Beverly Bootstraps' Finest

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.

Proms and Second Hand Stores Collide

   Alicia Lanzeby (Left)

 

Meaghan Hurley

It's a fact. Girls search far and wide for the perfect dress for their high school prom. They will spend hours on hours trying on overpriced dresses and fighting with their mothers on how they need it. My thought is that you will be wearing this dress for approximately three hours and their will still be tears and disappointments regarding your date, your up-do hairstyle, and the girl that is wearing the same dress as you (God forbid). Looking back on it now, I wish I had just gone to a consignment or a thrift shop to find that unique dress I had been searching for. I envy Meaghan Hurley and Alicia Lazenby for doing exactly that. They did the prom thing differently and it is very admirable. 

They both have a few things in common throughout the prom dress search. It wasn't their first choice to purchase their prom dresses from a second hand shop but it was in fact their mothers ideas. Alicia says "I got it at a thrift shop because my mother was harassing me about how great all the dresses were, and when I went they had a few nice ones; plus they were cheap." I laughed as she told me this because Mom's are always trying to put their two cents in. Alicia then continues to say "I was sick of my mother bringing home cheap ugly prom dresses for me." Alicia made the right decision to go out on her own time and independently buy the dress. Moms can be too much to handle sometimes when it comes to shopping. As for Meaghan, a popular prom date tells me "It was my 6th prom I had to go to and my parents were sick of buying a new dress for each one." So her Mom gave her a $100 limit and she was off in her journey of finding that dress. As many women know most prom dresses at any department store go for an average of $300. This is a challenge for anyone but Meaghan took this challenge on and ran with it. Many daughters would fight endlessly with their parents and complain that everyone else gets a new dress. Megahn did none of that and accepted this challenge. 

Alicia purchased her amazing find at a family run consignment shop with the name Victorian Rose Consignment Shop for the low price of $50. If more girls knew that there are other ways to find the dress of your dreams for such a low price, I think more of these high school students would take the time to look through their local consignment and thrift shops. Meaghan bought her dress at ReCreations Consignment  in Kingston, MA. Meaghan described her dress as a "flowy floor length babydoll style cream colored one shoulder dress with one black flower." She was also very stoked about it because she altered it a little bit. The dress originally had two straps but she made it into a one strap dress which is what she was searching for in the first place. Buying second hand items gives the buyer more wiggle room to do what they want to it. There is more room for design and putting your own style into it. 

When asking Alicia if she felt any different in the dress she tell me "I don't think it matters that it was previously worn, it's a prom dress. The previous owner probably wore it once and wanted to get rid of it; people wear their friends clothes all the time, which are used way more. Plus it was cleaned before I bought it, so what does it matter." This statement is how people should react when wearing a previously owned dress. Some individuals I know are against shopping at consignment/thrift stores because they think its gross. Alicia made a great point, we borrow our friends clothes constantly so why can't we purchase something that has only been worn once or twice? These two ladies were very smart in their buying decision process even if they had a little push from their parents. 

I respect their purchases 100% and they look beautiful as well. No one can even tell that it isn't from the most expensive department store. Many girls are into the materialistic culture but these two girls took a different path with the prom culture and it is very admirable. 

