While Paige Stoddard prices shirts Ebelia Nunez puts donated shirts on hangers, Monday. Nunez has worked for the organization for 17 years.
LOGAN – Somebody’s Attic Thrift Store located at 39 West 100 North in Logan, and in Smithfield at 3 South Main Street is overwhelmed recently with donations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the Logan store, racks are full of clothes and in the back of the store there are piles being processed to take the place of clothes as they are sold.
Paige Stoddard and Ebelia Nunez were in the back, busy processing and pricing donations on Monday afternoon.
Marry Ayotte, the store manger, said they are busier than usual both because of COVID-19 and Deseret Industries requiring appointments.
Three out of town girls visiting their grandmother were in the store buying stuffed animals for something to do and something to play with while on vacation.
Some people looked like they were buying clothes for school. It was a busy place.
“The community has really been good to us,” Ayotte said. “We are getting a lot of really sellable items.”
Because of social distancing and the health department, management changed the hours of operation.
“We are usually open six days a week for six hours. Now we are open four days a week for four hours,” Ayotte said. “We are making more money than usual on the days we are open, but then we aren’t open as many days so we are not making the money we could.”
They had to let all the volunteers go and us use paid staff, which is costing the organization more money.
All of the profits go to two Cache Valley charities: Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse (CAPSA) and The Family Place. Both organizations have seen an increase in needs of services for families during the pandemic.
“Our basement is at capacity. Generally, we use our basement as a place to store out of season clothes, but it is full right now,” Ayotte said. “The back of the store we use to separate the goods and process them. That area is full of donations so we can’t use it for separating them.”
She said some of the donations they receive are not salvageable and cannot be sold. They take pickup loads to the landfill and it costs every time they dump stuff.
“We are spending hundreds of dollars taking stuff to the dump, on the other hand we are getting some pretty good stuff that is sellable,” she said. ”If the clothing is ripped, electronics don’t work or toys are broken please just throw them into the garbage.”
They don’t have a way to repair merchandise so if it can’t be sold they have to haul it away.
“Some stuff we have to make an appointment with Deseret Industries and drop it off,” Ayotte said. “Basically, if it is something you wouldn’t buy, don’t bring it to us.”
Somebody’s Attic was founded in 1985 as a non-profit organization to generate funds to help local organizations fund abuse-prevention programs.
The original organizers of Somebody’s Attic and dedicated community leaders saw a need and came up with a way to fund programs to help and serve people in need.
As a result of using volunteers and service organizers to further their cause, Somebody’s Attic brings an average of $106,000 a year to local abuse-prevention causes.
All donated items that have not been sold or cannot be stored are given to other charitable organizations.
Somebody’s Attic takes donations on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 12 noon untll 4 p.m.
New store hours are Mon., Tue, Fri. and Sat. from 12 noon until 4 p.m. Social distancing is expected masks are required and groups of over two people are discouraged.