News

The Country Closet Thrift Shop in Plain City, Ohio, opened for business only one month after a fire destroyed their former location, including all the inventory and fixtures.

On September 4, lightning struck the MCC thrift shop early in the morning, which ignited a fire that began in the back of the building. Thankfully no one was hurt.

In what Sharyn Yoder, manager of the Country Closet, called “the Lord’s timing,” the thrift shop had already purchased a new building in August, as they were looking to expand. With the original plan not to open at the new location until late October, none of the inventory had been moved yet and a donation enclosure needed to be built onto the new building.

Once word got out of the fire and total loss of everything in the building, the community responded. “It was out of this world,” said Yoder. “We were overwhelmed by the amount of donations we received in the last month.”

According to Yoder, it wasn’t just people from the Plain City area that acted. “We had people from everywhere come and bring donations,” she said. “They kept saying, ‘we heard you had a fire and thought you could use donations.’”

The shop was given shelves from a bookstore that went out of business and from a local restaurant that was remodeling. The only thing the thrift shop had to buy was some clothing racks.

The new location, a former Amish furniture store, is significantly bigger than the building that was destroyed in the fire, so there is more room for the flood of donations. “So many people comment that this is the nicest thrift shop they’ve ever been in,” said Yoder. People are even volunteering their time to work in the new thrift shop.

“We saw the hands of the Lord in this,” said Yoder, “and we praise Him for what we have.”

Country Closet is one of 12 MCC thrift shops in the Great Lakes region. To learn more about MCC thrift shops and to find one in your area: thrift.mcc.org