Since 2011, Interfaith Outreach has run a thrift store on the corner of County Road 6 and County Road 101 N. offering high quality secondhand clothing, jewelry, furniture and household goods. The store has become well-known and well-loved throughout the community as a great place to both shop and serve. After rebranding this fall, the store changed from ReSale 101 to Resale Select. Despite the name change, the store’s bargains and mission remain the same.
Resale Select is one of many services run through Interfaith Outreach, which has served families and individuals throughout the northwest metro since 1979. Through job counseling, housing support, children and youth programming and a food shelf, the organization works to ensure that community members’ needs are met so that they go on to live their best lives. Resale Select, with its emphasis on affordable clothing and other day-to-day essentials, is one key piece of that puzzle.
“Part of the reason we exist is to make quality clothing and household goods available to the families we work with—free of charge—and to provide those goods in a really respectful and dignified way,” says Liz Erstad-Hicks, Interfaith Outreach community engagement manager.
The other part is to raise funds for Interfaith Outreach. Resale Select also serves as an ongoing revenue stream to support the organization’s many programs meaning the store is open to all community members. “We want the community to shop here,” says Deb Lande, Interfaith Outreach marketing and communications director. “When they shop here, they are not taking things away from clients.” Each month, 15 percent of Resale Select’s profits go directly back to clients in the form of store gift cards, and the remainder goes to support the many other services Interfaith provides.
The warm, welcoming atmosphere and emphasis on quality set Resale Select apart from other thrift stores. In fact, it feels more like a boutique than a secondhand shop. “We hear this every day from our shoppers, from our volunteers, from our donors: 'you guys have something unique here,'” Erstad-Hicks says. The store’s new name reflects all that makes it special, particularly the care and attention that go into each element of the shopping experience, from hand-selecting donated items to the friendly service.
With the store’s new name also came a new tagline: “Do Good, Feel Good, Look Good,” which reflects the many different ways community members can engage with the store. “You can donate, which is obviously doing a lot of good to our store,” Erstad-Hicks explains. “You can feel good by volunteering here and contributing your time, and obviously, you can look good by shopping here for really quality things.”
Staff members emphasize that none of the work they do would be possible without the energy and dedication of their many volunteers. “The entire organization is built on volunteers,” Lande says. About 100 people volunteer at the store on a weekly basis, doing everything from accepting donations to marketing specials to assisting customers.
Throughout Resale Select’s five-year history, more than 1,400 people have collectively contributed 98,000 hours of time to the store. One of them is Debby Vanderheyden, a Wayzata resident who says that she loves the sense of community and fulfillment that Resale Select provides her. “You just feel good coming here,” she says. “You get so much enjoyment and good relationships and just feeling good about what you’re doing. What you get back is so much more than what you can take.”
