By Amy Batista, Special Writer
The Greater Goods Thrift Store has expanded with two new stores — a kids outlet and a furniture store.
“We outgrew our original space but wanted to stay in town,” said Leslie Koppel, director of Rise. “Business has been booming at the Greater Goods Thrift Store.”
Rise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of struggling families and building a stronger community, operates the thrift stores. All of the items in the stores are donated and proceeds help to fund Rise programming, including the Rise Food Pantry and Rise Summer Camp.
The new Greater Goods Kids Outlet is located at 122 Main St. and the Greater Goods Resale Furniture Store, which is currently only open by appointment, is located in the Statewide Moving Building on Broad Street.
“We ran out of room to sell all of the donations,” Ms. Koppel said. “Once the word is out for the new stores, we expect them to be busy, too, especially with back to school clothes.”
Rise Volunteer Coordinator Maitiel Jimenez said there was a great demand in the community for a place where families and soon-to-be mothers could visit and purchase quality and affordable clothing, toys, books and shoes for babies, kids and teens.
“Many families in our community do not have a way to get to malls or major department stores so creating a store where all can be found in one place has been the biggest help to them,” she said. “At our kids outlet, we get incredible diversity in the source, type and style of the goods. The best part is you will be saving tons of money and putting the money you do spend back into our local community.”
Ms. Koppel said, “Kids grow so fast, especially babies. This gives families the opportunity to purchase a new high chair or booster seat for when they need it,” she said. “Often parents donate items back when they are done. Even grandparents with visiting children can come to the store and buy a pack and play or stroller for the weekend.”
The Greater Goods Kids Outlet sells two pieces of clothing for $5 and offers a $5 bag sale.
“We carry children’s brand name clothing at extremely low prices for girls and boys sizes newborn to juniors,” Ms. Jimenez said. “We have baby gear such as pack and plays, swings, high chairs, strollers, toys, and lots of other baby needs.”
Stuffed animals are available for as little as 50 cents.
“One of our awesome volunteers, Frannie Yarnoff, washes all of the stuffed animals and rewraps them,” Ms. Koppel said. “She also makes sure all of the puzzles have all of their pieces, because the very worst thing is to buy a puzzle missing that last piece,” she said.
The community is “welcoming this new store with open arms,” Ms. Jimenez said.
“The word of mouth is spreading, so every day we see new and friendly people eager to see what we have to offer, walk away with a great smile and a big find,” she said.
The Greater Goods Resale Furniture Store sells framed pictures, appliances and household furniture from end tables to chests of drawers and much more.
“All of the pieces are donated and Statewide Moving is donating all of the items that their customers don’t take with them,” Ms. Koppel said, adding prices range from $25 for a couch to $400 for a bedroom set.
Perry Sandler, who works at the furniture store, said the store has been set up so people can visualize how their rooms may look.
“We will also provide an opportunity for customers to buy the many accessories that are displayed throughout the store,” he said. “Just the other day, we sold a dining table and all the chinaware that was set on the table, as well as the wine glasses and the set of silverware.”
Ms. Koppel said that all donations are tax deductible.
“We have a really generous community that donates their gently used items for us to resell,” she said. “The proceeds from the sales go directly back into programming such as the Rise Food Pantry and Rise Summer Academic Program.”
Donations are accepted at the store located at 122 Main St. up to one hour before closing. The hours are Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“All items donated are filtered to fill the needs of the children in our community,” Ms. Jimenez said.
Mr. Sandler said the common thread for all three stores is to help the community by generating revenue to reinvest in programs that Rise provides.
“We also want to be known as an outlet to people who need help by providing them with vouchers for free items,” he said.
Ms. Koppel said Rise gives store vouchers to struggling families.
“For example, for the fire that tragically stuck in East Windsor recently, we were able to refurnish every family’s new home with donated items at no cost to the families,” she said.
Mr. Sandler said the new stores have “already made an impact with customers.”
“The general comments have been favorable and most people are thrilled with the space and the amount of choices available to them for their home,” he said. “We also have a lot of customers who love the idea of taking an old piece of furniture and refurbishing it.”
He said that recently, a customer saw a chair for sale online for $250.
“In our store, she saw a similar chair for $30 and decided that a little upholstery cleaning and staining the wood would work fine for her so she ended up purchasing the chair,” he said.
He suggested customers looking for furniture stop by the original Greater Goods Thrift Store at 114 Rogers Ave. or call 609-448-2702 to set up a convenient time to shop.
“Currently local pick-ups and deliveries are available for a nominal fee and we hope to expand the territories as our staff grows,” he said. “While in the past we had limited space, we can now accept more furniture donations, which provides greater finds for everyone.”
The store offers a loyalty program for customers who shop often to earn store credit as they spend.
“We also encourage customers to provide us with email addresses as we intend to send out emails with store specials and other important information,” he said. “Our goal is to get the word out there with the use of social media as well as the old fashioned ‘word of mouth.’”
As Greater Goods grows so does the Rise family, he added.
“We now have tripled our staff and hope to continue to hire more people as needed,” he said.“Rise is looking to hire a salesperson for the new Greater Goods Furniture Store.”
Ms. Koppel added, “We want to hire a great salesperson for the new Greater Goods Furniture Store who works well with people and can work weekends,” Ms. Koppel said. “They also need to be able to take pictures of the furniture and post in our Facebook page and on Craigslist.”
She said the furniture store would be open from Thursday through Sunday as soon as Rise hires someone to work there.
Ms. Koppel said the Greater Good’s growth would not have been possible without the New Jersey Office of Faith Based Initiatives, which has supported Rise’s social enterprise business.
“The ultimate goal is for Rise to be self-supporting so we can continue to offer essential services,” she said.
