CARIBOU, Maine — Volunteers and supporters of the Halfway Home Pet Rescue fundraising store Second Chance Thrift Store are currently reviewing closure procedures.
According to Norma Milton, president of Halfway Home Pet Rescue, there are several reasons that have forced the volunteer group to consider closure, including the lack of volunteer commitments and its labor needs versus usable income.
“The closure will cause Caribou to lose another active business entity much loved by its customers,” Milton said, “because all profits go directly into cat care for the stray, feral, abused, abandoned, ill and injured animals of Caribou and the surrounding communities.”
She said more than 3,000 animals (mostly cats) have been helped through the volunteer-based, non-profit rescue in the past 10 years.
Thrift store volunteers work a three-hour work shift per week as a sales clerk, but with several volunteer members moving away for the winter, and others becoming more elderly and unable to get around more in the winter months, there is just not enough volunteer help to keep the store open, Milton said.
Additionally, even though prices are low and the store has numerous 50-percent-off sales, some customers dicker with the volunteers for even lower prices. Milton explained that half of every gross sale goes toward rent expense, along with more funds for utilities, insurance and gas for the delivery and pick-up of store items.
“It figures out after all expenses are paid the total profit is now only an average of 12.5 percent of each dollar of sales,” she said. “This is not enough profit to seriously help with the cats’ daily care and medical bills.”
Previously rent was at 30 percent; an increase has made a big difference in the profit margin; however, many improvements had been made to the building by the new owner and directors felt the increase was warranted.
The third reason for closure, Milton said, came when directors reviewed the rescue’s mission statement. They acknowledged that the store has grown too fast and is not producing enough income for cats’ needs in relation to the amount of volunteer physical work needed to keep the store running.
Milton added that, in addition to the thrift store, the rescue may well have to discontinue its HHPR Pet Food Pantry, though all closure details are not definite at this time.
“Sadly, another good and ‘really fun’ business bites the dust in Caribou,” she said. “Our physical energy needs to go directly to our cat care and there just are not enough young people involved in volunteering to look to the future of the rescue and the store. Tough decisions had to be made.”
