Her 3 Boys Nifty Thrifty, located next to the Salvation Army Service Center at Hayes, is now being run by Fred Brown and managed by Tanya Buck of Gloucester.
The store was formerly called the Nifty Thrifty and was being rented for several years by Anthony Pollard. Prior to that, the store was called Vintage Thrifting.
“It’s very exciting,” Brown said. “It’s a challenge, but I am excited to be doing it. It’s something that we have been talking about doing since the beginning of last year.”
Buck spoke about how she enjoys being a part of Her 3 Boys Nifty Thrifty.
“It is also really fun,” she said. “It’s emotionally rewarding being a part of the Gloucester fabric, fabric of the kind of community. We have gotten to know so many great people who do a lot of wonderful things and get to feel like we are a part of everything.”
The store, Her 3 Boys Nifty Thrifty, is named after Brown and Buck’s two sons, as well as Brown himself. The couple’s sons—Victor and Cuinn Barton—spend a lot of time in the store when they are not in school, especially on the weekends. Mary Plage of Yorktown also volunteers in the store often since her recent retirement from nursing after 34 years.
Brown is a military veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years. After he retired, he worked for the shipyard for 20 years. After the shipyard, Brown was looking forward to doing something during his retirement that was fulfilling.
Her 3 Boys Nifty Thrifty store sells antiques, vintage items, clothes, housewares, tools, books and much more, at discounted prices. All items have been cleaned or washed prior to being put on the shelves.
“Anything here, you can wear out,” said Buck. “I think that’s important. Anyone who has been a shopper at a thrift store, it drives you nuts if you buy something and then you can take it home and can’t immediately use it. You have to go through a process. Plus, the fact that we are sometimes giving to those in need and they may not have the ability to be able to get that (taken care of) or time to get that taken care of.”
Buck spoke about her love for her customers, whom she sees as family and friends.
“That’s what I love and that’s what he loves too,” said Buck. “When we see the joy that someone gets from when they got stuff from us they are super excited about, it makes you feel passionate to want to keep making things better and better.”
The store also works with multiple organizations as community partners to help those in need. They held a visit with Santa last year for the community, which they plan to make an annual event. Santa handed out vouchers for a child to take it to any of the Gloucester libraries to pick out a book of their choosing from the Friends of the Library book sales.
“We did not want our Santa to be materialistic,” said Buck.
She explained that some families may not have as much of a budget to the mall to spend money to see Santa and spend money on the photos.
“We gave away books and toys and snacks and drinks,” said Buck. The couple “got to learn a lot more about people here and they got to learn a lot more about us. It was a fun time had by all for sure.”
The store, at 7057 Linda Circle, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The store number is 757-771-5989.
