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The Community Closet Thrift Store

Some of the items for sale at The Community Closet Thrift Store

The Community Closet Thrift Store is a thrift shop located in Livingston, Montana, the county seat of Park County. Established in October, 2005, The Community Closet is a social enterprise dedicated to raising funds for a variety of Park County charitable organizations and activities.

While many thrift stores raise funds for a particular organization, such as a church or hospital, The Community Closet Thrift Store was conceived as a means to raise funds for multiple non-profits and charitable activities in the community of Park County as a whole (population 15,694).

The store is a 501(c)(3) organization with a Board of Directors, an Executive Director, a part-time staff, and volunteers. Because the store inventory is donated and business expenses are low, The Community Closet can sell items at very low prices. Business expenses include fixtures (clothing racks, shelves, et cetera), operating costs (maintenance, municipal service fees, electricity, telephone, Internet, limited advertising), wages/salary, and the building lease. The Board of Directors distributes all profits after expenses to charitable activities in Park County. Over $110,000 was disbursed in the store's first five years.

Some examples of funding include recreation scholarships and equipment, community functions (including Halloween night treats), educational programs, youth programs, assistance in response to catastrophic events or illnesses, and support of non-profit organizations and their special programs. In addition to direct monetary funds, The Community Closet donates store merchandise to other nonprofits (including schools) and vouchers to those who cannot afford needed purchases.

History

The Community Closet was established in October 2005 by Caron Cooper. Cooper has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, a Master of Arts degree in Russian Studies from Georgetown University, and an interdisciplinary Energy and Resources PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked for oil-company-name, the Red Cross(?), and served as a consultant to the World Bank, Office of Technology Assessment, and USAID. Seeing a local need for low-cost clothing and household items, the Park County community approached Cooper about opening a Red Cross thrift store in downtown Livingston. Clara’s Closet served as a fundraising arm for the Red Cross for three years. When local Red Cross funding became uncertain following the massive relief expenses of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, Hurricane Katrina (2005), and the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), Cooper decided to seek local funding for an independent thrift store that would return profits to community organzations.

With the goal to provide a needed outlet for donated goods and a resource for funding charitable activities, programs, and organizations in Park County, Cooper wrote a business plan, solicited a Board of Directors and obtained the initial funding to rent retail space and purchase store furnishings. Cooper is a social entrepreneur who runs the store using a business model to meet social and environmental goals. Operating expenses are low, yielding high returns to the community, with an average of over $20,000 per year in proceeds being disbursed to the Park County community.

In addition, Cooper was motivated by the desire to reuse second-hand items to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill sites. Initially the store turned excess clothing into rags which it then sold to nearby Yellowstone National Park (not sure about this, or about what happened) but eventually Cooper applied for and received funding to open a second, Sundays-only, store to offer store overflow items for 25 cents a piece. The Alley Annex was opened in DATE to save the costs of discarding goods while offering items from the store at an even greater discount.

Donations and Demographics

The Community Closet accepts donations of new and used goods from members of the public and, occasionally, area retail stores. The donated inventory includes clothing (including vintage clothing and Western wear), accessories (shoes, ties, hats, gloves, handbags, belts, jewelry), eyeglasses, sporting goods, media (CDs, tapes, vinyl record albums, DVDs and VHS tapes), books, office and school supplies, camera equipment, luggage, electronic goods, furniture and home furnishings, linens, housewares, tools, toys, original art, and posters and prints. U.S. citizens who donate household goods to The Community Closet may benefit with tax deductions.

Although major appliances are not a regular item, The Community Closet formed an innovative partnership with a local appliance store to make low-energy trade-in refrigerators available in the store in conjunction with the Montana Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program in May 2010 with funding from the 2010 federal stimulus package.

The store occupies retail space in a conveniently located shopping strip and arranges a large inventory in departments with specialty items highlighted for the convenience of vintage clothing hunters, Western wear fans, and tourists. The store also has a private dressing room and a spacious restroom that regularly wins a Best of Livingston people's choice award . The restroom is a model of the store's philosophy of creative reuse, and consists of donated items that are employed in changing design motifs.

Shoppers of all ages and backgrounds include individuals and families in need of lower cost items, other bargain hunters, collectors, artists in search of materials, students, vintage item afficionados, and environmentally motivated shoppers who prefer to buy second-hand goods collected locally thereby using fewer natural resources than new goods.

The store has a policy of making customers feel welcome and respected, and makes the shopping experience a positive one. Every child visiting the store or the Community Closet booth at the weekly Livingston Farmers' Market is invited to select a free book. Customers who are unsure about the fit of an item of furniture may take the piece home on a "try before you buy" basis.

Volunteers come from area schools, the local Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), and the community at large. Once a week, the store's iTeen initiave brings middle and high school students into the store to test electronic items to assure that only working goods make it to the shelves.

Special Events and Services

The Community Closet holds special events to engage customers and the community, including Marmot Madness, the store's variation on Groundhog Day, windy day sales that offer percentage discounts to match Livingston's legendary wind speeds , silent auctions for specialty and vintage items, and Saturday morning half-price sales. To ease the burden that Halloween trick or treaters place on the households in a popular two-block area of Livingston, The Community Closet donates Halloween treats.

Other creative fundraising events are designed to draw attention to local needs. The Community Closet partnered with its print vendor to market a promotion that raised funds for the local food bank. The Advertising Specialty Insitute included the effort among "Fabulous Fundraisers" in its June 2010 publication

For product safety, The Community Closet heeds Consumer Product Safety Notices and posts updates on it's website.

Funding Process

Funding for Park County community organizations and activities is granted by the Community Closet's Board of Directors after the requesting organization fills out an application and meets requirements consistent with Community Closet goals:

• Provide residents of Park County with affordable second-hand clothing and household goods.
• Provide non-profit groups and activities in Park County with merchandise as appropriate.
• Improve the quality of life in Park County through charitable contributions generated from thrift store profits as funding allows.

Awards

• Community Service Project of the Year 2006 Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce
• Woman of Achievement 2007 Caron Cooper, Livingston Business & Professional Women
• Community Leadership Award, Corporation for the Northern Rockies (2008)
• Montana Nonprofit Association “Nonprofit of the Month,” April 2009
• Best Thrift Store (2007, 2008, 2009), Best Bathroom (2008, 2009), Best Sales Clerk (Robin Zank, 2009) Livingston Current
• Livingston Rotary Club Service to Community Award 2010

External Links

• The Community Closet Thrift Store Website