Everything Must Go: Local Thrift Shop to Close After Seven Years

A local thrift shop operated by the Fort Lee Community Fund, which provides assistance to Fort Lee residents in need, will close its doors permanently at the end of June after receiving notice that it had to vacate its current location and failing to find space to house it.

The Second Look Shoppe has been operating out of the ’s C.Y.O. basement for seven years, but fund officials received a letter from the church in April saying it needed the space for other purposes and that the thrift shop had until June to move out.

Fort Lee Community Fund President Joan Alter said Monday that in spite of their best efforts and those of others who tried to help, the community fund board couldn’t find an appropriate space to continue operating.

“The mayor has been looking for us; we’ve all been looking all over,” Alter said. “There’s no place that fits us as well as that extra building at the Madonna Church. It was across the street from the senior center. A lot of people came from there. The Department of Human Services could send people there—because it wasn’t too far from their offices—when they needed clothing. And it had a lot of space.”

Alter also said the soon to be former space provided easy access for people who wanted to donate large amounts of clothing.

“It was perfect for us and easy for cars to park,” she said. “People that wanted to donate clothing and bring in heavy armfuls of clothing could park right there.”

As a result of being forced to close, Alter said, the Second Look Shoppe has to “get rid of everything” by the end of the month, and is therefore offering 75 percent off its entire inventory until it does close.

The nonprofit Fort Lee Community Fund provides one-time, crisis assistance to Fort Lee residents who don’t qualify for state aid but still need help.

Alter previously told Patch “the shop is our main way of raising money to help these people,” but she said Monday that the community fund plans to “continue functioning for as long as we can.”

“We’re a very small board,” she said. “Once a month we meet at Borough Hall, but it’s just when we have a case. If somebody goes for instance to Human Services, and they don’t fit in their guidelines and need us, they call us, and we email each other, and we interview them and decide … quickly and get the money out as needed. We’ll operate for as long as we can, just unfortunately without the shop. We were there seven years, and I’m glad the church is growing. But that’s the end of a run.”

The Second Look Shoppe’s hours until the end of June are Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The final, 75 percent off sale will continue until the shop closes.