Inside Omro Thrift Store

In this episode of Inside Omro, Brandon talks to Lauren Elizabeth at Omro Thrift Store, a volunteer-run nonprofit on Main Street that does much more than sell secondhand items. Through community donations, dedicated volunteers, and loyal shoppers, the store helps provide affordable goods while giving back to people, families, and organizations in need.

We talk about what happens behind the scenes, how donations are sorted and turned into support for the community, the important role volunteers play, and the fun “treasure hunt” experience that keeps shoppers coming back. As Omro continues navigating road construction and the challenges facing local businesses and nonprofits, the Omro Thrift Store is a great reminder of how generosity, reuse, and community support can make a real difference close to home.

Transcript

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The city of OMRO has beautiful parks, active organizations, and driving businesses. In partnership with Future Omro, the OMRO Area Community Center, and drug sponsorship by Miller Otto. We'd like to welcome you inside OMRO. We're at the OMRL Thrift Store in downtown Omro, Wisconsin. I'm here with Lauren. Lauren's president of this uh OMRO Thrift Store. Thanks for having us in. Thanks for coming in. Yeah, absolutely. Tell us a little bit about the Thrift Store. So you're the president. Is it volunteer? Yes, so it is all volunteer. Um, and actually, the reason that there's a president, um, we are run by a board because we are a 501 nonprofit. Um, so we have a board of directors, um, president uh president, treasury, um, secretary, and then other members. So whether it's voting on things like just this past December, we got we came into the 2020s and we got a touch screen uh POS point of sale system. So that allows us to better track what departments are selling. You know, that's obviously a big upfront expense for any company or small business, so that's voted on by the board. And also they did the research to which brand do we want to go with, or you know, voting on things like or deciding where to spend money, like we updated the lighting on the main display areas, stuff like that. Yeah, but everyone who's here, we have one full-time employee. She's our manager, Christina. She is amazing. Wonderful. She works really, really hard for us. So she makes a lot of executive decisions day-to-day. Like, uh, if you notice we have different sales each week, you can see them on our sign. You can follow us on Facebook and we post about the sales each week. She sort of decides what's going to be on sale. Sometimes, obviously, it's dictated by it's Valentine's. Okay, so we're gonna do decor sort of stuff on sale. Um, sometimes we have a whole lot of kitchen stuff coming in. Kitchen stuff's on sale. Sure. And also sort of how and where we display things. Uh, I think a lot of people don't realize that we aren't just clothes. I think a lot of people think of thrift stores as clothing only. We have everything from I actually bought uh an OBD reader here. Oh, nice. Uh, I thought you'd appreciate that. The onboard diagnostics reader. So we do have stuff for uh your workshop. We have crafts, we have clothes, of course, clothing, kitchen wear, fishing poles, like and the inventory changes constantly. And so our volunteers, when they're here, we always have someone on register, and we always have someone in the back uh sorting, organizing, labeling, pricing, and sort of just while you're on your shift, you're always sort of bringing stuff up and finding an empty spot to display something. When you don't have set inventory, it can be kind of weird to you know, we don't have I saw Samantha James boutique gorgeous, right? And of course, it's four of the same sweatshirt and then a different side. We don't have that. So how to display things changes constantly, and our volunteers do a great job, and also just keeping the place looking good. Yeah, all of your inventory is primarily donations from the community. Yeah, it's all donation-based. Um, and so people can bring stuff in anytime that we're open. So we're open Tuesday through Friday, uh, nine to five in the summer, and Saturday's nine to one. So people can drop stuff off hopefully half an hour at least before we close, just we have time to bring it in. Um, so yeah, it's all donation-based, and we do actually get a lot of new stuff too. I I know I've brought stuff in that was new that I bought on Amazon or something, and then it sat in a box forever because it's like I didn't actually need that. So people do bring in new things, which is nice. Yeah, absolutely. About two years ago, I think it was, um, I came in because I was looking for something specific. Um, we had a 1985 Toyota MR2 that was very low miles. We were selling it for a customer, and it had a cassette tape player in it. And I wanted to do a video, um, kind of a retro video of inserting the cassette tape in and then turning up the radio and then the music plays in the background. Yeah, almost like uh Ferris Bueller starting to do it. Yeah, absolutely. I didn't have any cassette tapes, and I'm like, where am I going to find a cassette tape? Because you can't buy them anywhere. So I came down here and I got a nice four-pack uh, I think it was Johnny Cash, if I'm not mistaken. Perfect. Yeah. So um I actually just bought Johnny Cash on vinyl here. Nice, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it it's thrift stores are like you said, a lot of people think of clothes and stuff like that. But I mean, as I'm looking around, there's a croquet set and there's glassware, uh just