Bargain Basket Retail Store Closing for Summer

While shoppers are grabbing their final bargains during the Bargain Basket’s 50 percent off the entire store sale through July 3, the popular thrift store is still accepting donations in the back of the store. And loyal shoppers will be glad to know they can still find bargains on the Bargain Basket’s e-commerce sites.

“This week we're preparing the store for renovation,” said Bill Johenning, who has managed the Bargain Basket, a mission of the United Church of Marco Island, for five years. “After July 3, our physical brick and mortar store will kind of be on pause while we transition everything to our e-commerce sites. But our work doesn't end. We're still here to help the community and those in need. We're making a plea to the community to help us replenish the store because after July 3, the original part of the building has to be brought up to current code. The ceilings have to come down. They're going to be adding a dressing room, all new lighting. They have to put in a sprinkler system. So it's a significant project that’s unfortunately not going to allow us to have customers in the store while they do that. We're going to be adding a lot of parking. So there's going to be some excavation work going in the front, which makes the front of the store inaccessible. We'll be working in the new building and donations will continue to be received."

Digital sales and marketing coordinator Jennifer Abreu handles the Bargain Basket’s e-commerce operations.

"While our in-store is pausing,” Abreu said, "we're going to be doing periodic Facebook Live broadcasts through the Bargain Basket.”

Facebook Live is a feature that allows users to broadcast real-time video to their audience.

“We're going to have links to our eBay store so people can still shop over the summer. They can see what we have and then they can shop on our eBay store and pick it up here on Marco Island. We just try to sell what we can and get it back into the community and keep it out of the landfill."

The heart of Bargain Basket's new structure is a 2,800-square-foot area for intake and processing donations. A loading dock with a lift ramp at the donation receiving area is a welcome addition to the army of volunteers who previously had to sort donations in the heat, then march them up a flight of steps.

"This is a huge improvement for our staff and volunteers who’ve had to lift all that heavy stuff up and down into the building every day,” Johenning said. "They don't have to do that anymore. All this will be climate-controlled for them and it's gonna be great. A lot of the changes are about safety and infrastructure. First and foremost is safety. We wanted to get people off the alleyway, which was always an issue with donations. Our volunteer and staff team would have to enter the alley to take these donations. Trucks and cars would be zooming by. Now with this new building, the cars pull off the alley and up to the building. Our staff and volunteers don't have to be in the alley.”

There is also a big overhang for protection from the elements.

"They're under cover now, so if it's inclement weather, they're protected. That was kind of priority number one with the new building. Priority two was there just wasn't enough parking for our customers. So a good bit of land all along the side and the front of the new building are getting regraded for new parking. We're adding 29 parking spots, which is wonderful for those who know how challenging it is to park here.”

While their store is closing for the summer, there’s still a lot going on behind the scenes. The first objective is emptying out the store.

“The idea is we have to clear all this out,” Johenning said. "We have to put all the fixtures into storage, and then we'll be next door rebuilding our inventory. We'll store everything there. We have some storage pods outside so that hopefully by October, we'll be back up and running if all goes well. We've got to have enough donations come in so that we can completely restock the store, have a great grand re-opening in October with all new stuff for our wonderful customers to see. It's an opportunity for us to get all new inventory. We just felt it would be better to kind of start from scratch, so the store has to get completely emptied out. It's an opportunity for a fresh new start."

But that doesn’t mean you’ll be walking into an unrecognizable store come October.

“We did a survey before we even started this project,” Johenning said. "We surveyed our customers and one of the main things that came back to us, besides the need for more parking, was please don’t build some grandiose type store that's all brand new. They love the quirkiness of the store.”

Bargain Basket knows its customers. There’s a bond between staff, volunteers, and customers. That bond starts on the sales floor.

"You know, there's what, ten different types of tile on the floor here,” Johenning laughs, “that's because the store was originally a flooring store. We're not going to change that. That just adds to the quirkiness of the store. Those kind of things won't change. Will we rearrange things? Sure. Will they be positioned differently? Sure. There will be all new inventory for them to look at. It'll be brighter. It'll be painted better. It'll be roomier for them. But it won't be like walking into a brand new store. And again, that came directly from the feedback our customers gave us: ‘Please don’t change it too much. We love it the way it is.'"

There will be more retail space in the new store since the back-of-house operations have been moved into the new building.

