About 30 people crowded outside on the sidewalk downtown
Saturday waiting for the strike of 9 a.m., like baseball fans
waiting for tickets going on sale, like concert-goers assuring
they’ll get seats for the next, greatest show, as if there’s
another Harry Potter book the rest of us hadn’t heard about.
About 30 people crowded outside on the sidewalk downtown Saturday waiting for the strike of 9 a.m., like baseball fans waiting for tickets going on sale, like concert-goers assuring they’ll get seats for the next, greatest show, as if there’s another Harry Potter book the rest of us hadn’t heard about.
But it doesn’t take a new book, a new season or a new album to attract this regular line of devoted, anxious, window-peering customers.
It doesn’t take anything new, in fact.
These folks get their juices flowing for a regularly rotating offering of the best stuff other people don’t want anymore – used furniture, DVDs, clothes, coffee mugs, books, shoes, holiday decorations, pretty much anything – and lots of it.
Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning, Hazel’s thrift store at Hawkins and San Benito streets opens at 9 a.m., meaning a swarm of eager shoppers will usually start to gather anywhere between 8 and 8:30 in the morning.
Caroline Cervantes of Hollister came by last Tuesday an hour before doors opened because she saw a couch that had been dropped off over the weekend. She had to have it and asked the Hazel’s volunteers to set it aside for her.
“That’s pretty good for $30,” said Cervantes, who noted she sometimes joins the morning crowd because Hazel’s has “bargains all the time.”
And it’s not just the low prices attracting these thrift seekers, as Cervantes’ friend in line, Terri Andrade, pointed out.
“They have really great stuff,” said Andrade, also of Hollister.
Among the patient shoppers Tuesday peering inside the store, sitting patiently in a car, chatting with regulars or merely standing there waiting for 9 a.m. was Al Cebel.
Toward the line’s front, Cebel, of Hollister, said habitual customers are “kind of like family” because they see one another so often. He said it’s just a comfortable place to be around.
“They treat you good here,” he said.
This regular morning rush and a constant stream thereafter has brushed aside any concerns about Hazel’s moving into the larger, more expensive building last year from the prior location near Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.
Hazel’s is run by the hospital’s auxiliary and volunteer group. Its proceeds funnel to the hospital for scholarships, equipment purchases and other expenses. The auxiliary, for instance, plans to pay for a new emergency room, noted Susan Bryant, a volunteer working at the store Saturday.
The store has been busier than ever since moving into the larger, more prominent location, she said. The mass of patient shoppers still usually fluctuates depending on such outside factors as the weather and how many garage sales are happening that day.
There’s still a good chance that dedicated group of regulars will show up most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, though.
“It is a hunt and peck, but some people love that hunt,” Bryant said.
As far as financial concerns go, she pointed out that the store nearly makes the entire rent during the first week of the month – with about $4,200 earned on those three days alone. In the past, Hazel’s has earned more than $100,000 annually for the hospital.
That constant stream of revenue has something to do with a continual flow of goods hitting the store shelves. The difference between Hazel’s and most other national thrift chains is that those larger organizations collect donations all the same but then divvy them out from a central location based on an area’s economic makeup, Bryant said. So some chain thrift shops get much better items than others.
“What we have in here today might not be here Tuesday,” she said.
The auxiliary ideally would expand its days and hours of operation, but the store’s success and ability to stay open depend on the number of volunteers who can work.
And Hazel’s is always looking for more volunteers – especially those willing to carry loads of donations.
“We’d love to have more men,” Bryant said.
HOW TO VOLUNTEER AT HAZEL’S
WHAT: receive and prepare goods to sell, help customers or pick up donations
WHEN: shifts are usually four to six hours weekly
HOW: get an application at the store or hospital
