The Attic thrift store is in a new location. The thrift store is a nonprofit and volunteer community organization previously located in south Fayetteville. Established in 1959 as a way to support Fayetteville City Hospital, the store continues its work in a new space at 3340 N. College Ave. Ozarks at Large’s Sophia Nourani reports.
The Attic Thrift Store was established over 60 years ago with the intent of serving as a fundraising source for Fayetteville’s first hospital, founded in 1912. Since then, it has expanded to support scholarships for nursing students and other careers in the medical field. Melissa White is the president of the hospital auxiliary board that runs the Attic Thrift Store. She says it has historically helped wherever it was needed most.
“Sometimes they would even help with the remodeling of certain wings in the hospital. And then it became a nursing home as well. And so they always had a role of providing some kind of support, medical support for the hospital or the nursing home. So that’s how the thrift store came into being, and a lot of ladies at the beginning were just very interested members of the community and solely our volunteer rank, because we focused on the nursing scholarships, became a lot of retired nurses, retired teachers, and we’re starting to spread the word. So we’re starting to get a few more younger volunteers from the university.”
Melissa says the Attic’s previous location of 14 years had both benefits and challenges.
“We have a lot of longtime donation givers because they have a lot of history with us, because they had a family member in the nursing home, and they really appreciated the support that they got. We have, like I said, a lot of history with the families around here, but that space, unfortunately, that area of town is starting to change. And our landlord was looking to sell, and so we decided to be proactive and start looking for another space.
“And we were very fortunate in that we found this space, because Fayetteville is really growing and retail space is hard to come by. And since we are all volunteers, we were looking for a little lower price point for the rent. And this gave us what we needed as far as a little bit more space.
“We were so fortunate to have our new landlord, who, it used to be a Manna clinic, as half of the Manna clinic. So he worked with us and got an architect and took down some things for us to where we were able to open up the space for the new thrift store.”
When you first walk into the new store, the staff has placed glassware that reflects light through the windows onto a memorial for a late volunteer, Betty Battenfield.
“She was such a force for us. And so we wanted to dedicate the space to her. She was, from what I understand, developed the first nursing program at the UofA, and she was still volunteering when I joined and she was still on the board, and she was super sharp, and she volunteered with us into her 90s.”
The new space is larger than the last, with more clothing racks and a curated boutique section.
“We have our special sale items, our 50-cent dollar rack, half-price rack, and this is different from the older store in that you have much more room. Our previous store. Much more room to shop the clothes racks. Tamara, our manager for the store, she has been essential in getting these clothes moving.
“We have a chart system to where, because that’s what our biggest donation is, is clothing, mainly women’s clothing. And we’ve made it a point to not contribute to the landfill. So we have a system to where each month we rotate. And so also we partnered with Seven Hills to provide clothing for them. And we’re looking to partner, we have partnered with a nursing home in the area and the Justice Coalition that’s further down.”
Melissa says the store is always looking for new volunteers.
“Our goal in our minds is to have a long list of volunteers to call in for different days. And when someone has to go on holiday or vacation, we have a backup for them. So that’s actually one of the hardest things we have to do as an organization is filling those volunteer roles. So please come in and think about volunteering with us. We take all ages.
“And we do have some students that do come in that are high school age that are looking to do their community service. Yes. So we love seeing them, especially the young guys, which we love to see. They can help out with the heavier things. And so we have gone out there and done a little talk to encourage people to come. So we’re hoping to expand visibility in Fayetteville and reach out to some more organizations like that to let them know that we’re here.”
The Attic is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information or to volunteer, you can visit theatticthriftstore.org.
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