A nonprofit thrift store in Fayetteville celebrated its first permanent location on Saturday. A line of families and regular thrift store customers crowded the new storefront of Spare Change before the opening at 121 W. Township St.
Marissa Young was near the back of the line 10 minutes before opening.
"I thrift often to save money on clothes, and I've got a little one that's currently growing out of his clothes faster than I can keep up with. And I saw it on Channel 5 and I was like, 'Oh, that's pretty cool.' And we happened to be literally at a Pilot down the road in Springdale. So I said, 'You know what? Let's go over here and check it out, see what it's all about.' And then I can tell my mom and maybe she can drive up here. And if they do good with this, I hope it keeps up and maybe expand it. Do something in Fort Smith with the campus down there at UofA's. Something exciting, you know."
Rachel Cox is the secretary and treasurer of Spare Change. She says the team is excited to finally have a permanent location.
"Doing six months of pop-ups was very fun, but it was very tiring. So it's very exciting for us to get to give out free stuff and not have to pack everything up at the end. We're also able to give away a lot more stuff now. We have a lot more room, and we're able to have our creative space, so we're excited for people to be able to access that."
Cox says they accept donations and redistribute them at no cost. They offer a monthly subscription to folks to help them cover their expenses.
"So far today, we've just put up finishing touches. We're training our first group of volunteers, and we're really excited to get everything going and get the door open at noon."
Spare Change is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and open specific hours Wednesday through Sunday. For more information on how to visit, donate or support, visit Spare Change Fay on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.
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