Used items lead to new connections at Middleboro thrift store
One of the longtime volunteers at Nearly New Thrift Store rings up a customer on Nov. 20. Photos by Grace Roche
The Nearly New Thrift Store, located at 58 Union St., stands next to the Church of our Savior in Middleboro. 
Long-unsold items get placed in the "quarter room," an area where everything is priced at 25 cents. 
The quarter room stands at the back of the store, full of clothing and toys. 
Along with helping oversee the store's operations, Pattie Stagiola also helps other volunteers sort and shelve items. 
Books are among the many household items for sale inside the store. 
A customer peers at jewelry displayed near the front of the store. 
With the turn of the season, Stagiola said the store is at capacity for winter accessory donations. 
Stagiola helps volunteers individually tag newly-acquired inventory. 
Many lightly-used appliances line the shelves of the store.
One of the longtime volunteers at Nearly New Thrift Store rings up a customer on Nov. 20. Photos by Grace Roche
The Nearly New Thrift Store, located at 58 Union St., stands next to the Church of our Savior in Middleboro.
Long-unsold items get placed in the "quarter room," an area where everything is priced at 25 cents.
The quarter room stands at the back of the store, full of clothing and toys.
Along with helping oversee the store's operations, Pattie Stagiola also helps other volunteers sort and shelve items.
Books are among the many household items for sale inside the store.
A customer peers at jewelry displayed near the front of the store.
With the turn of the season, Stagiola said the store is at capacity for winter accessory donations.
Stagiola helps volunteers individually tag newly-acquired inventory.
Many lightly-used appliances line the shelves of the store.
MIDDLEBORO — When Pattie Stagiola first stepped foot in the Nearly New Thrift Shop, she was looking for play clothes for her young children.
She began frequenting the store in search of affordable things for her kids to wear, hoping to preserve their school clothes for as long as possible.
As her kids grew up and she found herself with more time on her hands, Stagiola continued to spend time at the store in a new role.
She began volunteering there, and is now the co-director of the thrift store, where she oversees the products and volunteers filling the Middleboro business at 58 Union St.
“Everybody has their thing about being closer to God,” Stagiola said. “I feel like this is my role — helping people, putting a smile on their face.”
The Nearly New Thrift Shop does more than just sell used items. It offers help for people in need, a sense of community for volunteers and thrifters alike, and a welcoming shopping experience.
Beyond keeping the doors open, the income it takes in goes toward helping community members by providing them with clothes, food and financial resources.
The business is part thrift store, part consignment shop. The items meticulously sorted, tagged and placed around the store are sourced partly from donations and partly from consignors who receive half of each item’s price when they sell.
Stagiola said when people come to the store in need of clothing, volunteers will remove the tags of anything they bring to the register and give them the clothes free of charge. When they are consigned items, she said the store will “eat” the cost.
“If you came in and you needed anything, we’d just take the tickets off and not even ask a question,” she said.
The store also helps the community through a hunger fund that shoppers can donate to, which goes towards purchasing gift certificates for people who need food assistance. Stagiola said shoppers raised about $700 for the fund last year.
The Nearly New Thrift Shop opened next to the Church of our Savior in 1963, and while it is associated with the church, it runs independently.
When people come to the church for financial assistance, however, the funds they need often come in part from the thrift shop’s revenue.
Some of the volunteers who staff the shop are parishioners themselves, along with many longtime shoppers who volunteer their time.
One of these volunteers, Jeanne Turney, has been working there since she retired in 1997.
Turney said her time there is both a way to give back to her church and something that gets her out of the house and into the community. She said it is the people in particular who have kept her there for so long.
“It’s the atmosphere, the people I work with, and the people I've met over the years,” Turney said. “Some of them feel like old friends, and you see them every week, or every couple of weeks.”
Stagiola said many volunteers, like Turney, have worked there for years. She said even former volunteers who have moved away will come back to visit the shop and “see the girls” they used to work with.
Some customers also make it a point to visit when they’re close by.
Nicole Rando, of Taunton, said she stops by Nearly New any time she is in the area.
She discovered the shop when she happened to be in Middleboro dropping her daughter off for a class, and went searching for area thrift stores.
Rando has returned several times since, and donned a pair of black fleece-lined boots she purchased at the shop for her latest trip there.
“Anytime I can come into this little shop, I come,” Rando said. “I don't live around here, so if I'm in the area, I always love to stop. They have the best deals and they're so sweet.”
