Ye Olde Rummage Shoppe, Still Going Strong for SDS

Ye Olde Rummage Shoppe, headquartered for several decades at 119 North Main Street in Lamar, remains in full operation and is currently seeking donations of clothing for the family. Annabelle Munoz and Loretta Johnson, long-time volunteers, were on duty Tuesday afternoon, February 28th.  Johnson recollected that she has been volunteering her time for around twenty-five years.

“We’d like to discount some rumors around town that we’re closing the store, or are about too, and that’s not the case at all,” they explained, adding, “We’ve been doing this for years, and although sales are a little sluggish, we have no intention of closing our doors. We are always looking for donations and that hasn’t changed at all.”

Johnson said they have a need for volunteers as well, “Most of us have been doing this for a number of years and we’d like to attract some younger people to help us out.” She explained that the staff has some flexibility to list their own hours when they’re free to help out.  Hours are 9am to 4:30pm, Monday through Saturday.  Johnson said the Shoppe was a vision and an outgrowth of Parents of the Handicapped from over 40 years ago, when parents would hold bake sales to raise funds for various functions.  “Annabelle’s mother used to make burritos all the time for us. There wasn’t any funding to help us with the projects when this started, so it fell to the parents to raise the funds.  We used to be in the old bus depot building and eventually bought the building on North Main Street that had been Clara’s Café.  We began raising funds centered around Billye Spaar’s work with Melvin Hendrickson and afterwards, our efforts went to SDS.”

Close to 95% of the daily transactions are for family clothing, with racks and racks of jeans immediately evident when you enter the store which has two main rooms for display. “People are dropping off their clothing all the time,” explained Annabelle Munoz, “and that is our fastest sale item.  We also carry a lot of name brand clothing.”  She said it’s not out of line to have people from out of the area stop and shop as well.  “We had one fellow from out of state several years ago, who dropped off some Tonka trucks that his kids no longer played with, and I think they were gone in no time at all,” said Johnson.

The funds enable SDS to conduct several annual activities including their well-known Christmas Party, complete with Santa and presents, the Halloween Party which is also hosted at the Lamar Elks Lodge and the summertime party at the Lamar Swimming Pool. “Some of the other favorites include trips to Rockies’ games and a big hit is the trip we take to the zoo in Garden City,” said Johnson.

If people are going through their closets for spring cleaning, be sure to bring the ones you’ve outgrown to Ye Olde Rummage Shoppe any weekday.

By Russ Baldwin