all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I I bought stuff uh two years ago for my wedding here. I wasn't even volunteering here yet. Um, we had a couple drape panels and I used them to drape a little TV tray I had at home that acted then as our little altar, like because we just got married in back my backyard. So I bought stuff here and I got a nice uh bowl to put ice and drinks in to have out for people milling around at my wedding. So yeah, like you can you can get like you can do pretty much anything from out of here. It's just you just have to come in at least once a week because our inventory changes. Um it's it's a treasure hunt. Yeah, it really is. And you you can definitely end up uh, you know, oh, craft idea. And that's not what I came here for, but you and so and our prices I think are really fair, really reasonable. Yeah, we don't outprice things because we know that also people come here because they, you know, everyone's tight in their belt. Um, and so we're not trying to like rip anyone off. Uh we do have higher price items when there is like a really cool vintage collectible, or sure, but even that, if you were to look online for what it would cost, we usually are cheaper. Yeah, yeah. The value is is the value of the um yeah. So if you've got something that's collectible or what have you, I mean it it's a nonprofit organization, so you know you can't give it away. Um, but yeah, you're and we do we do uh obviously we want to raise a lot of money to be able to benefit the community, but we also have an electric bill. Yeah. Uh and you know, snow removal, this last winter was expensive. So we do need, and we have, like I said, we've got to pay Christina because she does such great stuff for us. Um we want her to stay for sure. So, you know, we do have expenses. Um, but any expense that does come up takes away from what we're able to give. So that that matters in keeping prices fair to so the community can actually shop here, but also, you know, we need to make something on it. Yeah, yeah, we gotta keep keep stay in operation. Yeah, gotta literally keep the lights on. Yeah, for sure. Um, so how many volunteers do you typically have? We have about 25. So, like I said, there's always at least two people in the store. Oftentimes there's three because Christina's also here. So that's you know, a couple shifts a week. We also have people who come in occasionally, um maybe once a month on Saturdays because their kids are in school just to help out with things. Uh, we have people who sometimes come and help just to take stuff to other donation sites. So sometimes we have gifts in kind, like to Christine Ann House uh over in Oshkosh. So someone might just be a driver for us, thing things like that. So volunteering here has a lot of different shapes it can take. Sure. Um, you know, definitely we need to have someone scheduled to be on the register, like that always has to be covered. Yep. Um, but yeah, like there's a lot that ways people can do stuff. We had high school kids come and help out. We had um our rocks out front around the sign there. They were dropped off in a pile on this side of the driveway. High school kids from out came over because they get volunteer hours, so they came over and moved into the right spot for us. Just so anything like can really help. So, do you have a core set of volunteers that have like kind of been with you for a while? Or is it rotating or we I believe this October will be 29 years? Wow. Uh that the store has been opened. Um, and we have people who've been here almost I think that whole time, at least 25 years, and they still are involved and they're here, you know, once or twice a week. Um, so yeah, some volunteers come in once a week, some come in twice a week. Maybe they do a register shift and then they do like a sorting shift, all sorts of different options for that. But yeah, there's people, uh, I'm actually probably one of the newer in-store volunteers. We have a few who just joined us recently, but I started volunteering in August of last year. Sure. Um, and I was blown away. It's like, oh yeah, so a couple years, and not like 25 years. So yeah, that like that's that's an investment. Like so, do you know the history? How did the Amaro thrift store get started? It was a uh group of local people, uh, women got together, and uh one of the volunteers who started uh was Doris Strahlo, and we actually just in March had a dedication ceremony. Um, the edition that was built in the back, um, where people actually pull up and drop off their donations. Um, her family donated money for that edition to be built, and so we had a dedication ceremony to honor her. She had been volunteering. Um, I believe her son had said until three weeks before she passed at around 90, I believe. Oh my. Wow. That is dedication. That is dedication. And you know, we should all be so lucky to be like be able to give back that much and for that long. So it was started by a group of volunteers, and there were some local grants that they were given because it was meant to be started as a nonprofit. And I think later that year they got the their 501 status. Sure. Um, and it's been you know operating as a nonprofit ever since. Um like I said, some of those folks are still hanging out with us here. How long have you been in this location on Main Street? Have you has it been here since the very beginning? Mm-hmm. Wow. I think this used to be a subway. Okay. Yeah. Oh. I've only lived here in Amra since 2023. Okay. So it's uh how people refer to the the current um community voting polling place as the old Piggly Wiggly or the old