Sniffing out deals

Thrift store supports Humane Society

Bev Finch prices clothing at the Bargain Hound Boutique in Batesville. The thrift store supports the Independence County Humane Society.
Bev Finch prices clothing at the Bargain Hound Boutique in Batesville. The thrift store supports the Independence County Humane Society.

— With clothes, trinkets, furniture and books, thrift stores are a popular destination for shoppers looking for a deal. What makes that deal even sweeter, though, is when the money goes to a good cause.

The Bargain Hound Boutique, at 228 Ramsey St. in Batesville, may seem like other thrift stores in town, but there are hints throughout the store that indicate what makes it different. As soon as shoppers walk through the front door, there is a grouping of items to the right that includes pet-food bowls, pet shampoo, pet medicine and figurines of cats and dogs. Those items may be found at other thrift stores, but the quality and quantity of the items indicate something might be different at Bargain Hound.

A quick glance at the store’s logo shows the silhouette of a dachshund behind the store’s name, and the words under the name confirm the purpose of the thrift store: “Humane Society Thrift Store.”

Bev Finch, Humane Society of Independence County shelter director, started the Bargain Hound Boutique three years ago to help support the shelter financially.

“When we built the shelter — we are about to celebrate our 13th anniversary there — we were thinking we’d get a lot of volunteer labor to help out,” Finch said. “Our volunteers worked a little while, but then they got pooped and would move on. We had a little nest egg — a lady died and left us a little bit of money — but it was rapidly going away to the tune of $60,000 a year. At that rate, we were going to have to close in five years.”

Finch said most of the outgoing money was going for paychecks for shelter employees because the volunteer flow had not kept up with the shelter’s needs. The choices were to go through the nest egg and shut down when the money ran out or to come up with another plan.

“Too much of my heart and soul were in it to just let it go away,” Finch said.

On a visit to the Humane Society of North Central Arkansas in Mountain Home, Finch discovered that shelter has a thrift store that financially supports the shelter’s work. The visit planted the idea in Finch’s mind to look into starting a thrift store, but a lot of other Batesville organizations have thrift stores to support them, and she wasn’t sure if a Humane Society thrift store could weather the competition.

Later, Finch was in Searcy at a veterinarian’s office, and the vet encouraged her to start a thrift store.

“He’s on the board of their shelter, and he told me, ‘Ya’ll have got to get a thrift store,’” she said. “He pulled out a pencil and said, ‘Look at this pencil. You can sell this pencil for a nickel. It may not seem like much, but it’s a nickel you didn’t have, and it didn’t cost you anything.’”

Soon after that, the Bargain Hound Boutique opened. Finch said the community has embraced the store, and there is a steady flow of regular donors and shoppers that have made Bargain Hound a success in the past three years.

“The community has supported us wholeheartedly since day 1, even when we were looking around for a location,” she said. “I think this is a great location. I wish we were right on Harrison Street, but you can see Harrison. The landlords here — Mr. and Mrs. Bob Sweet — they have been kind enough to give us a really good rent rate. They’ve been supporters for years.”

All of the profits earned at the Bargain Hound Boutique go straight into the shelter, and Finch said this has slowed down the depletion of the shelter’s nest egg.

“We’re down to only going in the hole $27,000 last year,” Finch said. “We’re eating into our nest egg still, but it’s not as rapidly.”

For more information on the thrift store, visit the Bargain Hound Boutique’s Facebook page. For information on the Humane Society of Independence County, visit www.hsicpets.org.

Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.

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