The boutique opened on Jan. 18, sparking blended reactions from buyers.

by Lauren Azrin
| 2/1/22 5:00am

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On Jan. 15, Hear Local community Services, a secondhand shop chain that works by using its proceeds for local community jobs, introduced on Facebook that it would be opening up a boutique portion in their Lebanon thrift retailer locale on Jan. 18. According to the publish, the area will function as a way for far more high-priced garments to be concentrated in 1 location.

“Our key mission is to present a area the place reasonably priced apparel is readily available for all people in the Upper Valley,” the post stated. “However, we’ve read from some people that they’d like to see a house where some of our better good quality, extra expensive clothes can be noticed alongside one another.”

This decision has prompted combined reactions from customers. Frequent shopper Sarah Stewart, a Hanover resident and nonprofit fundraising consultant, mentioned she thinks the boutique opening was a fantastic transfer on Listen’s portion mainly because she believes it will create additional revenue to fund  community do the job.

“Their key mission is not the thrift retail outlet,” Stewart claimed. “That’s a single of the means that they pay for their true work, which is providing out heating subsidies and housing subsidies, and jogging a food stuff pantry and performing local community meals.”

According to a new Valley Information posting, Pay attention allocates $1.25 million a calendar year to operate its social services courses — close to 25% of the profits of their a few different thrift retail outlet destinations in Lebanon, White River Junction and Canaan.

In accordance to Stewart, a further benefit of the boutique is its possible optimistic environmental effect, citing drinking water use and waste made by the fashion industry. Stewart hopes the boutique might draw far more persons to Pay attention, expanding sustainable style buys. 

“If the boutique encourages people today who would typically stay away [from Listen] for the reason that they think it is junky to truly go in and get matters 2nd hand, I think that is amazing,” she claimed.

Stewart pointed out that lots of people who shop at thrift shops are resellers who buy merchandise at reduced prices just to sell them on the internet at increased types.

“This retains more of the dollars for Pay attention,” she stated.

On the other hand, some others mentioned that they believe that Pay attention should not be utilizing superior costs to provide donated garments.

Tess Bowler ’25 stated that she feels that acquiring a boutique gives Listen’s designation as a thrift store an inaccurate label. 

“The main benefit of a thrift shop is not usually to make a income,” she explained. “It’s to market secondhand clothing to people who likely just cannot afford it.”

Joann Kwolek Dundas, a frequent Hear shopper and longtime assistant manager of numerous Salvation Army thrift suppliers, said she is a supporter of the boutique.

“It undoubtedly can work,” she stated. “It all relies upon on how they cost points. You know, it’s a thrift shop, and it is meant to aid individuals that aren’t able of having to pay the increased selling prices, so possibly they need to just continue to keep selling prices in the center somewhere.”

Dundas extra that if pricing is too high, the product won’t sell in the standard thrift retailer circulation, so she believes that getting a section “more suited” for sure varieties of clothes will be useful.

“They know their consumer foundation, or they should really, so they should really be able to fairly a great deal gauge what they can promote some thing for,” she explained, including, “I feel the boutique could be a definitely excellent issue.”

Listen management did not reply to requests for comment despatched to the retail outlet electronic mail. 

By Amalia