general. Yeah. Yeah, always looking for any volunteers that yeah, and like I said, because we are uh a 501, if you have volunteer hours, I know some graduate programs require it. Um I know where my husband works, uh they will pay you for volunteering instead of using instead of using vacation time to volunteer. Uh and so if you have a form that you need signed off, someone here can do that for you. But also just, you know, people, as you've shown in your podcast so far, people just love this community. Yeah. And they just want to help out and give back, you know, and we we do things. Um, if we get we don't really sell furniture because it is a pretty big store, but it's also pretty small for furniture. We just don't have this space to display a headboard and and things like that. We do get things like um medical assistance devices, like a walker or something like that, or crutches. Um, those we don't actually sell because we just ask if someone in the community needs it, they just bring it back because we can lysol and clean it and sanitize it. Sure. Kind of just let them have it on loan. Nice. Um, so things like that are really nice. I know um when like a school might do like a winter coat drive or something, we would give a donation in kind. Um, so yeah, there's a lot of a lot of options for what you can can get out of us and what we would need to get from the community. Like and it's it's kind of just a nice back and forth of people helping each other. Are there any items that you just can't take or don't want to take as far as donations go? Uh one thing for sure that we can't take legally, uh well, we don't take any food. Um the AMRA food pantry would be the place to go for that. Sure. Uh we can't take food, we just don't have the ability to keep it. Um and that that would just be a whole different uh ball game. But legally we can't take um children's car seats and things like that. And I there's some other things in that category. Uh that's because if there is a recall, we have no way of knowing. I believe if it is new in box unopened, that's okay. But that's that's a le like no thrift store can take that sort of thing. Sure. Oh, what's kind of your most popular thing that you have donated or the most common item? Com most common is definitely clothing. Sure. Um, you know, people will bring and we we ask that you bring things that are clean. Um, and we always have the volunteers do a great job of like checking stuff, and there is, you know, the vintage ripped up versus that's just ripped up. Right, right, yeah. Uh so we definitely have volunteers who are really great with that. So people just might bring in like a clean bag of like a trash bag worth of clothing. That's can be you know 40 items in that bag alone. Sure. So that but it does seem that we have cycles. We recently kept getting a bunch of Barbies from all different donations. I actually saw that on your Facebook. Yeah, I so as sometimes someone will bring in. We we just posted about we have all the canning stuff, which is great with summer coming up and everyone's home garden. And so we have tons of mason jars right now. Uh so there's definitely like of course, uh, after Christmas, we get a lot of Christmas decorations donated. Sure. That's that's I think any uh thrift store or donation site would get right after the holiday, you get stuff from that holiday. Sure. After the rummage sales, we'll tend to get a lot of stuff that people didn't sell at their rubbish sale. But we do try to make sure that everything we always test electronics that go out, make sure they're working. Sure. Um, so all you know, we get such a wide range of stuff, but it is kind of funny to see occasionally, like with the Barbies. Like, is everyone getting rid of their Barbies? Does they do they know something we don't know? So have you had any strange donations? Sure. Yeah. Sometimes people do donate things. Uh, there might be a box of just miscellaneous from grandma's attic, and sometimes there'll be something like true treasures found in there, and sometimes like this is all dusty and broken. This box hasn't been opened in 40 years. No one went through it before donating it. I believe there were some fuzzy handcuffs at one point that came through, but nothing, nothing too crazy. That's yeah, I'm sure most most people are realize that they're donating to a nonprofit. Yeah, I I think it's it's interesting because you come in and you look around and you just never really know what you're gonna find. And there's probably so many, so many things I could walk through here and say, oh, yeah. And we and we have a huge kids department. Yeah. Um, it sounds funny to say department, like, but they really are. We have like I'm sitting right near the craft area right now behind you. What's set up is um summer swimwear. We have, as you know, the cassettes. Uh we also have CDs and DVDs, and so there's an area for that. It's almost like our music department entertainment department. And so we have kids' toys and clothes. So that was something Christina did for us. She opened up because we were able to build that addition on the store, we were able to put our retail space push into the back a little bit and allowed us to have a bigger area. So we have a whole kids section back there now. Sure. And kids are welcome to play with toys and stuff while parents are shopping. And obviously, you've got the expense of electricity and and the property upkeep and and so forth. How do you decide what to do with any remaining funds if there are funds available for the community? And how so how do you decide what to do with that and kind of give some examples