“The store itself will get rearranged a little bit,” he said. "The area that we currently process in will become added retail space. I think we're adding something like 1,000 square feet. The whole back area gets redone with retail. We get an additional fitting room that's ADA compliant.”

The men will be happy to know they won’t have to turn sideways to slip by other customers at the clothing racks.

“The men’s section is getting completely relocated,” Johenning said. "We're kind of creating what we call the man cave. So we're going to put all the electronics and all the men's clothing together in the back corner where we process today. So it'll be much roomier. The customers can get in and out of the racks. It will be a much, much better location for them."

Johenning’s current office is being turned into a bathroom.

"That's right,” he jokes, "where I sit today will be tomorrow's throne. My office becomes the new bathroom for the volunteers."

And while the store may be closed for the summer, the Bargain Basket’s mission does not stop.

‘The community has been so good to us,” Johenning said. "We're so blessed that they just continue to support us from shopping, to donating, to volunteering. We are super hopeful and confident that they'll continue to support us because our work doesn't stop because the retail side of things is on pause for a few months. We have so many charities that we support year-round with clothing and house goods. We support a charity out in Immokalee that gives clothes away. We'll still take donations for the food bank. We help the women's shelter for ladies who are in transition and need temporary housing and stuff. All this stuff still goes on. Even though we're closed, the need is still there. This is not only about rebuilding our store with inventory. It's about us having the capability to continue to help the local community as those needs pop up."

Johenning equates the Bargain Basket’s success to the importance of each leg on a stool.

“Donors, volunteers, and shoppers,” he said. "And without any one of those three legs, the stool is going to flip over. You need all three of them to support the organization. And they're all wonderful. The donors just continue to give. And not only do they give to us, they give us beautiful stuff. We're in a very blessed community here that has the ability to do that. And it all goes back to well, what do we do with the money? 'If I give this to you, what do you do with it?' Number one, I hope they're confident in the fact that we'll do our best to get a fair return on the donation they gave us. So in turn, we can help more people. When you look at all the charities that we help, they know they're supporting a good cause. They know that this is helping a lot of people in the local community. We're oftentimes told the quality of what we get here is superior to what's at other thrift shops. And I truly believe it. And that's really because of the goodness of everyone here on the island and surrounding areas that support us."

The second leg of the stool is the customers.

“Our shoppers,” Johenning said, "I have a lady coming today from Miami. As soon as she heard the sale was on, she said, 'I'm going to be there first thing in the morning.' She drives all the way over from Miami to come shopping here. We have customers that come down from Sarasota and the Tampa area to shop here. They just love it. It's almost becoming this cult following. They just love this store.”

The third leg of the stool is volunteerism.

“The customers are being welcomed when they come in,” Johenning said. "Our volunteers do a great job of making everyone feel welcomed and helped. And it's a great treasure hunt every day. You can find that great outfit or that great shirt that you just love, or that piece of jewelry, or whatever it is. You find it at a great price, and you get excited about being here and finding those things and that keeps them coming back. They find those types of treasures, really good treasures, good quality stuff. And the electronics, they test everything before it goes out to make sure it works.”

Johenning points out that the Bargain Basket’s success means they can give more to the people who need help.

"As the donations increase,” he said, "the outflow of donated money to other organizations increases. More money than ever has been given away. We've just surpassed the $9 million mark in total giving back to the local community."

Johenning estimates that the Bargain Basket gives $400,000-$500,000 a year. “We just flipped the $8 million mark just a couple years ago,” he said. "And now we're flipping to the $9 million mark. Now that we're up there and we're growing, it's just exponential.”

That’s why having their big, new processing building is so important. Johenning stresses that all donations are important.

"You're never in a position where we have too much inventory,” he said. “We have a secondary charity that we work with. They come, they pick it up, and then they in turn distribute it globally, Costa Rica, South America, Central America, places like that. We always try to find homes for things. We'll give things away if something isn't right for our store. We'll post it on Facebook as free. We'll put it out back here with the free sign on it so people can take it. Like today, we have a whole big bucket of loose light bulbs. Anything that we can just give away to customers, we'll just give it to them. We always try to find a home. A huge aspect of the store is the environmental impact. We talked about why should people give? Well, hopefully if you decide, ‘Well, gee, should I throw this away or should I not?' Don't throw it away. Try to find a second use for it. It’s the same for us. Not only are we trying to find a second use, we're trying to find a third or fourth use. Our bags and boxes, everything is donated, reused stuff that we use here in the store. That's all stuff that probably would have ended up in the landfill."