When the Assistance League Thrift Shop opened a quarter-century ago on Fourth Street, it helped lay the groundwork for the area to become today’s Retro Row.
Capitalizing on nostalgia, and shoppers looking for bargains, the Assistance League Thrift Shop this summer is celebrating its 25th anniversary on Fourth Street, where it serves as a centerpiece of the funky vintage shopping district between Cherry and Temple avenues.
Few other Retro Row pioneers have more longevity in the business district than the charity thrift store at 2100 E. Fourth St., and Assistance League Thrift Shop chairwoman Liz Breslauer said she and the store’s other volunteers are delighted to see how the street has transformed around them.
“Retro Row is really a happening place now, and we like to think we are part of that,” Breslauer said.
The thrift shop specializes in high-end clothing, accessories, home décor and housewares that are donated to the shop and sold to benefit the Assistance League of Long Beach’s community programs.
Money raised stays in Long Beach — where the Assistance League’s female ranks have been delivering philanthropic services to Long Beach residents for 76 years.
“We use the funds from the store to directly benefit kids,” Breslauer said.
The organization got its start when a group of women began meeting as a way to support the war effort during World War II. Today, the organization has adapted to the community’s needs, moving from rolling bandages for the war to now providing school uniforms, low-cost orthodontics and mentoring, among other services, for impoverished children.
“My favorite story about the store is the time a man came in with his kids to donate some items, and he told us that he and his family cleaned out their closet for us because he was one of the kids who had been helped by our orthodontic program,” Breslauer said.
The thrift shop itself is actually about five decades old but was moved from its original location to Fourth Street in 1991 — preceded only by Retro Row’s Meow vintage clothing shop, Portfolio Coffeehouse and Golden Burger restaurant.
Assistance League Thrift Shop manager Tricia Atkinson, who has been the only full-time employee of the store for the past decade, is there most days with a rotating crew of nearly 200 volunteers donning blue aprons.
“We’ve been rockin’ Retro Row for 25 years,” Atkinson said. “We offer good, clean merchandise here at affordable prices, whether you are looking for vintage clothing, or just a good deal, or both.”
Most pairs of jeans, for example, cost $6 at the store. Shirts are usually $4. Specialty items are priced higher, but everything — from the kitty collectables to the usual ceramic bedpan that was once donated — is meant to be bargain, Atkinson emphasized.
The prices are set by Atkinson and her teams of volunteers, who go by cutesy nicknames such as “Bin Babes” and “Linen Ladies.” Different Assistance League committees specialize in various products, from boutique wares to fine dishes to gently-used shoes.
“Our volunteers do a lot of research and really become experts, and some of them have never worked in retail before,” Atkinson said, noting too that some of folks behind the counter are special-needs students who learn how it all works right alongside the volunteers.
No one ever quite knows what they will find at the store, which has new merchandise on the shelves every day. Breslauer said part of the fun of volunteering there is being one of the “Bin Babes,” sorting through the donations and trying to guess what some of the unusual items are.
“It really takes a village,” Atkinson said about how the community comes together to volunteer, donate and shop there in support of a good cause.
To celebrate the store’s 25th year on Retro Row, the Assistance League Thrift Shop will be open extended hours this weekend from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5-6, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7. There will be cupcakes and discounted items.
