 "Photo: Matthew Brumbaugh/The Spectator")
Need to get rid of furniture at the end of the semester? Don’t miss out on an opportunity to donate unwanted items to benefit the community.
Hermitage House Thrift Store is founded on the idea of strengthening the community it’s a part of while teaching job skills to troubled youth in placement.
The thrift store offers merchandise for all ages and a wide variety of trinkets and hidden treasures for the average shopper. The thrift store has a section for children, furthering the idea of being a part of a successful community.
“The other day we sold a sandbox set that was probably worth $200, and we sold it to somebody for $90,” said Joe Hengle, assistant supervisor of Hermitage House. “This is a good example for how we are helping kids that are outside of our program but within our community.”
Furniture is the hot commodity for the store. The store owners take pride in offering quality furniture at below average prices. The storage space behind the store front has an abundance of furniture ready for sale.
Currently, the thrift store does not have enough space to sustain clothing racks and does not accept clothing donations.
The Hermitage House is exploring new ideas to reach more members of its community and expand its product line.
“Really, being successful to us isn’t a huge profit margin,” said Phil Skeba, training director at Hermitage House. “It’s being a part of a successful community and helping out where you can.”
Everything that the thrift store sells is donated by the public and other local businesses. With reasonable building rent and volunteers, the operating costs are low.
Donating to the thrift store can be used as a tax write-off, and the thrift store resells the items at a fair price, receiving a 100 percent profit; every penny goes to fund programs for the Hermitage House youth.
“Nobody gets taken advantage of in the thrift store because the profits go back to the kids,” Hengle said. “It’s a win, win, win situation.”
The goal of the store is to open its doors for business seven days a week.
“Right now we are only open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays,” said Ray Overholt, executive director of Hermitage House. “We just recently opened our doors for business on Sundays.”
The thrift store has license to sell, and the items that are sold have sales tax added.
The store is always lowering prices on items that are not moving, but it does not run on the barter system.
“If you want an item for a lower price, come back in a week or two. It might not be here, but if it is, the item will be cheaper,” Hengle said.
The youth that are in placement at Hermitage House get to work in the thrift store for an hourly wage.
The thrift store is apart of Learn, Earn and Payback [L.E.A.P.], a program Hermitage House offers to give kids on-the-job experience.
“The Thrift Store teaches our kids how to keep a tidy store, run a cash register, inventory and customer service,” said Overholt.
The thrift store also has a white box truck to pick up donated merchandise and makes deliveries to customers. Thrift store staff will pick up items for no charge and deliver purchased items for $25.
Hermitage House Thrift Store is located in the middle of the one-block business district at 233 South Main St. in Cambridge Springs.
Call (814) 734-4951 to schedule pick-ups for donations.
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