Thrift stores didn’t make Idaho’s ‘essential’ list. This is the triple-whammy result
The day after Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued the three-week stay-at-home order March 25, St. Vincent de Paul closed its six Southwest Idaho stores and laid off 40 workers.
The order allowed only stores that the governor’s office considers “essential” — including grocery and convenience stores, gas stations, hardware stores, gun shops and liquor stores. Although thrift stores serve a low-income population that oftentimes has limited options, they weren’t mentioned on the essential-services list.
St. Vincent de Paul provides about $50,000 of free clothing and furniture every month to low-income people who are issued vouchers, Ralph May, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul of Southwest Idaho, said by phone.
“We kind of considered that to be an essential service,” May said. “But we didn’t see it within the order. We didn’t try to fight it because we didn’t see within the order a lot of flexibility.”
Along with St. Vincent de Paul, two other Southern Idaho thrift store operators, the Idaho Youth Ranch and Goodwill, shuttered their 18 stores.
The results? Store workers lost their jobs. Customers on tight budgets have fewer options for buying goods. And the services the thrift stores support — food banks at St. Vincent, help for troubled teens at the Youth Ranch, job training at Goodwill — have temporarily lost a source of funding.
(While St. Vincent confirmed its layoffs, neither the Idaho Youth Ranch nor Goodwill could be reached Friday for comment on their workforces and services.)
“There’s no one to blame,” May said. “We operate on a very tight margin, so there’s not much slack to be able to continue to pay everyone.”
Most if not all of the laid-off workers have applied for unemployment benefits, he said.
May plans to rehire all of the workers when the stores reopen. He’s not confident, however, that they’ll be given the green light when Little’s order expires. (And it increasingly seems likely to be extended: Little said Thursday night that “something will take its place.”)
“Although we should be able to start back again on April 16, I would say that’s certainly in doubt,” May said.
May said he worries about those employees and the struggling families who rely on thrift stores. St. Vincent provides a large number of vouchers that allow poor families to obtain clothes, furniture and other household goods without charge.
The closures will put more pressure on the stores once they do open, as they face pent-up demand.
“That’s a big concern of ours,” May said. “You think about someone who has just moved into an apartment, a lot of them don’t have much in the way of furniture and other furnishings.”
When the stores reopen, May expects they’ll still be under state orders to continue social distancing and to limit the number of people who can be in a store at one time.
“I don’t see that it will be business as usual,” he said. “It could take up to two or three months and maybe more.”
Sales from the thrift stores help pay for groceries for five food pantries that St. Vincent de Paul operates in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell and Mountain Home.
Without thrift store sales to sustain the pantries, St. Vincent has had to rely more on donations, he said.
The Boise pantry is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. at 3209 W. Overland Road.
Pickups have doubled in the past couple of weeks, as the pandemic has worsened and more than 900 Idahoans had tested positive by Friday for the virus that causes COVID-19.
The Boise pantry typically serves about 1,000 to 1,100 families a month. Last week, 566 families picked up groceries, he said.
To protect those families and pantry volunteers, customers are no longer allowed inside the pantry building to shop. They’re asked about their wants and any food allergies. Volunteers assemble a box and bring it to the recipient’s car.
“We keep everyone safe,” May said.
This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
