Easy to Do the Right Thing

From the beginning, the volunteers who started The Church Mouse were intent on making it easy for Hilton Head Island visitors and residents to do the right thing. Finding new homes for the nice things we’ve been fortunate to use and enjoy – and supporting worthy local charities while we do it – was the basic idea. Making it easier was what set us apart just a bit. Our location has much to do with that.

Quite Close to a Hub

Always located not far from the Sea Pines Circle, the central point of “south island,” where the original vision of a world-class resort began, the Arrow Road site of The Church Mouse makes it the nearest thrift store for visitors to the Sea Pines Resort, as well as Forest Beach and the upscale neighborhood of Wexford. This favored location might also have something to do with the unusual quality and selection people find among the well-loved items people donate for The Church Mouse to sell.

Certainly, our location makes getting here for a quick look around an easy choice, whether the day you’ve planned is busy or languid. People say when they come through the door that it’s a bit more like visiting someone’s home. The selection of clothing, jewelry, and even furnishings and décor for a vacation home, is easy to check out. Our bright, airy interior is a welcome contrast from what many expect to encounter at a thrift store.

A Circle of Good Works

The circle of good in which The Church Mouse plays a role begins with gratitude. A newcomer to Hilton Head Island remarked recently, “I was astonished by the amount of charitable effort people make here. You see it all around.” When people come to the Island and relax, it seems natural that they realize how thankful they feel for the chance to be here, whether for vacation or for everyday life. Behind the flair and quality of the items people find and buy at The Church Mouse – some call it unique among thrift stores – the secret of success is the guiding impulse behind it all.

The proceeds from fulfilling this mission create waves of benefit that radiate from The Church Mouse throughout our community, and beyond. Each year, proceeds from The Church Mouse sales go to about fifty local and regional charities. And so, when you patronize “the nearest thrift store” here on Hilton Head Island, you feel the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing well by doing good.

The Quality Can Surprise

The things people find to buy at The Church Mouse were well loved, and too good to retire. Instead, donors bring them here for a new chapter of their working life, in a new home. It is a role that we are happy and grateful to fulfill – connecting the chapters of the useful life of these fine goods. Our donors chose wisely when they selected these items. Our shoppers choose wisely again when they take them home.

A second home on Hilton Head Island has been the fortunate destination for discerning folks for generations, and this does much to explain the surprising quality of the selection shoppers find at The Church Mouse. Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, and Lily Pulitzer are just a few of the designer labels that find a second home from the local thrift store, when they are donated for sale at The Church Mouse. Furnishings from Henredon and Drexel Heritage, too. Home chefs – and the families that benefit from their passion for cooking – find the well-made means for cooking and serving that makers such as Le Creuset and Waterford can provide.

Best of all, some say, is the feeling that they’ve done the right thing when they donate or shop at The Church Mouse. The welcome people get from The Church Mouse volunteers plays a big part in that feeling. They’re dedicated, surely, yet they’re also having fun. This is the favorite charitable endeavor of some of the Island’s most interesting people.

We look forward to welcoming you to The Church Mouse, a boutique thrift shop where donors, volunteers, and shoppers all discover the joy of doing well while doing good.