Two little sisters with matching black hair and mischevious smiles run ahead of their mother on the sidewalk and shove open the door of Gracie’s Thrift Store with a slam. The woman behind the counter greets them with a smile as she rings up customers in line. The girls’ mother anxiously comes through the door, pushing a stroller and scanning the room for her two impatient daughters. Seeing them content and at play in the toy section, she relaxes and begins to shop for her family.
Located less than a mile from ASU’s Tempe campus, Gracie’s has served the community for more than 40 years. Gracie’s is a non-profit, community outreach ministry operated through Grace Community Church. Though it relies on donations and volunteers to keep its doors open, Gracie’s continues to flourish. Dolores, known by her nickname Didy, has worked at Gracie’s since 1995, when she first moved to Arizona from New York.
“I had worked for 23 years in nursing homes where people didn’t talk back to me, and I knew the customers at Gracie’s would talk back, so I brought someone else to the interview with me, a younger girl, so hopefully she would get hired," she says.
Didy was hired on the spot and has grown to love Gracie’s.
“It’s a good place to work, it really is," she says. "There’s a lot of ministry that goes on here.”
Due to its variety of fairly priced merchandize, Gracie’s attracts a multitude of customers. Everything from clothing to furniture, books to kitchen appliances and bikes to paintings stock the shelves and wracks that line the overflowing building. Established in 1976, Gracie’s has stood the test of time and continues to serve the community.
“Working here keeps my mind occupied, so I don’t go cuckoo” continues Didy, an energetic 81-year-old who doesn’t look a day over 60.
Meanwhile, the mother stands in line, ready to make her purchases. She checks on the baby, now sleeping, and hums to herself, happy with the items that fill her cart. There's a glass serving plate with a domed lid for $8.50, a black leather purse for $3.25 and two almost-matching pink jackets for her little girls, both under $5. Not to be satisfied with just the jackets, the two sisters run up to their mother with dolls in their hands and pleading, doleful eyes. “Please, Momma? Please?” one asks, with her hands clasped.
In a time marked by financial struggles, Gracie’s Thrift Store has thrived as both a business and a service. Every March, Gracie’s offers a unique service for single mothers. The mothers can sign up in advance and bring their car to the store for volunteers to change their oil.
Another yearly event is the Children’s Boutique, held in the second or third week of December. Throughout the year, some of the best items are put aside for this event and then packaged in cellophane and tissue paper. One of Gracie's rooms is cleared out and lined with tables covered in white tablecloths. Each table denotes a different price range and is piled with the packaged gifts. Children line up outside the door, released into the room five at a time. They visit Santa and peruse the tables, doing some Christmas shopping for their family.
“The children are always so excited," Didy says. "They come out of the room trying to cover up what they bought so no one will see. It teaches them to give rather than to get.”
Named one of the best thrift stores in the Valley by the Phoenix New Times, Gracie’s offers a variety of wares, cheerful employees and a service-oriented philosophy, as evident in the missionary board on the back wall of the store.
The board reminds shoppers to keep missionaries in their prayers, and that any money spent at Gracie’s goes to a good cause, whether the customer is a starving student or a starving family.
Once outside, the mother strategically packs her new purchases into the stroller and covers her baby with a blanket as the family embarks on the walk home. The two little girls follow their mother down the sidewalk, hopping and skipping in their new pink jackets.
Reach the reporter at dkmcinty@asu.edu If you go: Gracie’s Thrift Store 1520 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe 480-967-5231, bit.ly/Gracies
