Lion’s Den: Purchases support the community

TEMPERANCE — Savvy shoppers sift through racks of donated clothing in search of fashion brands and unique home décor at the Bedford Lion’s Den Resale Shop.

The affordable prices keep customers coming back to 8946 Lewis Ave. in Temperance.

Open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, volunteers help run the business.

Clothing can be found on racks with a separate section for hard goods. In the north room, items like shoes, toys and bedding can be found.

Laurie Althaus, Bedford Lion’s Club president, said the resale shop has been around for about four decades and operates based on donations.

“We accept clothes, shoes, hard goods such as dishes, pots and pans, knickknacks, DVDs, CDs and record albums along with books, toys, bedding,” Laurie Althaus said. “We take just about everything except furniture. The building is not big enough.”

The resale shop was the brainchild of Alice Hershberger and Judy Paul.

"The first Lions Den resale shop was located in the bottom floor of Lions members Chuck and Darlene Greer's duplex which stands right behind Maggie's Cafe on Temperance and Lewis Avenue," Todd Hershberger said in an email.

Hershberger's grandfather, Donald Corbin, painted the first sign for the den that was mounted on the side of the building.

"Myself and many of the children of the Lions members spent time getting the den ready for opening by painting, setting up shelves, etc.," he said. "The den finally opened in September of 1978."

The current location was formerly the Crary Drug Store and a portion of the building was rented to another business.

“Crary moved across the street to a new building and that’s when we bought it,” she said.

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Resale shopping appeals to all economic levels and is gaining popularity, according to the National Association of Resale Professionals. Data indicates there are more than 25,000 resale, consignment and not-for-profit thrift shops in the U.S.

“Everything we don’t use to maintain the building goes right back into the community,” Althaus said. “We support a lot of nonprofits.”

In addition to supporting other organizations, the club awards scholarships.

“We did 20 scholarships this year,” she said. “We had extended it to 17 and the historical society gave us a donation with the stipulation that we use it for scholarships. We upped the scholarships to $3,000 apiece.”

Althaus says, over the years, the shop has grown “by leaps and bounds.”

“Since we’ve moved in to this building, we upped our budget because we’re doing so well,” she said. “During COVID, we got our name out there.”

During the pandemic, the club would purchase meals at cost from the Erie Restaurant and Bar in Erie and pass them out from the den’s parking lot on Tuesdays on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“A group of us would box them up and bring them back over the den and stand out front,” Althaus said. “We would have a lineup of cars waiting to give meals to. We passed out 150 meals every time we did it. We kept it up for the community until we could see things were turning around and getting better. We gave out a total of 6,500 meals. That got our name out into the community and people really started to donate and support us.”

Although the store stays busy throughout the year, before and after Christmas may be its busiest shopping season.

“Now, it’s summer and people are on vacation so we’re not as busy as we were in the winter months,” she said. “The appeal to shopping at the store is the price and the quality. We keep our prices way down so anyone can afford to come in and shop. When someone finds a good deal, they’ll tell us.”

Althaus said helping those in the community is a priority to the club and its members. Schools will often contact them for students needing clothing and shoes.

“We can do that because it’s all donated and we have people supporting us, so we want to support the community,” she said.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the shop or how to donate can log on to the club’s Facebook page or website

— Contact reporter Lisa Vidaurri-Bowling at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Lion's Den Resale Shop supports other nonprofits