Humane Society Shop thrives in first year
Carolyn Powers and Kyle Segars are among the dedicated volunteers who run the Re-Tail Therapy Resale Shop in Hartsville.
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
The Re-Tail Therapy Resale Shop is getting ready to celebrate its first anniversary in downtown Hartsville. In the past year, volunteer Kyle Segars said, it has been amazing to see the support from the community.
“The last year has been very, very good,” Segars said. “People have been very generous.”
Everything that the store, which benefits the Darlington County Humane Society, sells has been donated and volunteers work hard to make sure it is in good shape when it is put out on the sales floor.
“Everything that we get, we clean it, we fix it; we have a lady that paints,” Segars said. “Everything that we put out is in nearly perfect condition.”
The word is slowly getting out about the shop, Segars said.
“We have people who have come in from Bennettsville; we have people from Charlotte who do business in Hartsville and they don’t leave Hartsville without coming here,” Segars said. “We are getting our clientele. A lot of it is word of mouth because some people think that we have dogs and cats in here and not merchandise.”
Sometimes the first year of a new business can be the hardest and Segars said that the humane society volunteers and supporters decided that the least they could do is try.
“We said that if it didn’t work all we had to do was pack it all up and have another big yard sale,” Segars said. “We just renewed our lease though so it is has worked out good.”
Carolyn Powers, another dedicated humane society volunteer, said that she is currently the only store volunteer from Darlington, though she would like to see that change.
“We need more volunteers, that is what our biggest thing is,” Powers said. “We have four people a day that work and the shifts are easy. This store and the humane society support the whole county and it is important that we have input from everyone.”
The store has made roughly $75,000 for the humane society, though that is just a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of operation and care of the animals.
“In 2015, we spent almost $800,000,” Powers said. “It takes so much to do what we do.”
Segars agreed, saying that the money from the store, and the yard sales before it, is split between several areas of operation for the humane society.
“Rescue gets the first $30,000 that we make each year,” Segars said. “After that, it is split between the rescue, the bridge facility, which is the holding facility for the healthy animals ready to go out on transport, and the actual shelter. Every bit that we bring it, other than our rent, phone and electricity, goes to helping those animals. We are all volunteers so there is no salary.”
The Re-Tail Therapy Resale Shop is located at 149 W. Carolina Avenue in Hartsville. They are open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.