of what so recently uh one of our bigger donations recently was we gave four scholarships uh to OMRO high school students. So it was four scholarships each $500. So that would be an example of something the board would do. We had two people uh from our board, uh Trisha Retzloff and Joe Stelt. They went through the applications, um, and then you know the names are redacted and stuff. Um, Joe is a grad student over at um UW Oshka, she's graduated, and Trisha is a middle school teacher, so they were the perfect people on the board to be looking through the applications and the essays of the students, and they pick four people, and then Joe went and presented them at the uh scholarship night back in May. So that we do that every year. One other thing that we do to uh uh donate around the community is the volunteers can write down, we have you know a little ballot box in the back, and they write down a local charity. Uh so I often pick the uh cat shelter that I volunteer with in Nina. Um and as long as it's another 501, we can donate. So then each month we pick out a name and we send $50 to the charity that that won it. Um so the food pantry was one. So we have a lot of local charities that are volunteers that maybe they also volunteer with, and then they're able to pick and um it's so it is it is random, just draw the name out. But that's been nice, something we do every month. Do you guys do uh individual help if like there's a uh maybe a family or a person that is in need? Yeah, when those uh instances come up, we have been able to help. Um, I there hasn't been in recent uh but and I hope that there isn't one. Sure. But if someone had like a house fire, for example, um, we would love to either donate in kind or we'd be able to to work with them because they're a part of our community and doing things like that is really important. Um so we the the charities that we give to often change. We I know we've given to the community center. Yeah, I mean, if if uh members of the community who shop here have ideas for other local charities, like we'd love to be able to help. So we of course need to keep some in reserve. Yeah, no, absolutely. Like any, like any business, um especially with business has been slower with the road closures. So it's good to have so we can keep the lights on. It just popped into my mind. Um I saw a post last, I think it was Saturday or Sunday, um, that somebody had hit your mailbox. And um I think we should kind of touch base on how the community supports one another. I was so blown away by that. Um, so sometime between when we closed on Friday and we opened on Saturday, someone hit the mailbox. Um, we're not gonna assume the worst road road construction, and you know, I don't think it was intentional or malicious. Things happen. And so we were gonna have to put our mail on hold, and uh, you know, it was gonna it doesn't look nice having a busted post where our mailbox should be. And Joan, uh one of our board members, she's also the secretary, she posted she's our she's also if you're seeing our Facebook post, that's Joan. Okay, she's uh she's the Facebook person. Sure. Um and she just posted about it on Facebook, and I think within an hour, uh AT builders uh based out of Winnicani uh offered to do it for free. And then they came by Sunday, so yeah, it happened overnight on Friday, and by noon on Sunday, we have a brand new mailbox post. It's and he said he banged some of the dents out, and he's like, it's totally working fine, and that's awesome. And it was just so nice that like they didn't have to do that. It might not have been a huge expense, but on their Sunday to come out, and I thought that was just so lovely to have the community to sort of like sh literally quite literally show up. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, and ever it seems like every podcast we talk about the community, which is obviously what the podcast is all about. But you know, AMRA really is a tight-knit community, and we all kind of look out for one another and we all cross-promote each other, and yeah, it's been it's been lovely as someone who moved from the East Coast. Um, you know, and I lived in Philadelphia, it's a big city, very different vibe. My neighborhood definitely had a little neighborhood feel. Sure. But coming here, it was interesting because at first uh my husband's also not he's from Wisconsin, but not from AMRO. So he didn't know anyone either. And just, you know, neighbors just coming over to say hi, introduce themselves. One of my first I moved here right before the Fourth of July parade. Um, what a great way to see the community. Like, this is this is my introduction to AMRO and the fireworks that we do and everything. And then learning, you know, the fireworks are funded all through donation. I know Carissa talked about that on the podcast about um what the board at the Chamber of Commerce does, what their board does. That was so it's so great just to see, and like it is a very welcoming community too, I feel. And and people really do literally and figuratively show up for one another. