Beverly Boostraps in Beverly, MA would struggle without their amazing manager, Jackie. Jackie grew up in Beverly and calls herself a "Beverly Girl." She keeps the volunteers and staff in check all the time while working at Beverly Bootstraps. This thrift shop has 100 volunteers that help them out regularly. It is amazing to see that the community is so involved. Each volunteer contributes in their own way to Beverly Bootsraps thrift store and they all have unique ideas that they offer to the shop. This shop opened in June of 2009 to help fund the programs with Beverly Bootstraps Food Pantry. All of the proceeds go directly to the programs provided by the Food Pantry. They are all about embracing, educating, and empowering people whether those people be volunteers, staff, or the individuals in need.
Jackie elaborated on how the store came to be.
“We were called ‘Bootstraps and More: Bargains for a Cause.’ As we were going forward and the organization started to grow, we formed a committee and went through this company called single source. I was actually on the committee so it was a really interesting process,” said Jackie. “We had board members, volunteers, and staff; It was a great process to really look at who your donors are, who are your customers, who are your volunteers, who are your clients, and who is your staff. You really aimed at the big thing is donors; if we don’t have donors, we’re dead.”
According to Jackie, the volunteers for Beverly Bootstraps range anywhere from 14 years old to 90 years old.
“It’s really a diverse group. I would say anywhere from 55 to 70 is probably our core group. If there’s someone who is 55 and retired, it’s the type of person that we have,” said Jackie.
She continued to talk about the diversity by saying, “We have a women that is 90 and then we have a young gal that’s 14. If you’re under 16, you have to have a parent with you for the first six times because we can’t be watching them constantly because it’s too busy.”
The store is located on Rantoul Street and along with their endless amounts of volunteers, there are five staff members, Jackie included.
“It says a lot about the community. The volunteers bring all kinds of great skills here. Some really great skills,” said Jackie.
Some of the skills that these volunteers possess are selling items on eBay, sorting through linens and also, creating grab bags. They also have a large client base on eBay for items that would get more value online than in the store.
Along with the Beverly Bootstraps thrift store, there is a Beverly Bootstraps Food Pantry as well, which is attached to the thrift store.
“That opened in 1992 in a church downtown, and they started out just giving out some food. Tom Gifford started it with this other gal, Kathy, and they were with us up until a year ago,” said Jackie. “I came in 2007; I think I got hired in 2009 and I think it had been here for 4 years at that point. So I think they moved over here in 2003. Then we broke open to the other side in 2009. We opened up in July of 2009 and it’s just been crazy every since.
Jackie believes that some of the other thrift shops may have a problem gaining customers because of location.
“My personal feeling is that they may have a problem because the parking is awful; It’s right on the corner and across from Walgreens. If you want to go into shop, it’s going to be a tough parking spot,” said Jackie. “They may be fine and I might be proven wrong, but like my brother in law said, ‘You’re only as good as your parking lot.’”
When some of the local consignment shops are struggling to get their items off the shelves, they will occasionally pass it on to Jackie at Beverly Bootstraps.
“We have a good relationship with Pam at Plum. The Gal at Déjà vu will bring stuff to us. Mint may have been bought out recently; They’ve been donating to us and then Stock Exchange down in Manchester,” said Jackie.
According to Jackie, the reason for opening the thrift shop is because of the revenue that helps fund programs like GED classes and after school programs for kids.
“There’s different age groups, so we have programs for different age groups. We run a summer lunch program so we give lunches out to all the kids,” said Jackie. “I don’t think they do every playground, but I think they do about 8 different playgrounds in Beverly.”
Jackie also mentioned implementing a new program.
“We just started a program last year called ‘Mobile Market,’ where they went into the elderly project and would teach people about vegetables, how to cook them, how to eat them and they would expose low-income families to vegetables. It was very successful and now we’re going to be doing it in four different locations this year,” said Jackie.
Some of the other programs offered through Beverly Bootstraps are “Cooking Matters,” which is a class teaching people how to cook healthy meals within a budget. Also, the face of the pantry and thrift store is moving away from poverty and looking to focus on middle class people who have recently lost a job and may need help.
“They may have been making $80,000, but they both lost their job and have a lot to lose,” said Jackie.
They also offer a Christmas family program, where donors will adopt a family and get them the presents they need for Christmas. According to Jackie, there are about 20 programs altogether.
“This is also all anonymous I mean we don’t say heres your family, its not like that,” said Jackie.
Beverly Bootstraps works closely with the River House, a homeless shelter in Beverly. Those at the River House get a voucher from the shelter and can come to Beverly Bootstraps and pick out clothing.
“We work closely with the homeless community in town, making sure that they get clothes they need and shoes they need. They also use our services over at the main office,” said Jackie.
Jackie explained the story of one person she has cared for through the River House.
“There’s one young guy that has been at River House for a while, handsome young kid, and he just got his GED, which is very exciting. Now, he is planning to go off to college. It’s a great story. That’s the difference between us and a consignment shop: we are a community service; we’re here to raise funds, but we also fall into that community service world as well,” said Jackie.
The pricing at Beverly Bootstraps is what sets this thrift shop apart from any of the others.
“We try to keep the prices low because I’ve always found that you make more money when the prices are low. When you start raising your prices up, you’re not going to make any money. We’re here to raise money. It doesn’t make any money sitting there overpriced. You do want to get the best price you can, but price it down quickly if it is not selling,” said Jackie.
Jackie makes her volunteers and employees sign an ethical agreement essentially saying that they will not rummage the store looking to resell things online.
“It’s fine if people do that on their off time, when it’s not their time to volunteer and they are shopping around and taking it and reselling it or repurposing it or whatever, I have no control over that. It feels a little icky to me, but it’s a big part of our business and I know it,” said Jackie. “I don’t want people that are volunteering here or working here looking for stuff while they’re doing that. They should be here for the mission of bootstraps, not for themselves.”
Jackie explains how this is one of the busiest times of year for Beverly Bootstraps.
"We're really picking up now; once it hit April, people start making moves, they start cleaning out," said Jackie.
"The challenges with managing a shop like this is that because of the diversity, range of ages, and what I see is beautiful and what you see as beautiful is very different. That’s a challenge because we have three shifts a day and 3 times a day it changes, the personalities shift," said Jackie, about the difficulties of managing this store. "I think what happens is that it makes it interesting for our customers, it keeps our customers interested and engaged because everyone sees things differently."
Another feature that sets Beverly Bootstraps apart from the other thrift shop and consignment shops in the area is the constant promotion they have.
"Everything half off has worked for us phenomenally. It sets us apart from everybody else. The other shops do have sales but ours is half off sale all the time so it sets us apart a litte bit. I think its just a psychological thin, it truly is," said Jackie.
Jackie loves everything that Beverly Bootstraps stands for and would love to see even more programs implemented through the Food Pantry. With every day low prices, a diverse volunteer workforce and good intentions, Beverly Bootstraps will keep their doors open for a long time.
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