Higher Standards and Fresher Furnishings

The airy, open atmosphere of The Church Mouse somehow seems even fresher today. Long recognized as feeling more like visiting the home of a friend than a thrift store, The Church Mouse has worked long and hard to offer a different kind of experience. Our efforts to be a different kind of thrift store – a boutique thrift shop – got an unexpected boost and blessing as one result of these many months of pandemic precautions.

We find that folks are even more eager than ever to donate fine furnishings, jewelry, housewares, clothing, and furniture. It seems that those months of stay-at-home precautions gave people a whole new look at their homes. Suddenly, home was no longer a hub for outside activities, but rather an all-encompassing environment, where work and play took place, right in the same locale as family life. As the other side of that coin, people sought to update, upgrade, and make their living environment much closer to their heart’s desire than ever before, sending them in search of new and different items with which to decorate and populate their homes.

Setting a Higher Bar

People emerged from this experience setting a higher bar for home. Needs that people had put off could no longer be postponed. New requirements for home took shape. For example, while once that third bedroom was plenty for serving as the at-home office, a place where occasional take-home tasks were accomplished, it no longer was quite good enough after spending workday after workday there. Add to this the experience of inviting coworkers to join us there in video calls, and clearly better arrangements had to be made for the home office.

The freedom that came with working from home took shape on a number of levels, including the growing realization that commuting distance was becoming a moot point. The sum of these experiences, for many folks, was to insist on improving their home environment, up to and including moving to a new and different home.

The Abundance of Choosing

And so, donations got even better, and shoppers became even more selective, all of which leads more and more people to discover The Church Mouse, and to make our boutique thrift shop their own. As a source and a destination, we have been fortunate all along, developing grants that help to fund worthy local charities and also missions abroad.

Perhaps a less cheerful result of the pandemic is that the need for what we do at The Church Mouse has grown, too. And so, our gratitude for donors, volunteers, and customers is greater than ever in our 20-year experience. Please stop by for a visit, and find your own place in this story of blessings to our community.