After 10 years of serving the community, the nonprofit Village Thrift Shop tendered its last transaction last month, but it’s not the end of thrifting at 1138 Manford Ave.
Crossroads Assistance Ministry will take over the lease on April 1 and plans to open a new second-hand store at that location in early May, Crossroads Executive Director Brian Schaffer said.
The new enterprise will be called Good Neighbor Thrift. According to a Facebook post by Crossroads announcing the new name, the neighborly theme “just seems to reflect well what our intentions are as we begin this new chapter. We want to be a good neighbor as the operator of this new venture, and we feel this will involve collaborating with our neighbors throughout the Estes Valley.”
Crossroads entered into an agreement with Village Thrift to acquire its unsold inventory as well as store furnishings and shelving.
“We have been a great partner with Village Thrift since they opened,” Schaffer said in an interview late last month. “It’s a great way for people we serve to shop for lower-priced options. We wanted to see that service to the community continue.”
Since 2016, Village Thrift has reinvested $1.5 million in the Estes Valley through grants for local nonprofit projects. Last year, Crossroads received grants supporting its Caring for Neighbors in Need and Cinco de Mayo programs.
The nonprofit ministry runs the Crossroads Market food bank and assists Estes Valley residents in need in various ways.
“We see acquiring the thrift store as an extension of some of the services we already provide,” Schaffer said.
While still benefiting the community, the new thrift store will look a little different. Crossroads will not continue the same Village Thrift-style grants program, Schaffer said, but it will invest funds from the thrift store in collaborative partnerships with other nonprofits.
In a press release published by Estes Park News, Schaffer wrote that “100 percent of net profits will be distributed into the community in collaboration with a variety of nonprofits in Estes Park.”
Crossroads is still determining the details, but it will share more information over the coming weeks.
While the name will be different, Schaffer expects day-to-day operations to look similar. It will mostly be run by volunteers, but with some paid staff supervision, which should help with long-term sustainability. Part of the reason Village Thrift decided to close was that its aging, all-volunteer staff had burned out.
Randy Maharry, one of the Village Thrift co-founders, said the final round of grants is estimated to include about $250,000. The application for the final round of Village Thrift grants is posted on its website and will close at the end of March. Awards will be announced in April.
Maharry thanked everyone who has donated to the store over the years so it could, in turn, give back to the community. He said many volunteers for the Village Thrift Shop have expressed interest in volunteering for the new one.
As for him, Maharry plans to ride his tricycle around town more often and spend more time with the American Legion.
“I’ll find something to do,” he said.