Macklemore Has Nothing on Todd Wemmer

        
       Todd Wemmer is a Communications Professor at Endicott College. As I walked into Todd Wemmer’s office and tapped on the door, I noticed all of his stuff that was scattered around his office. From the pile of rocks on the ground that had me confused to boxes filled with photography books to vintage Polaroid’s, so many items caught my eye. I could tell right away that he had to be a collector and he had a story to tell. Then, my vision panned to Todd as he was intently doing something on the computer with his bulky headphones plugged in.
            If the phrase “thrift shopping” is mentioned on the Endicott campus, Todd Wemmer is the name that comes to mind. Whenever I mention to anyone that I have a blog around the topic of thrifting, their response is, “Have you spoken with Professor Wemmer?” After many students asked me this question, I knew I had to set up an interview.
            Thrift shopping is something that has recently become a popular topic in our society. As I was talking to Todd, he mentioned the popular Macklemore song, “Thrift Shop.”
            “I know there’s that song by Macklemore and it’s a funny song, but I also find it stupid because what it’s saying is that there are only these kinds of things at these kinds of places or the song is really about our true culture,” said Wemmer. “I like the line where he says, ‘I have a broken keyboard so I bought a broken keyboard’ and there is that culture of people that go, that are hoarders who just buy stuff, but the thing I wasn’t aware of is that basically people buy too many clothes.”
            Wemmer first got into thrift shopping because of some hand-me-downs he got from his uncle.
            “My uncle gave me like 3 bags of almost new Brooks Brothers dress shirts and they were just really nice and I thought, ‘Oh I can just get some more of these’ because there could be another color. I went to Brooks Brothers and they like $100 a piece and I thought, ‘there’s got to be another way.’”
            Upon finding out how expensive some retail stores can actually be, he ventured to find deals.
            “I was looking at a used bookstore and next store was this thrift store and I went in there and the first things I bought were these basketball jerseys for my nephew and some football jerseys; They were the ones that were 50 (or) 60 bucks, even the kids ones and they were so cheap, they were like 3 dollars.”
            When Wemmer had his children, he used the art of thrifting to his advantage. “For my kids’ clothes, they grow every 2 weeks; I just started buying everything there and then I started buying my own clothes there and it took a while to figure out that it wasn’t just vintage clothes,” said Wemmer.
            Wemmer added how immense some thrift stores are. “I actually have been going to the salvation Army on Route 1. They have everything, its like their headquarters Salvation Army for the Boston Area. So like all these clothes come in there and it is massive,” said Wemmer. He emphasized how large the Salvation Army is, talking about one of his recent experiences. “Just the other day, I was in there and my son needs bathing suits and there were like 1000 bathing suits.”
            Some thrift stores, like the Salvation Army offer daily or weekly deals. Wemmer hinted at this, saying, “Every single day, they have a tag colored that is half off.” Wemmer continued by saying that, “on Wednesdays, basically everything is half off.”
            Wemmer went into detail as to why he likes some thrift shops over others.
            “I like the Salvation Army for clothes for me and then I like Savers for kids clothes – it’s the best place for kids clothes.”
            Professor Wemmer loves to find the best deals available and shared an experience he had last year at the Shore County Day School thrift shop.
            “I guess they only do this every other year, and its on a Saturday, and I went this last year and I started filling up this bag of kids clothes. I think I got 3 north face jackets, I got swimwear, and a fleet of brooks brothers polos and lacoste and boots,” said Wemmer. What he did not know is how much it actually was going to cost him. “I’m just filling up this bag and then I turn around to one of the ladies and I go, ‘Wait, how much is this stuff?’ and she goes, ‘Oh, the kid’s stuff is free, we’re just taking donations.’ So it was all donation and then I gave them 20 bucks because I had so much stuff.”
            When Wemmer is not at school or thrifting, he is looking for other things to add to his collections. For example, he has a rock collection with rocks exclusively from Marblehead. However, when on his thrift store runs, Wemmer’s spouse does not like to accompany him.
            “She acknowledges that I can find anything that she says we need,” said Wemmer.
            Wemmer has a daughter and a son. Like his mother, Wemmer’s son does not like to go along with him to the thrift shops. However, Wemmer’s daughter is a frequent shopper with him.
            “My daughter likes it and she’s 7,” said Wemmer. “I’ll take her to savers and I’ll say, ‘Whatever shirt you want, whatever you want, you can have it.’ So we go through there, as long as it doesn’t have Hannah Montana on there, she can have it.”
            Negotiating prices in retail stores is something that is not usually done. However, with a thrift store, sometimes it is acceptable. Wemmer does not usually haggle at thrift stores, but did reminisce on one instance that he did.
            “I was at Savers and they had all these winter jackets and I thought, ‘yeah, I need one of these outerwear winter jackets that everyone’s wearing.’ They were all like 10,15 bucks and there was a red Patagonia one and they had it marked at 40... they had 10, 10, 10, 10, 10; they even had nicer jackets that were cheaper,” said Wemmer. “So I said to the guy ‘look, I never ask for anything overpriced’ because I see ladies in there haggling all the time. I said, “This jacket’s 40, look at all these others are 10.” I said, “I just think that’s too high,” and he goes, “Yeah, you’re right, how about 15?” And I said, “Sounds good.”
            Wemmer went on to talk about the anxiety people feel going into thrift shops and how there is too many things around. He also provided an answer for people like that, saying that if you set your mind to one spot in the store and get out if you see nothing, you will not be trapped by everything else the store has to offer.
            “The kids, I know their sizes so I just go in there, flip through really quick, and you’re out,” said Wemmer. “If you start browsing around like, ‘what can I find?’ the broken keyboard, or the kneeboard, or whatever the thing is in the song, then you’re stuck in there and you are going to bring back a bunch of stuff you don’t need.”

Todd Wemmer gave me great advice on the topic of shopping for used items. He really knows the ins and outs of thrift stores and thrift shopping. After he told me about that Salvation Army, I was quick about getting there that Wednesday, I could barely wait to see all the deals they had in store for me. Buying the kids clothes from thrift stores is very important to Wemmer, he thinks it is silly to buy expensive children's clothes when his children are growing at such a fast pace. I call Todd Wemmer an extremely smart consumer. He doesn't fall into the traps of expensive items because he knows that there  will be something similar waiting for him at Savers or Salvation Army. I was so inspired after speaking with him and I cannot wait to use all of the thrift shopping tips he shared with me.