The Spirit of Giving at Second Hand Stores
Well it’s the Holiday Season again and everybody gets nostalgic strolling down memory lane. I’m sure you all have fond memories of childhood days when your excitement was at such a level about the gifts piling up under the tree that you had a hard time sleeping. In addition to our own personal remembrance of Christmases past, we are fortunate at the Arc second hand stores that we get to witness the spirit of giving as our customers shop for others.
The Magic of Christmas
Christmas is such a magical time when you’re young, going shopping with mom and dad, and seeing all the things you’d love to have. Watching TV and being bombarded with commercials showing the latest toys, you just knew you could pull apart old Stretch Armstrong. Or maybe that new Barbie doll house with the elevator and two whole stories of imagination to play with.
Then of course, there’s waking up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning and all of a sudden there seems to be twice as many presents under the tree as there were the night before. I don’t know how my parents managed it with me and my four brothers always trying to find their hiding spots. I still think they involved my oldest brother in some kind of conspiracy to lead the rest of us astray, although to this day he denies it.
Anyway, mingled in with all those fun times are the memories of all the relatives and friends coming over and bringing something really good to eat, or if you were lucky, more presents! I still remember talking with my grandmother on the phone every Christmas afternoon because after she got to America on the boat from Ireland she swore she would never travel again. She spoke with such a strong Irish accent it was hard to believe she wasn’t still in County Cork. It’s funny how as the years go by the remembrances of family and loved ones slowly take on more importance than all the gifts, but it’s the combination of the two that makes this time of year so special in our hearts.
Our Customer’s Spirit of Giving
Lately, I’ve had the great joy of working in the Paradise Arc second hand store. It’s been a great and fun challenge learning all the ways of being successful in a new sales environment. The store resides in a small town so it didn’t take long to recognize our regular customers and their individual methods of turning shopping at second hand stores into something truly extraordinary. It’s amazing how many people are purchasing things for somebody else’s pleasure. There’s Dianne, a retired clothing designer, who even though she’s on a fixed income, purchases Teddy Bears and the linen necessary to turn them into Knights and Damsels for kids who are battling cancer at local hospitals.
We recently had a very nice woman who found and purchased a piece of what looked like Scottish plaid. I commented on how soft it was and she informed me that she was buying it for a friend who had recently had a stroke. She was going to make him a bib that looked like an overall by sewing some straps to it. The care and imagination for her friend were truly inspiring.
This time of year a lot of people are in the market for Christmas decorations and you’ll always find a large section in the Arc Store for these items. Today I sold a small artificial Christmas tree to Dru Meloche. She said her friend was getting out of the hospital and wanted to surprise her with an impromptu Christmas tree already set up for the holidays upon her arrival at home.
The simple fact is there are so many wonderful people who through thoughtful and imaginative second hand shopping continue to make the holiday season a warm and special time of year for others. Here at the Arc second hand stores, as we take in all the generous donations from local residents, I remind myself and my staff of how special these items could be to someone in our community.
Merry Christmas from the Paradise Arc Store!