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I take my car to Miller. Yep. So um how's the construction kind of affected? It's been a little difficult. It's definitely has slowed down business. I know some of our volunteers uh have been having a tougher time getting here. But the bridge, like you said in your other one, they just opened, what was it, Friday it opened? Yep, Friday. That was so fast. Yeah when they had said it would be another a few it should have been a few more weeks and they got it, they got it done very quickly. Yeah, and originally I think it was 39 days, and then they said that they they consolidated some resources, put three teams on it or three groups on it, and the plan was 20 days and they got it done in 16. Yeah, that was that was impressive. Uh especially when and and no shade to DOT. But road construction always takes longer than what they say it's gonna be. Usually, yeah. Almost in every state I've ever you know been to or lived in. It's like, oh, they're still doing that? But that was so that was super impressive to see, and I think that that will help a lot and also just ease of our volunteers who are regularly here. I really think that that the the bridge closure, the one-way um closure of the bridge is was probably what I'm hoping is the worst part of the construction. Yeah, you know, there were people who definitely just weren't coming over here. Yeah. Um, because it's like, well, you can get here, but you can't get back, right? Right, right, right. It's like Hotel California. Yeah, yes, you you can never leave. Um, well, and I know uh it it's been tough on cars just to get over to Ashkosh when some of those roads are like really ripped up, um, and so people just aren't making the trip as much. So hopefully, uh coming up on the fourth, I know people come from all over. Speaking of the fireworks, they come to Umro to see our fireworks. So um we're coping things will kind of be picking up more. They thankfully have been able to keep our driveways open. Yeah, they've done a really good job of that. All up and down. I know at one point uh our neighbor, person uh a residential next door, residential home, uh she had to park in our spot here just for a little bit because. They did have some cones blocking her for a day or two, but sure. Um, but of course, we're like, of course you can park in our parking lot. Why would we not let you? Um absolutely. So, and again, I think people no one would say no to that sort of thing. It's like we're all dealing with this, let's all help each other out. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, and now that we're past that, you know, it's super easy to get into AMRO. And yeah, hopefully uh even today, uh the traffic I've noticed is is up from what it was the last two weeks. Yeah, I had to go into Ashosh this morning, and and since last time I did that, it the roads are already looking better and things are getting cleaned up, so they're I think they're chugging along. County E will be done mid-June. Um, so I think June 15th is what they're saying, or 16th, something like that. Yeah, um, I need to check the latest road report and find out more. Those are great too, like just to have it's like, oh, I don't have to go drive and find out for myself. Yeah. Brandon's posting about it. Yeah, I I I try, I've been doing about one a week as you know. I started off one one every day when we first started, but there was so much information to cover and it was changing so rapidly. Now it's kind of, you know, it's staying pretty consistent. And so I'm just kind of doing the highlight updates like when the bridge is reopening, yeah. I think social media makes it both easier and more difficult to catch up with those things because you might be seeing a post that is a couple days old and not realize it, or someone heard from someone who heard from someone and they whisper down the lane about what the news is. So having someone doing like a dedicated, I actually talked to the DOT in the county, here's what's happening, right? Right, has been really helpful. Yeah. And I usually I I try and open it up with a date too that that uh I'm doing the video. Also helpful, yes, because uh, you know, I might see a post, but then I don't see a video right until a few days later or something. But that's just that's the algorithm doing its magic. As far as donations, are donations down right now because of the construction also, or is that staying steady? Still pretty steady, yeah. And I don't know if you noticed when you pulled in, but we have a couple sheds around. So that's how we keep um everything so well curated. Sure. We don't have Christmas stuff out all the time. We have a shed where it's it's kept you know nice and safe until it's time to start bringing Christmas stuff out. And the volunteers, I I noticed this last holiday season. I swear I blinked and it was like Santa's workshop had opened. They they were so fast, and Christina, you know, is is sort of directing that all and doing a lot of the actual work of it too. But you know, all the volunteers they just turned this place into a holiday wonderland, and then just like that, they got back out into the other stuff. Um, so we do Halloween, great place to shop with for either costumes, decor, everything, but we're not gonna have the Halloween stuff out all the time. Yeah, sure. Um, the nice thing though is if you are maybe having like a Christmas in July party or something, uh you can call and ask us and we can pull out some stuff for you. Oh, yeah. So if you do have like a theme or you want to do a certain theme for a bridal shower or whatever, that's a good thing. Yeah, that's a good thing to keep in mind, too. Yeah, for sure. If you've got if you're doing something that's kind of off season, yeah. Or you know, maybe you're traveling somewhere and it's not this, you know, you're going somewhere colder and it's summertime and you're like, I don't have a jacket. Right behind you, I know it's not gonna be on camera, are some really cool vintage suitcases. Oh, sure. Um, but yeah, it's like if you need like a winter jacket to go somewhere or something, we can pull out some for you if you Yeah. Or so we just because we don't have it out doesn't mean we don't have it. