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Carrboro a magnet for resale stores

Posted on December 10, 2009December 10, 2009 by Staff

By Jacki Huntington
Courtesy of the Carrboro Commons

The typical thrift shopper is not so typical. At Club Nova’s thrift shop at 103 West Main St., where shoes go for less than $3, the crowd is, according to co-manager Ed Hudgins, a roughly even blend of races, ages and genders.

The thrift shops themselves are also a blend. Carrboro boasts more than 10 thrift stores, antique stores and other venues for shopping resale, with offerings ranging from fine antique armoires to used spatulas.

At Club Nova, where dolls, kitchenware and other standard resale fare decorate the small, colorful space, all sales contribute to funding the nonprofit’s work to empower the mentally ill. In turn, members of the clubhouse can work in the thrift store alongside staff and volunteers.

Club Nova provides a service, Hudgins said. “Granted, it’s not to the whole population. But if you consider the thrift shop, it is.”

Sarah Robinson, 25, of Carr-boro often visits Club Nova’s thrift store.

“You have to come all the time to catch the new stuff,” she said. Robinson doesn’t work a lot, so she goes to the store knowing she’ll be able to afford everything she needs – like a brand-new Marmot raincoat for $3, that would have sold for more than $100 retail.

“I told them they should have priced it higher,” Robinson said. “But they’re not about that.”

The PTA Thrift Shop, less than a block west of Club Nova, is called by some “Carrboro’s department store,” executive director Barbara Jessie-Black said. She said the store serves those who value affordability, craft materials, unique items, local causes and environmentally sound shopping.

“When you see all of the stuff that is donated, you see that we are a society of excess,” Jessie-Black said. “That’s the dark side. That’s what keeps us in business.”

About half of the items donated to the PTA Thrift Shop are suitable for sale, so the organization has an extensive recycling program for materials, such as scrap metal and cloth. Donated food is given to the Interfaith Council down the street.

Club Nova passes on its unmarketable wares to Friendship Clothing in Garner, a company that pays by the pound for old clothing and sends it overseas to populations in need.

Robinson, who does a lot of thrift shopping for the sake of conserving resources, believes that buying used is an important practice of sustainability.

“You don’t have to buy new stuff,” she said, “because it’s already here!”

The nonprofit PTA Thrift Shop benefits 18 area schools, giving them between $250,000 and $300,000 each year.

At 201 Weaver St., The Red Hen is not so much a thrift store as an all-in-one resource for motherhood and child care, with an emphasis on sustainability as well as local and handmade products.

While it is easy to spend a lot of money caring for babies and clothing a pregnant belly, DeeDee Lavinder, owner of The Red Hen, prices her used items 20 percent to 50 percent lower than retail prices. She also answers questions and gives advice. There is a fully stocked diaper changing station in the store’s bathroom and two play stations – one inside and one outside – to occupy children accompanying their parents.

These touches of quality – also evident in the sweet smell of the store and the way Lavinder steams every one of the used items of clothing before displaying it for sale – represent a concerted effort to lure customers away from buying new.

“We want to reach across the thrift gap,” Lavinder said.

Christina Bohanek of Chapel Hill, shopping with her daughter Caroline, is a big fan of The Red Hen.

“It’s because I’m cheap,” she laughed. “Especially for babies. They grow out of [clothes] so fast, and they throw up on everything.”

Thrift shopping can be less an exercise of practicality than of collecting and treasure hunting. Joe Gilby, a Carrboro resident who volunteers at the Inter Faith Council across the street from Club Nova, visits the store at least three times a month, mainly to search for books.

“I’m a book nut,” Gilby explained. He thrift shops more than he should, he added, recalling his growing collection of “junk.” His prize finds include a book and tape set of Vietnamese language lessons, though he hasn’t actually learned Vietnamese yet.

Down the street at the PTA Thrift Shop, Adam Jih, another Carrboro resident and treasure hunter, crouches on the floor, flipping through large boxes of vinyl records. A collector, today he’s in the market for jazz, surf and beach music. He also pulls out an album of Gregorian chants.

“I don’t have a car anymore,” Jih said, explaining his concentration on Carrboro thrift stores, “so I can’t expand my horizons and go somewhere far away.”

Joe Wiggs, owner of Scavenger Antiques at 102 A W. Main St., doesn’t consider his store a thrift shop, but a principle of value also underlies his career in antiques.

“It’s knowledge,” he said. “Knowing what you’re getting and not wasting money.”

Jacki Huntington is a UNC student writing for the Carrboro Commons, a bi-weekly online lab newspaper for Jock Lauterer’s Community Journalism class at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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