New safety measures now in place at store
Volunteers from Cartecay United Methodist Church (CUMC) who run a downtown Ellijay thrift store want the public to know that the store has reopened with several new safety precautions in place.
“We may be the last store downtown to open back up. We’re definitely the last thrift store. We closed the second week in March and just opened up yesterday,” said Cartecay Thrift Store manager Bill Ford last Thursday. “We had to delay opening as much as we could because everybody who’s a volunteer is in that higher risk group. I am the youngest one at 69.”
Ford described some of the sanitary and safety steps that are now being taken at the store to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
“We used the time we were closed to clean and redo the store. We took out the changing rooms because we can’t let people try on clothes. We installed four hand sanitizer (dispensers). We’re wiping down everything and allowing only 10 people in at a time. We have chairs for people to sit in outside the store if there’s a wait,” he said.
Customers are encouraged to wear protective face masks when shopping and volunteers will be wearing them, too, Ford noted.
“We’ve been giving masks to customers if they don’t have one. We had someone from the church who made a lot of masks and we decided to give them away instead of selling them. If they want to wear gloves we have gloves for them, too,” he added. “We figure if we keep our volunteers safe and they reciprocate with the masks, then we should be in good shape.”
The thrift store at 374 North Main Street is not currently accepting donations, but that process is expected to start back on a limited basis later this month.
“We’re going to wait till July 24,” said Ford.
“When we get our bins full, though, that will be it. We’re only going to be taking stuff in one day a week, but we’ll be picking up stuff like furniture and appliances two days a week.”
Cartecay Thrift was started in 2008 as an outreach project run by church members. Proceeds from purchases made at the store are donated to multiple nonprofits and charitable organizations including the Alzheimer’s Association, Gilmer Christian Learning Center, Gilmer Kids Kottage, Rise Against Hunger, Promised Land Ministries, transitional housing program New Beginnings and the CUMC benevolence fund, Ford said.
“We also do a lot of stuff (donations) in kind,” he added.
Before beginning their first day of business in more than three months, volunteers gathered outside the store last Wednesday for two blessings, one in Spanish and one in English, given by pastors Oscar Carrasco and Mike Lowery.
“We had a good sales day, but I think there are people who are used to seeing us just on certain days and have not come in yet. We have a lot of customers who just come on, say, Thursdays or Fridays,” Ford said.
Cartecay Thrift Store’s new business hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday.
“Before, we were open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Our Saturday hours have only decreased by one hour because we previously closed at 4 p.m. on Saturdays,” Ford noted.