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So how do you keep track of all of your inventory and so we don't have like again to reference uh Samantha James and her boutique, we don't have because we don't have four blue medium shirts, four large blue shirts, etc. Um, so we don't inventory stuff as it comes in. Certainly we keep note of bigger items, uh both bigger physically or bigger tickets, uh, if it's like a collectible vintage item or something. Sure. Uh we make note of it and want to know if it's sold. Um, but so we don't really have a set. Uh the way things are organized in the back certainly are, but again, it's not like numbered inventory. Sure. Um keep it by season or by Yeah, or by by department. So and that's actually one thing our the new point of sale system has helped out with a lot because before it would just be sale item, uh regular item, or clothing. There were three buttons that we had, and it was the old like ticker tape. Oh, sure. No, almost reminding me of like an old timey saloon, just slightly newer than that. So did you put that on the shelf and sell that? The old register? Uh no, we actually have it because we might be using it um if we go and sell like at the Thursday night market and stuff like that. Um but we have we have sold register, people have donated registers, and I think people bought them maybe just for like their farm stand or uh, you know, all sorts of things like that. But the the inventory that we do keep would be bringing it up, say, like the craft department. So and we did in rearranging and moving into the back and expanding that out, which allowed us to have like this bigger craft section, um, and like our men's clothing, we had more of that to display. We did notice an increase in sales, so which we wouldn't have been able to as easily track um when we just had the three basic buttons. Um, so that's that's been cool to see. So when you're a volunteer for the AMRO thrift store, what kind of benefits are there for that? Well, I always joke that it's the worst paying job ever because uh we have so much great stuff. I come in to volunteer and I spend money, but you do get a discount if you volunteer here. Oh, nice. Um, and twice a year you get a gift certificate. Uh uh, we have a appreciation picnic in the summer, and then we have a holiday party, and we love to give our volunteers gift certificates they can use here. Oh, very nice. Yeah, uh during volunteer week in April. That's a national uh thing, is volunteer appreciation week. Yeah, so everybody got Crick Trip gift cards. Wonderful, wonderful. Uh so when it comes to the pricing, who actually accepts the pricing? And Christina does a lot of that um for clothing because like I said, that is the most items that we get our clothing. We have uh a handbook for the volunteers, and like I said, some of them have been here so long they they know what they're doing. Yeah, absolutely. We do have to update prices occasionally, you know, as things change. But um, we have a set sort of that t-shirts are in this condition are always about this much. Sure. Jeans are always about this much, unless you get, you know, a certain uh brand. Sure, name brand or yeah. We do get a lot of name brand stuff, but yeah, if there's clearly like, oh, this is definitely a vintage collectible, like rhinestone jean jacket, not just a jean jacket, um, there's different pricing for that. Yeah, absolutely. I've been kind of looking around as we've been talking, and I already see a couple things that I'm gonna buy before before I leave. Things I didn't know I needed until I just saw them. Surprisingly, too, we have um next to our craft section behind me here, we have uh a lot of tools. We have pet stuff. Um I didn't even see the tools yet. Yeah, yeah. That's where I got my OBD reader. Yeah, right. Um, we have you know, toolboxes, tools. We have if people who do scrapbooking get all sorts of stuff for that, knitting, crocheting. Um so yeah, people can start a new hobby here. Uh I know a lot of uh high school kids, at least from what I see on the afternoons that I am here at the register, um, will come here before they go to, you know, Walmart or whatever to get craft stuff. And we have school supply stuff. You need backpacks and binders, we get we get those things. And like I said, um all of the volunteers really do like check over everything and make sure it's in good quality. You know, a huge I mean I think a lot of people, you know, think of thrift shop as a as a place to obviously get um discount prices on things and stuff like that. Um but it it's really keeping things alive and it's keeping things out of landfills. And you know, it's so many good things that are you know still saleable, still value to somebody that if there wasn't a a thrift shop, it would probably go in the landfill. Yeah, that's actually um nationally, that's a huge push for the reduce and reuse and recycle. Um don't buy a new plastic thing, get a high quality, you know, slightly used one at your thrift store. Right, yeah, absolutely. Um and you know, we get a lot of good uh old Tupperware, and I know like like the classic OG Tupperware. Yeah, uh I have a couple pieces now too. And there's stuff I bought that I was like, my mom has this same one, and she still has it. Yeah. So, you know, those the quality pieces that last. Um, I I the hear the phrase all the time, they don't make it like they used to. That's true for so many items that the stuff just it lasts like a shirt will just last you one season now or something, and it falls apart