Saturday, September 23, 2023
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
  • Calendar
Arlington Today Magazine
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • People
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • People
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Arlington Today Magazine
Home Commentary

Lots in store – literally

ArlingtonToday Magazine by ArlingtonToday Magazine
May 27, 2018
in Commentary, Community, People, Wellness
0 0
0
Lots in store – literally
0
SHARES
235
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Ebby Halliday April 2020

 

Related posts

Happenstance or Destiny?

A Richard and Sylvia Greene Honor That Will Last A Lifetime

September 6, 2023
Jack’s Snacks

Jack’s Snacks

September 6, 2023

Only a stone’s throw separates the old Wesley Mission Thrift Store from the new location, but the difference seems miles away. “It’s just night and day,” says Greg Smith, director of social enterprise for the Wesley Mission Center. “Because of space limitations, everything was overfull and hodge podge. When we came here, we were very intentional about providing a good shopping experience with wider aisles and matching fixtures.”
The thrift shop, which finances outreach for the Wesley Mission Center, moved from 777 Walnut Creek Drive in Mansfield to 703 E. Broad St., on March 1. “People who know us from the old store stop and go ‘wow!’” Smith says. “They say it looks like a nice store, not a thrift store. Everything feels better when it’s lighter and brighter. We’re getting a lot of new customers because we’re in a store front.”
The new thrift store is just the start of a wave of new beginnings for the Wesley Mission Center. First, there’s a new name – the Mansfield Mission Center. “It was started by the First United Methodist Church, but separately incorporated five years ago,” says Carmin MacMillan, executive director of the mission center. “We really felt to be able to partner with the community the name change was important, to be seen as a community initiative instead of one church.”
In 2016, the mission purchased the new thrift store space – and the entire 33,000-square-foot shopping center where it is located. “Our vision was having a home in central Mansfield that would allow us to grow,” MacMillan says. To that end, the new thrift store has 7,500 square feet of retail space, compared to 4,900 square feet in the former store, plus a huge intake space where donations can be stored, sorted and priced.
Plans are already underway to move the rest of the mission – food pantry, financial coaching, ESL classes – into a 10,000-square-foot space next to the new store by next year. The mission, which is still on the First Methodist campus, is adding job skills classes taught by Tarrant County College professors. When it moves to the new space, it plans to add drop-in space for computer work and childcare for people in training.
Moving the thrift store first was important, MacMillan says, because it’s the engine that powers the mission. Seventy-five percent of the mission’s revenue ($800,000 of its $1.4 million budget) is generated by the store. “We’re three times what we were three years ago,” MacMillan says.

And light years from where the thrift store began in 1979.

“It started as a yard sale by the women’s group at First United Methodist Church,” MacMillan says. “They had so much stuff left over that they kept doing it. They had it in a Sunday school class, and at least three different locations before moving to the current First Methodist campus. It was in someone’s garage.”
When First Methodist moved to the corner of Pleasant Ridge Drive and Walnut Creek Drive in 1981, the Wesley Mission opened in an 1,800-square-foot building, moved into a new building in 2000, and that was expanded in 2007. For the past six months, Smith has been working to move the thrift store into its new digs. “Our pricing strategy is: we will be the cheapest,” Smith says. “We’re in the thrift store shopping business, not the thrift store sitting business.”
Longtime thrift store shoppers know about the prices, and they appreciate the new store. Sales were up 50 percent the first month the new store was open, Smith says. “It’s bigger, cleaner, more organized,” says Sam Danti of Mansfield. Terre Sumpter of Mansfield also appreciates the larger space: “You have a lot more room to spread things out. It’s a lot easier to look at clothes. It’s very organized. The people have always been very nice. I love it that they take that much pride in what they do. I also like that it’s Christian-based and they help the community.”
So what’s next? Renovations to the exterior of the shopping center and the parking lot, MacMillan says, along with starting construction later this year on the new mission center. And after that? “I think it will be things that nobody expects us to do,” MacMillan said. The Mansfield Mission Center Thrift Store is at 703 E. Broad St. Hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday. The Mansfield Mission Center is at 777 Walnut Creek Drive.

Tags: First United Methodist ChurchWesley Mission Thrift Store
Arlington Parks & Rec Oct 2020

Follow Us

  • Marie’s Cherokee Lounge celebrates 60! Celebrate with us in the link in our bio!
  • It’s raining FUN with Arlington’s Value of Water Mini Poster Contest! 🎨 Grab your art supplies, your WATER colors and submit TODAY! 🌧️
  • Long Live our Levitt! Read our exclusive interview with Letatia Teykl in the link in our bio!
  • Read how Richard and Sylvia Greene have made their mark on Arlington in the link in our bio!
  • Are you up to date with Arlington? There’s only one way to find out! Click the link in our bio.
  • This Hilton is Homewood SWEET! 🦆 Read about TCC Graduate, Mark Amin, and how  the Travel Sports and Legacy Foundation guided his path to General Manager in the link in our bio.
  • This Patriot Day, we honor and reflect on the brave men and women lost on 9/11. May we #NeverForget. 🇺🇸
  • Jack’s Snacks are providing a taste of inspiration! Read all about Jack Richardson’s story in the link in our bio.
  • ✨Give three cheers for 60 years!✨ Celebrate Marie’s Cherokee Lounge by clicking the link in our bio.
  • 12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • March Scene

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Visionary Who Didn’t Give Up

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Boot-scootin’ Boogie

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • In case of emergency: Mansfield Fire Department introduces the ‘Vial of Life’ initiative to keep residents on the ready

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Arlington Texas Area News and Events Magazine

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • TCC Graduate Appointed General Manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton
  • A Richard and Sylvia Greene Honor That Will Last A Lifetime
  • Pearl’s Cherokee Lounge Turns 60

Category

  • Arlington News
  • Business and Education
  • Commentary
  • Community
  • Design and Interiors
  • Featured
  • People
  • Scene
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellness

Recent News

TCC Graduate Appointed General Manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton

TCC Graduate Appointed General Manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton

September 10, 2023
Happenstance or Destiny?

A Richard and Sylvia Greene Honor That Will Last A Lifetime

September 6, 2023
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
  • Calendar

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • People
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist