Today we’d like to introduce you to Bonnie Tomski.
Bonnie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We have been a thrift shop for over 75 years. First as the OSU Folk Club Thrift Shop, and more recently we are doing business as Corvallis Community Thrift Shop. Every penny of profit from our Shop returns to our community (Benton County) as scholarships to Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community College as well as grants to local non-profits. Last year we awarded $134,000 in scholarships and $86,000 in grants. Our income comes from selling donated items from the community. We have one part-time employee and 45 volunteers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We had to close down for 13 months during COVID. Prior to that we earned our money by taking in consignments. When we reopened we began selling only donated items from our community. This has proven to be very successful and our income increased dramatically. Our community is very supportive, especially as all scholarships go to local students and all grants are to local non-profits.
Attracting and keeping volunteers is a continual challenge, but we make it work. Also, our building is too small for our business so we are making small improvements and hope to submit a grant to make some interior structural changes to enable us to handle our workload without cutting into our current retail space.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As I am writing this for the Thrift Shop, I do not know how to answer this question. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and include young students.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
The community is very generous and supportive of our endeavors. Often people who donate tell us that they received a scholarship from us and that their children did as well. They want to pay it back by volunteering and donating. We want the community to realize that this is THEIR thrift shop. It is by them and for them. If the community remains supportive, this organization can continue providing scholarships and grants for another 75 years.
What we like least, which is a minor problem, but a problem nonetheless, is we are downtown where parking is an issue, and free spaces are few and far between.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://corvallisthriftshop.org/
- Instagram: Corvalliscommunitythriftshop
- Facebook: Corvalliscommunitythriftshop