after three washes. So the things that make it to here are the higher quality items, and it and like you said, it keeps it out of a landfill. Um, and even when we do get uh maybe someone donated shirts and we're just like, these are not they're a little too stained, or like these should have, but we don't just landfill them. Um they go to like clothing recycling. Uh we know that there is a mechanic, not you guys, but uh who buys them. So they might only get one more use as an oil rag, but at least that's one more use. Yep. Yeah, instead of using just the paper shop towels. That brings up a good point. The things that people donate, because they have to drop off while you're open. Preferably, yeah. Some people do drop off after hours, but we just prefer while we're open so that we can get it inside. Sure. Um, we do have uh the handicap accessible ramp in the back, and there is an awning there. Um, so at least if it's raining, it won't get wet, but um, just so that we can make sure stuff isn't piled up outside. How much stuff do you get donated, whether it's dropped off after hours or what have you, that is just not usable, just not sellable? Um, not too much. People seem to be pretty good cognizant of what they're donating. Like I said, sometimes when we've gotten like a big donation, sure. Um, you can tell it's because someone was cleaning out, maybe grandma moved or passed, you know, and uh they're cleaning out an attic and it's several boxes all from the same house. Uh sometimes there might be everything in this box is not good anymore. Right. But usually people are yeah, yeah. And we we like I said, we make sure things are clean before they go out. And yeah, I think I think most people are not trying to get rid of their garbage, they're trying to you know, provide a value to the community. Yeah, they they know that we're we're not just the last stop before the dumpster. Yeah, right. They're they're pretty good. And also because most of the time people who don't know here also shop here. Yeah. So that's always good. I mean, I definitely like I said, I shop here a fair amount. Well, I could see, you know, like you were saying with the the crutches and walkers and stuff like that, you know, that those are temporary things. Temporary things that you need for a little bit, you know. And it's great that you do kind of like a loan program or what have you, but even still, you know, if maybe there's um maybe you're doing a Halloween costume and you're getting some vintage clothes and you're gonna wear it one time and then just redonate it and you know. Um and people have have done that too. They're like, I really just need it for this event, and I got it here for four dollars. I wore it once, donating right back. Yeah, somebody else can yeah take take pleasure in it for sure. Yeah, so exactly for like certain I or uh I know someone bought a serving tray for one thing that they were taking stuff to, they washed it and then donated it right back to us. Like, and that's awesome. Yeah, that's and when you get it for like you know, it's it's still cheaper than buying a new plastic one on Amazon. Yeah, and you're supporting the community and the thrift store for sure. Yeah, absolutely. So are there any um I mean you guys have are well established, you've got a nice facility, you've got nice products. Are there any future plans? Well, like I said, we just had that big addition built in the back of the store, which allowed uh the volunteers who do like the sorting and and pricing and stuff to have just a bigger, brighter, nicer area to do all that. Um, and that was I think finished up right before I started volunteering. So just around a year ago, it was fully finished. So that's a big accomplishment. I think we're good for now, yeah. That's a big accomplishment for sure. And especially with uh things being a little slower with road closures and stuff. But honestly, just adding that has been such a boon. Oh, yeah. To the building, to the the flow of the store. Like I said, we were able to expand our retail floor space. Um, so for now we're just resting and enjoying that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we're always looking for volunteers, and like I said, um, the ways to volunteer, you don't have to commit to like I when I first signed up, I committed to one four-hour shift a week. Sure. Um, I'm now here a lot more and have since obviously joined the board and then ended up being president. Okay, that was, you know, but we don't need everyone to have to give because we know people have kids, um, jobs, just busy life. Sure. Um, so even if people are just able to donate a few hours here and there, um, I know people have uh donated time just to help with maybe some like landscape work or you know, something like that. Like, like I said, the project to the rock bed around the sign out front. Like transportation and and taking donations to other donation outlets and stuff like that. Yeah, so we do pass things on if it doesn't sell here, we do then pass it on to um Goodwill. Sure. Um or other places. Uh and we do have some other places in Oshkosh that we might do consignment for for certain items that are perfectly good and usable, just they wouldn't sell here. Sure. Um, we are looking and hoping, it's been hard to find someone to be able to have the time to do it, but we would like to do more online sales. Um, I don't know if it's in the shot, but I know behind you is like a Lakers jersey, for example. Oh sure. Which might not sell in Wisconsin, but someone online would like to buy that for sure. So and then that would be great for more um just more income