Opening of Thrifty & Nifty at new location greeted with big crowd rush

by Dan McClelland

The long-awaited opening of Tupper Lake's popular Thrifty and Nifty department store happened Wednesday. There were as many people through the front door of the former Grand Union and Rite Aid stores after the 10a.m. opening, as there were over 40 years ago when Tupper Lake's Ames Department Store opened in the Demars Blvd. Plaza.

Ironically, that's exactly where the thrift store has been situated for years. From narrow quarters one spot in from the west end, with permission later from the plaza owners, Thrifty and Nifty expanded in phases into the former Ames space, eventually filling the entire space.

That first day on Park St. saw hundreds of shoppers. The volunteers to assist them were out in force.

A tired but still enthusiastic Phyllis Crate, who owns and directs the not-for-profit thrift store operation, was pleased to see the big turn-out for their first day at the corner of Wawbeek Ave. and Park Street.

Phyllis started her community-minded business about eight years and it has become a retail place many here, particularly the low-income, have come to depend on.

Phyllis and her small, but dedicated band of volunteers, have been moving for weeks- loading their thousands of pieces of merchandise into private pick-up truck and hauling it from The Boulevard to the new uptown business district.

Don Bennett and his contracting team extensively renovated the white concrete block building this past year, to prepare for Don's new tenant and the only department store Tupper Lake has now.

The building has been vacant in recent years and considerable decay took place in the unheated quarters before Mr. Bennett bought it.

The walls of the interior of the building were taken right down to the studs and all ceiling materials were removed and replaced, as part of the ambitious renovations by the Bennett company.

All new plumbing and electric systems were installed, as were four new, independent propane-fuelled furnaces in the full basement of the place sufficient to heat the store in the winters ahead. Large metal vents from the furnaces extend up into the main floor. Considerable insulating improvements were also done by Don and his crew.

Part of the roof of the building now has a new rubber membrane. New air conditioners are awaiting installation and should be in place soon.

The spacious ground level quarters also now feature new restrooms for both the public and the staff, as well as a staff room with kitchen and table and fitting rooms. All are found in the rear of the building.

“Everything is brand new!” exuded consummate Thrifty & Nifty volunteer Shelly Brown. Shelly and her sisters are some of the mainstays of the place.

A new check-out counter has been installed along the front of the store, with lots of room in front of it for shoppers to maneuver and prepare to check out.

Shelly took us downstairs into the basement into what is the new staging area for the operation. That's where the volunteers in charge of each department- clothing, footwear, furniture, etc.- now organize their donated products and plan for their arrangement on the retail shelves on the main floor.

The large basement quarters is not quite as large as the main floor, but it offers the department heads lots of rooms to spread out their goods and plan for their trip upstairs.

A section of the basement has been leased to Dawn Sauve and Holly Sauve Clark to operate their craft business, according to Shelly.

Much of the merchandise that is still arriving daily from the old quarters is first moved into the basement for sortation.

A huge pile of hangers, for example, stands ready for the clothing that will be hung on them for display up stairs.

One section of the basement is set up to organize boxes and boxes of children's clothing and toys. That department is directed by volunteer Serena Clement.

The Christmas and holiday section is directed by Shelly's sisters, Ann Martin and Jane Denis. A part of the basement is devoted to their colorful items for sortation and preparation for their holiday shelves upstairs.

Shelly has a number of tables in the basement too for her bedding products, footwear and winter wear which she oversees. Another volunteer, Maria Twyman of Wanakena, helps Shelly in that department.

Right now all of Shelly's summer shoes are on display upstairs and will be switched as the seasons do. Dozens of yellow boxes on tables in the basement is how the merchandise is moved between floors.

On some of the boxes are written the words, “Shelly's Shoes,” and that means “Don't touch them,” she said only half joking. She admits she's bossy.

“Now we have room to organize everything,” she said of the staging area in the basement. Before volunteers had to use the unheated, unloading space with its 20-foot high ceiling in the rear of the former Ames Department Store to try to organize the various types of goods.

Products also come to the store's shelves from storage rooms on the main floor.

Mike Sparks recently gave her a hand organizing and setting up dozens of dozens of tables in the staging area, she noted on opening morning.

The Boushie girls- Rita, Shelly, Ann and Jane- know what's good and what isn't from years of patronizing local garage sales and auctions. So they know what people want at the local store and they know the value of merchandise.

Shelly admitted last week that when she finds a gem among the goods donated, she never buys it and takes it home. “There is nothing here that spins me, because I see so much of it. I might see ten pairs of nice boots, but so what? How many can I wear? I don't bring anything here home, because I'm just not that type. I don't need a lot of things!”

“People come into the store and say they need this and they need that. That's not how I fly!”

So why does she go to so many garage sales? “Because I tag along with those sisters...it's an outing I guess!”

She said the sisters go to Albany shopping three days each year and this year she told them she had to stop. “I don't buy anything...the only thing I buy is lunch!”

Shelly and Ann Martin showed us the store's new handicapped section, with a full line of crutches and things to assist people with disabilities.

It's not uncommon for Ann to work double shifts at Sunmount and then stop at the store to volunteer her time.

Several other volunteers maintain the book department in the store, from where novels and periodicals are sold and replenished with donated ones.

Ann made all the attractive signs above the doorways to the various rooms which tell people what's inside.

The volunteers that help Phyllis at the thrift shop have been moving merchandise for over three months, and for much of that time the new quarters were unheated. To say many are worn out is an understatement.

Right now too the old quarters are still open, as the volunteers look to sell some of the old inventory, rather than move it.

Don Bennett plans to install new rubber floors in the many aisles of the new space this fall to make it comfortable for shoppers to stroll and shop there.

Thrifty & Nifty now occupies 10,000 square feet of space on the main floor and 7,000 square feet in the basement. The front part of the main floor is built on a slab. The former Ames store was much larger- about 35,000 square feet of space. The staging area in the basement has made the retail operation more fluid and more efficient now.

“We had a lot of wasted space before,” noted Ann Martin.

The store in its new location now features all kinds of household goods, furniture, men's, women's and children's clothing of all types and sizes, sports apparel, bedding goods, footwear, and just about anything you might find in a for-profit retail department store. Some of the older style goods on the shelves take us back to an earlier time and frequently trigger memories.

-And browsing those shelves in those many departments, can be just plain fun! Stop by today!

The summer hours are 10a.m. to 5p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays. The store is closed Monday and Tuesday, to give the volunteers a break.

The store is starting to receive donated goods again this week but Mrs. Crate reminds supporters to please drop them off only when the store is open and asks that people do not leave merchandise outside when the store is closed.

For information contact (518) 359-5222.