Visit any of our 3 San Diego Thrift Stores for great deals on gently-used clothing, furniture, sporting goods, housewares, electronics, toys, shoes + more!
There’s no doubt about it. People love to shop in our thrift stores. That’s because each of our four locations offers the best deals in town on “gently used” donated clothing, sports equipment, furniture, and other household items. Yet they offer more than that. When you shop at our thrift stores, you get more than a bargain on the items you need and want. You also know that the money you spend supports our critical, life-saving programs. Additionally, our stores provide our clients with work therapy positions, teaching them retail, book-keeping, and other skills they’ll use when they return as contributing members of society. We invite you stop by one of our locations to check out our bargains. You are also welcome to donate your items for us to sell in our stores. Find a San Diego Thrift Store location near you at http://www.sdrescue.org/ways-to-give/shop-at-our-thrift-stores/
It's Alicia Burke with Long Beach Local News. Today we're at the Long Beach Rescue Mission Thrift Store meeting with the new manager Michelle Velazquez. I have worked in retail for over 27 years but it's been mostly cosmetic retail background. However, I really felt a calling to work with the community and give back. We really want to have it to be an environment where everyone feels very comfortable to shop, where it's clean, it's organized and well presented. So we took some time and moved some different fixtures around and merchandised things a little bit differently. So when people come in, they're able to see the story of what it is that we have and to have ease of shopping. When you walk in, the very first thing you see on the right hand side is this beautiful wall that has a presentation of some very unique, one-of-a-kind, true thrift store items. It could be a picture, we call it brick-or-brack, Also in the middle we have all the wonderful great accessories that will accompany the clothing that we have behind it. And the newest thing, which I'm really excited about, is that we have a wonderful donation of Christian books and beautiful home decor as well. So we made a little store within the store of Christian books and home decor. What makes us different is that, And the people that work here, there'some folks that go through the mission, whether in the men's home or the women's home, and they want to give back to society and they want to get back into society. And so they take the time to have work therapy here and it's a blessing to be able to work with them and make it happen. We're creating a little education hub, And so what we want to have happen is trainers that are coming in to help to teach making candles or jewelry making or perhaps creating topiaries, different things It's their way to be able to get back into society and learn a new craft. If you have anything that you feel would be a great asset that we could be able to resell in here, all of the money and all the proceeds goes directly to the Samaritan house and to the Lydia house. And so we really love, welcome and need your donations. And if you have a question of what to give or not, we have a list of what we do receive and what we don't receive. So the biggest thing is generosity and we really appreciate that. Also, we do have a volunteer program. And so if you meet with the Long Beach Rescue Mission and I love to be the change that I want to see. It's easy to look around and say, I wish this was different. I wish that was different. But I am making that action through my work, through my words, through my deeds. And it really makes me feel good as a mom, as a wife, as a sister, just a member of society. With Michelle's background in retail and her desire to help the Long Beach community, she makes a perfect addition to the Long Beach Rescue Mission team. To learn more about the Long Beach Rescue Mission, visit LBRM. org. It's Alicia Burke with Long Beach Local News.