for us to be able to do more stuff. Maybe um get hooked up with Samantha James and have her teach you how to do the whatnot. Yeah, I was I was watching because there's there's certain whatnot and depop and and Samantha is on top of all of them. So she's definitely someone I would love to like work with. Um just her her depth and breadth of knowledge on all of that stuff. Because that's exactly up her alley for you know, we just aren't selling the same kind of stuff. Yep. But that's kind of what you were talking about, and I think it was Drew who was talking about it at Silvino. Um, there might be duplicates of some things in town, but there's so much like overlap that you no one's really in competition with anybody. Yeah, yeah. I mean, so yeah, if you uh what I think there's three thrift shops in town there. This one just opened. Um, but they're the kind of stuff they have is different. And I know uh secondhand rose is a consignment store, so that's a different model. Yep. Um, I believe they're for profit, and uh when you donate there, you're not do it's not donating. Yeah, it you're not you're not getting that tax deduction or what have you. But yeah, it's very unlikely that you are gonna have the same products that you're trying to sell across all three stores. Correct. So having three thrift shops, you know, for profit, non-profit, is really benefiting the community because it it's a very good thing. Yeah, and it's the same as having you know, Tanner's and Fox Lane and um Foxhouse. They're all bars of burgers, they're all very different though. Yeah. Um, and you know, my husband and I are always arguing which one has the better burger. And it's like, well, I guess we just have to go back and try them again. Yep. Absolutely. Oh no. Nope, nope. So even, you know, and Moore's done having opened more recently. Um, and so yeah, there is a couple of the same things, but they're not the same. Yeah, and it's really nice. Yeah, different atmosphere is different, products, different, um, you know, and you know, it's no different than you know having you see the um gas stations that have maybe uh a Taco Bell and another chain store restaurant that are yeah, it's how you're feeling that day. Yeah. Some days I want to go bowling. Right. Some days I want to go bowling, so I'm gonna go to Fox Lanes, and some days I just want to sit down and maybe have a micro brew or nano brew. My volunteer shift on Thursdays, Fox House is right next door. Yeah, and oh, it's still happy hour. So uh it's nice to be able to stop in at different places, just again, depending on like the vibe or what you're shopping for. Yeah, absolutely. So it's good to have those options. Yep, options are key. Yeah. For a small town, it's really surprising how much we really do have here. Yeah, and it's it's nice to have the smaller town atmosphere where the businesses realize that we're not in competition, we're creating a destination. And it's fantastic to, you know, put people who come in here from local businesses, oh hey, how are you? You know, it's it's that everybody knows everybody. Yeah, it's it's nice, like, and people care about each other, and you know, you recognize the person at the quick trip and then you recognize them working behind the bar somewhere. Right, yeah, absolutely. Um, it's it's and I think that also it makes it more real for people. Like it's not the big anonymous, well, I don't know them, so I don't care about their business. Right. Um, and and I think too, this this town seems to support good quality in there. It's like we don't have we don't have a ton of spaces, so you better be good. And like I think all the businesses here have done a great job of that. Like, like uh like what Drew did with Solvino. What an interesting idea. Like, who would have thought we would have a wine bar here in town? So great. That serves hot dogs. That serves hot dogs. I love that. I know. But he said he had a dream about hot dogs, right? That's what he did. Yep, yep. Like The Simpsons. Yes, he said it opened up like the clouds in the Simpsons. But that is, and then and then this town, they love it. And it it people support it, and not just and I like that he mentioned, you know, it is a different vibe. There aren't sports on in there. But if that's really what you want, there are options for that. So it's great. And you know, like I said, secondhand, they do have different things in what we do and um and different causes and reasons for being so. Yeah, and I see there's always cross promotion going on between the three of you guys, too, or three thrift stores, if you will. Yeah, and a lot of that that helps too, I think, um, is the board uh and sorry, the chamber of commerce and Carissa uh just working to help get all the businesses um together and knowing each other. And um, I know she talked a little bit possibly about doing like almost an OMRO passport book. Yeah. Um I know my husband and I have a passport book for supper clubs in Wisconsin. Oh so maybe something like that uh for OMRO. And you know, at Fox Lane's it might be a free appetizer. Here it might be 15% off an item or whatever, you know, we and we can decide. I think that's a really cool idea because if you're down at one end of Main Street, oh, I could go to this other I didn't know there was other stuff down there. And so it would get people who aren't from the town maybe um to get to see more of the stuff around here. Absolutely. Well, I want to thank you for allowing us to come in and do this. Thank you for hosting and having and setting up all your equipment and and thank you to Hannah for listening in and recording, editing.