style marketplace. Stewart hopes the boutique might attract far more persons to Hear, raising sustainable manner purchases. 

“If the boutique encourages men and women who would typically remain absent [from Listen] because they imagine it’s junky to essentially go in and get points next hand, I assume that is great,” she reported.

Stewart pointed out that numerous people who shop at thrift merchants are resellers who get things at reduce price ranges just to provide them online at higher ones.

“This retains more of the revenue for Hear,” she said.

However, some others reported that they consider Pay attention must not be applying higher selling prices to offer donated apparel.

Tess Bowler ’25 reported that she feels that owning a boutique gives Listen’s designation as a thrift shop an inaccurate label. 

“The main value of a thrift keep is not usually to make a earnings,” she said. “It’s to sell secondhand apparel to people today who almost certainly simply cannot afford it.”

Joann Kwolek Dundas, a recurrent Hear shopper and longtime assistant supervisor of several Salvation Military thrift retailers, explained she is a supporter of the boutique.

“It absolutely can work,” she said. “It all is dependent on how they value matters. You know, it is a thrift shop, and it is supposed to aid people today that aren’t capable of paying the better price ranges, so perhaps they should really just retain selling prices in the center someplace.”

Dundas extra that if pricing is much too large, the merchandise won’t offer in the usual thrift retailer circulation, so she believes that acquiring a portion “more suited” for selected varieties of clothing will be practical.

“They know their customer foundation, or they should really, so they ought to be ready to very a lot gauge what they can promote something for,” she claimed, including, “I feel the boutique could be a really fantastic detail.”

Hear administration did not respond to requests for remark despatched to the retailer e mail.