Valley Humane Society Thrift store succeeding beyond anyone’s expectations

Published 11:50 am Wednesday, March 18, 2015

The Auburn Valley Humane Society wanted to fatten its revenue stream so workers and volunteers at the A Street Southeast animal shelter could do more for the creatures under their wing.

And do all that good stuff seven days a week.

Such was the idea behind the launching of the Valley Humane Society Thrift Store and More in the former Peckenpaugh Drugs store site at 1123 E. Main St.

But to say the store has succeeded since its August 2014 opening is an understatement. Then the far-off dream was for the store to generate tops $250,000 to $300,000 a year, shelter director and store proprietor Phil Morgan said at the time.

“We were kinda hoping that we would grow into ourselves, and we came out doing $25,000 to 30,000 a month, and we’ve done that every month since we opened. So there was no growth curve; it was all tsunami,” Morgan said this week.

Which surprised everyone.

“You put together a business plan that hopefully anticipates growth, and when you reach your maximum capacity the first month, and then continue at the maximum capacity — way beyond our expectations, by the way — it’s good and bad,” Morgan said. “Of course, it’s good when you have more money than you expected, but it’s also hard because it doesn’t give you a chance to ramp into your business.

“We’ve been doing a lot of seat-of-the-pants kind of stuff. And we’re finally to the point where we are caught up,” Morgan said.

Front to back, east to west, north to south, up and down, the store bursts with clothes, posters, dishes, desks, mirrors, here a plastic pig, there a wooden rhinoceros, the ordinary and the anything-but ordinary, in abundance.

“Look, we even have a bathroom sink,” Morgan said. “Kitchen sink hasn’t made it yet.”

And what does all the extra revenue allow the AVHS shelter to do?

Well, since Jan. 1, it has allowed the shelter to be open seven days a week

It has allowed the shelter to launch an animal food bank project for seniors.

It allowed it to start a humane education program and a pets domestic violence program.

And it has allowed the shelter to bring in an animal behavior expert 20 hours a week to “temperament test” the dogs, giving shelter personnel a better sense of what sort of home the animal should go into, as far as the dog’s interactions with kids and cats.

Vendors pay to rent booths, and everything they sell is split with the store, so at the end of a month each vendor gets a check.

It is not the first thrift store Morgan has been associated with in his many years of working for nonprofits.

“The public wants to donate, they want to support a lot of people who like to volunteer for the organization, but they don’t like to volunteer at the shelter because puppies and kitties make them sad,” Morgan said. “People are here for the cause, and this gives them a chance to support the organization, and it allows us to have an additional revenue stream.”

Morgan said this particular thrift store differs from others in one important respect.

“Others are just all thrift store, and we wanted to be a bit more than that. There’s not a lot of consignment shops in town, and I’ve got spaces you can rent, put your stuff in them. I provide you with a bar code, so when your item comes up, I can scan it and keep track of it, and at the end of the month I cut you a check for 70 percent of it, we keep 30 percent,” Morgan said.