While the nonprofit Village Thrift Shop will close at the end of the month because of an aging board and a lack of younger volunteers, Crossroads Assistance Ministry will be taking over the operations it was announced Monday afternoon.
Founding Board Member Randy Maharry said the average volunteer age is 73.
“We’re closing because we’re tired,” Maharry said plainly. “What we needed were younger people on the board. The board really runs this.”
Maharry started the charitable enterprise with his late wife, Janet, and another couple, Susie and Michael Sisk, in 2016. The second-hand store rents a former carpet warehouse with two floors at 1138 Manford Ave. and sells a standard array of used clothes, household goods and furniture, hardware and electrical supplies, art, books, games, sporting equipment, and whatever else one might donate.
Crossroads has worked out an agreement with the Whimsadoodle, Inc., a new arts foundation established from the estate of Barb Marshall, which recently purchased the property, to continue operations at the location.
The all-volunteer staff has helped the store maximize its proceeds to fund nonprofit grant projects throughout Estes Valley. Village Thrift has awarded $1.5 million to the community since its founding. In 2025, it distributed a record $246,000 to 22 organizations for 31 individual projects.
Maharry said the program has funded specific projects, not general organizational expenses.
For projects at the school district, which is a taxing district, grants have been awarded through the Estes Park Education Foundation, which supports special projects not covered by public education funding.
Besides the education foundation, often the biggest awards have gone to Estes Park Salud Foundation (financial assistance for uninsured patients at Salud Family Health Center), Crossroads Assistance Ministry, and the Estes Valley Crisis Advocates’ domestic violence shelter (which received a new roof last year).
Details of how Crossroads will operate the thrift store and how proceeds from sales will be used have not yet been made public.
“They have funded everything from plants for a butterfly garden, which was a $300 grant, all the way up to marching band instruments this year, which was close to $9,000,” David Curnutt, president of the education foundation said.
Total awards to the foundation have ranged from $11,000 to almost $30,000 a year, for about 10 projects a year. Other programs included Clothes for Kids, support for high school students to attend the state HOSA-Future Health Professionals conference, and supplies for a new sensory room for special needs students.
Curnutt said that if the foundation covered all of those projects itself, it would take about 75 percent of earnings from its largest annual fundraiser, Pumpkins and Pilsners.
“We might have to be a little pickier on what we can do,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate enough over the years to build up reserves, but it will begin to make a dent in what we can do eventually.”
“I’m sad to see them go,” Curnutt said. “They have been a great partner for us, and I know they lived out what they planned to do.”
According to a social media post on the Village Thrift Shop’s Facebook page today, the store “will have one final month, February 2026, to create as much in dollars as possible, in order to distribute ALL monies to local 501C3s. These funds will be distributed in qualifying grants this spring. Donations can continue through February, since we plan to continue with regular hours and donation times. So stay tuned, more news as it becomes available.”
In an interview before today’s announcement, Maharry told the Estes Valley Voice, “We would love for someone to come in and do the exact same thing we did. But I’m going to tell you: We worked our butts off.”
The store’s backroom was bustling with volunteers, old friends joking around, as they sorted donations a week ago, last Thursday. They recalled some of the most interesting items donated: a taxidermy turkey, a talking Santa Claus, and an old-fashioned candlestick telephone with separate mouth and earpieces.
“It’s different every day,” volunteer Annie Hanson said. Sometimes she has to use Google Lens to identify unfamiliar objects.
“As they say, somebody’s trash is a treasure to someone else. Pass it along.”
Whimsadoodle, Inc. announced the purchase of the store’s building in December after Village Thrift decided to close.
Victoria Endsley, director of programs for Whimsadoodle, said the foundation had hoped the thrift store would continue its work under the new landlord.
Maharry said the decision to close was made independent of the sale.
Whimsadoodle also purchased the next-door property at 1120 Manford Ave., where Estes Park Rent All was based. The heavy equipment and party supply businesses have closed.
“We appreciate the years of business,” Rent All’s voicemail message says. “At this time, we are no longer serving clients and are officially closed indefinitely. We thank you for your business and support.”
Plans for the buildings are still evolving, a Whimsadoodle news release said, but the vision is some type of creative hub that could include artist studios, galleries, workshops, and performance space.
“These buildings carry stories of hard work, generosity, and service,” Walter Dietrich, president of Whimsadoodle, said in a statement. “We are humbled to steward these spaces forward while honoring the incredible legacy that came before us, especially the Village Thrift Shop and its volunteers who truly embodied community care.”
“We’re all pretty proud of this place,” Maharry said. “It’s a good feeling to be helping the community.”
Estes Park Village Thrift Shop is open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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