Thrift Shopping Boutique Style

Shepherds Stuff, the latest thrift shop in Loganville, offers boutique-style shopping on a thrift store budget.

Shepherd's Staff Ministries director, Megan Herndon, opened Shepherds Stuff last month as a way to help boost the Shepherd's Staff food bank, but she wanted to make it a pleasant shopping experience as well.

“When people come and shop we want it to be the whole shopping experience – not cluttered,” Herndon said at the official Grand Opening of Shepherds Stuff on May 5. “So we have it separated into little boutiques where people can really feel like they’re boutique shopping. The clothing is all donated, but many items still have the tags attached.”

Herndon, who took over the directorship just a few months ago, said she found people who came to the food bank often asked where they could get clothing as well. From that, they came up with the idea of using the extra space at the location for the thrift store. Customers of the food bank can get vouchers for clothes, but the public is free to shop as well. There also is a special place set aside for those families whose need is more desperate than others.

“We are working with several homeless families in the area. We have nine at the moment that we have committed to helping find a permanent home and this helps us do that,” Herndon said, adding that homelessness ranges from a family being split and living with different relatives to some living out of their cars or even in the woods.  She said the situation in the local area with regard to the homeless if bad, and not getting any better. “When I first started we had about 30 families considered homeless in some form or another. Now we have about 45.”

So if you’re a fashionista on a thrift store budget, Shepherds Stuff is just the boutique for you. You can get that shopping fix without breaking the bank, and help others in need at the same time.

The store, located at 76 Bay Creek Road, Loganville, is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. If you have clothing you can donate to help in the mission, information on how do do so is available here.

Shepherd Staff is one of the three finalists for the Patch Newsletter giveaway. The competition ends at 11:59 a.m. on May 22.