Architect's drawing of glove factory building front, following renovation, is at the bottom of this story -

“Would I purchase the item that I am donating?”

That’s a question Chrissy Lugibihl, manager of Et Cetera Shop, posed to Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce members during Friday’s chamber breakfast.

The question answered a question from the audience: “How do you decided which donated items are re-sellable and which one are not?”

Lugibihl shared the shop's mission statement, history and other details with chamber members. She also told about the plans for the non-profit business to relocate in the former glove factory on North Main Street.

The Et Cetera Shop, Inc., which operates the Et Cetera Shop, Book ReViews, and Ten Thousand Villages, purchased the Peerless Glove Factory building in January 2018. That building is now under renovation with an anticipated move set later in 2019.

Ten Thousand Villages and Book ReViews will remain in their present South Main Street location following Et Cetera’s departure to North Main.

“After some extensive renovation, the Et Cetera Shop retail store will move to the new location that will provide significantly more space for its operation and may allow for expanded retail offerings,” Lugibihl told the chamber.

The Et Cetera Shop, Inc., owned half the shares of the 111 S Main St., building where it operates the thrift store and Ten Thousand Villages. The new owner is Ray Raeburn, who says he intends to keep the Et Cetera Shop space as a retail outlet.

She added that after several years of searching and considering other options, the factory property became available, enabling the corporation to be the building owner. It will more than double the available space for processing and retail sales.

The Et Cetera board has hired RCM Architects of Findlay, to handle the re-design of the glove factory building. Several changes are planned once the move takes place.

• The entrance to the building will be on the southside instead of in the center as it currently stands

• The basement area, which can be viewed from the sidewalk, will be covered.

• The second floor will not initially be used for retail.

The Et Cetera Shop, Inc., has operated under the sponsorship of seven churches in the greater Bluffon-Pandora-Lima area for 42 years.

The following information was in a handout at the breakfast. It provides an overview of Et Cetera.

The Et Cetera Shop is a thrift shop with a mission.  We are non-profit organization dedicated to the ministries of Mennonite Central Committee, as well as the residents of Bluffton and the surrounding areas.

The Et Cetera Shop is one of over 50 thrift shops supporting the work of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).  MCC is a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God’s love and compassion for all by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice.

Our goals:
To accept donations.
To go through and sort the donations a quickly as possible.
To recycle and repurpose when able.
To offer goods a reasonable price.
To support the mission of MCC.

Where we recycle:
Prescription glasses- VOSH (this is a non-profit organization with the mission to bring vision to every person on the planet)

Winter Clothing- clothing is on a 4 week rotation, the winter clothing that has not sold during this time is picked up by a local woman and taken to various organizations in neighboring communities.

Housewares- housewares are on a 4-week rotation have been sent to the following:
Habitat ReStore (Lima)
Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen (Lima)
St. Mark’s United Methodist Church Food Pantry (Lima)
St. Rita’s Thrift Store (Lima)
Salem Mennonite/ Elm Street Church of the Brethren community meal (Lima)
Children’s Services Un-garage Sale (Lima)
Bradfield Community Center garage sale
Lima Trinity United Methodist Church breakfast free store (Lima)
Magazines- (outdated) recycled by volunteers

Shoes- (unsaleable) – are sent to BFR (Bluffton Family Recreation). The BFR does a shoe drive and through this program receives money.  This money has enabled the BFR to enhance the facility and offer programs.

Metal- (unsaleable) Gene Long (volunteer) offers his time and facility to collect and sort all metal donated to the shop. He then takes the metal to Northwest Recycling (Pandora), and brings us the  profits.   Gene has been doing this since 2007; since that time he has donated over $9,000.

Medical supplies- such as splints, wraps, blood pressure cuffs, monitoring kits, crutches, plastic pill bottles are picked up by a local woman and donated to a mission that reuses/ refurbishes/ recycles medical supplies.

Blankets & sheets- (unsaleable)- are donated to local humane societies and/or other animal organizations; some are cleaned by a local woman and donated to Family Promise in Lima.

Children’s clothing- children’s clothing is on a 4 week rotation.  The children’s clothing that has not sold during that time is taken by a volunteer to her son-in-law in Cleveland who then donates them to a mission for low income families.

Craft & sewing items- We have a local art teacher who has given us a list of items she would be interested in having.  Many items are things we would normally throw away.  A volunteer takes these items to her.

Items we throw away:
Soiled- feces, urine, blood, oil, dirt, wet
Odors- smoke, animal, body
Hair- pet
Broken- missing pieces
Baby items- we are by law required to throw away the following:  car seats, cribs made before July 2011 and/or any crib with drop down sides, walkers with a base smaller than 36”, playpens.
Unsafe- any items we have decided for any reason is unsafe.

Places we have donated items and/ or vouchers:

 Bluffton Food Pantry- St. John’s United Church of Christ.  2x a year 50 vouchers are donated to those picking up food boxes.

Serenity Living Center- Ottawa-  The Center was in desperate need of 3x and larger clothing

Bluffton American Legion Annual Golf Scramble- gift certificate

Library/ Shirley’s Popcorn Run/ Walk Literacy- sponsorship

Bluffton Business Fair- bags given to college students- offer for them to “fill for free” with clothing

Bluffton Ride to Remember- 200 coupons encourage each person to come in and get 1 free item of clothing.

Bluffton Relay for Hope- gift certificate

Local residents- the local schools and churches have vouchers from the Et Cetera Shop that they can give out as they see a need.

We try to keep our prices low.  We always have quarter clothing items.  We have Dollar Day every Monday.  We have had Quarter Week once a year for 2 years.

We are always looking for places and ways to improve.  Currently our space is very limited, and “saving” items is really not an option.  If you have further question and/or comments, please let me know.

Photo: Architect's drawing of glove factory building with renovation is completed.