Thrift Store East’s Grand Opening weekend celebration in August was an enormous success thanks to the support from individuals and businesses in our community!
During our three-day celebration, we served 421 customers at our new store at 5231 High Crossing Blvd. in Madison. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and shopped, we not only passed our sales goals, we crushed them EVERY DAY! In the end, we made $11,495 in net sales and raised an additional $385 in donations to support animals at DCHS and in our community.
The weekend not only featured lots of shopping – with 4,015 items sold! – but also special furry visitors from DCHS. Four animals found new families during the event: Puppies Rooks and Scotty, Pebbles the rabbit, and Short Ball the cat.
Our neighboring businesses also provided support for our weekend celebration: Greenbush Bakery provided donuts each day; Mr. Brews Taphouse, NCI-Roberts Construction, and Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Co. donated prizes for our prize wheel; Pizza Hut fed our staff and volunteers all weekend; Sondel Family Veterinary Clinic donated dog goodie bags; Steinhafels extended their Dog Day sale through our celebration; and Black Sapphire Tattoo held a flash tattoo sale and donated proceeds to DCHS. Thank you to these businesses for their generous support and kindness welcoming the new kid on the block!
DCHS Thrift Store opened as an “experiment” in January 2019. Since 2009, the original Grand Canyon Drive location had served as Adoption Center West to provide more housing for cats available for adoption. By the fall of 2018, adoptions had improved and the space was no longer needed for cat housing, so it was converted into a thrift store. When the lease expired in May 2020, the West Side store moved to its current, larger location at 6904 Watts Road in Madison.
In January 2024, Thrift Store West celebrated its 5-year anniversary. Through much of that time, community members had been asking us, “When will DCHS open a thrift store on the East Side?”
“It’s thanks to the support from our shoppers, donors, volunteers, and staff, that our West Side store has thrived, and we are now able to branch out to a second store on the East Side,” says Lisa Bernard, DCHS’s Development and Communications Supervisor. “We know that with our community’s continued support, our new East Side store will be a success, too.”
We appreciate the support both stores have we received so far, and the stores will continue to thrive with your continued help. Stop by Thrift Store West or Thrift Store East to shop gently used merchandise including clothing, décor, furniture, pet supplies, and more. Donate your gently used items to the West or East side locations. And if you’re interested in joining a fun team that does a lot of great work for animals at DCHS and in our community, volunteer at one of our thrift stores.
