Wood & Wardrobe thrift shop re-opens - Jun. 03, 2010
Bobby Clarke, left, and Carol Joy McKeen, right, are shown here with
Wood and Wardrobe manager Tammy Parks at the opening of the store at its new 107A Milltown Blvd. location Thursday.
BY KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. STEPHEN – The Wood & Wardrobe thrift shop is open for business.
With almost all of its stock destroyed in a May 22 fire that gutted its premises on King Street the future looked bleak for the store which employs mentally disabled adults under the auspices of The St. Croix Vocational Centre Inc.
Thanks to the benevolence of a local businessman, Yvon Albert, the thrift shop has a new rent-free location at 107A Milltown Blvd.
And thanks to the generosity of the local community, the store has items to sell.
Erika Boone, store manager, said the shop had a few things stored at the centre’s building on Union Street. The merchandise for sale Thursday was a combination of that and the donations received in the past two weeks.
“People have been very generous,” said Boone. While she said the new location is smaller than the original store, it’s still large enough to do the job, which is to provide retail experience for the vocational centre clients.
There were five to six clients at any one time working in the old store. This store will have a maximum of three.
“They’re all very excited by this,” said centre manager Tammy Parks early Thursday morning as she looked around the store which
already had customers.
“I could have had 32 people here,” she laughed. “They’re all looking forward to their turn. On hand that morning were clients Bobby Clarke and Carole Joy McKeen.
Boone said the clients have missed the store and she has missed working with them.
Client duties include putting clothes on the racks and tables, sweeping the floor and bagging items for customers.
Gerry Dempsey of Rollingdam was the first customer in the door at the new store.
“I’ve missed it,” he said. “It was great for those of us who need a yard sale daily.”
Describing himself as a yard-sale addict, Dempsey said he was a frequent customer at the old thrift store on King Street.
“I’m the first customer. Do I get something?” he joked with Boone at the cash register.
“Smiles,” she replied with one.
No new information has come to light with regard to the cause of the fire, the RCMP state. Sgt. Bob MacKnight confirmed Thursday the blaze is still under investigation.
While the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined speculation is that the fire began in bags of clothing and other items that were dropped off and piled at the store’s front door.
Both Boone and Parks stressed the importance of donations not being left at the new store in a similar manner.
They said donations are being accepted at the centre at 129 Union St. during the week and on evenings and weekends, donations can be deposited in a bin behind the building there.
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