I walked out my door moments ago and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the line of people waiting to get into the Opportunity Shop. The other day they had pants for .50 cents a pair and obviously they're holding yet another big sale.
If you've never been there, they have a ton of great deals. Forgive me if I'm repeating myself but a friend of mine told me recently that he has a friend who has NEVER shopped in a clothing store in her entire life. She shops at stores like this and has always worn designer clothing her entire life. Most of which still had the tags still on them.
People tend to grow larger and have a ton of clothing in their closets that end up in shops just like this one. So if you have the time, drop in and visit them and see for yourself just how great this little secret shop actually is.
I find the belief system down there these days very fascinating (personally, I believe it is the water). If only we could see this level of passion and intensity at monthly council meetings and in the voting lines come election day(s), these people wouldn't be peering in the window of a ragged building that looks like it was just mailed here (postage due)from Newark.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that Louise Smith in a straw hat in the center of that picture?
ReplyDeleteHey Livingston-- let me see if I read you right: If more people would turn out to vote and attend council meetings, then folks wouldn't go bargain clothes shopping? Are you trying to make some sort of extraordinarily naive connection between civic involvement and a drastically improved quality of life for EVERYBODY? Do you have a problem with the less fortunate being able to buy $1 shirts and $2 pairs of shoes?
ReplyDeleteJoe, you are really "on" with this information. My wife has purchased what she says are $100 dresses for a couple of bucks and I have purchased Geoffrey Beane or Lands End shirts for a dollar. Excellent opportunities with these businesses and I would encourage all to visit them to judge for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe oppotunity that americans aren't seeing with the economy, is that everyone is starting to shop around and pay attention to what they are spending and finding out that they can be just as happy in life with a $1 shirt as they can a $40 shirt. This bad economy is going to make consumers pay closer attention to what they are being charged. $10 does matter in everyones budget today and should all the time, bad or good economy. When the economy gets better we should continue to live like with have with the bad economy and start savings some money for future needs.
ReplyDeleteAre they open every day or just certain days with certain hours??
ReplyDeleteOK HERE'S THE DEAL!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThey are open Thursdays and Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
ARE YOU READY?
ALL CLOTHING IS NOW .25 CENTS EACH!!!!!!!!!
Better hurry Folks because people are shopping!
My problem is just what you paraphrased. There seems to be so much demand for cheap clothing (food, shelter, health benfits)that you wonder why a disproportionate few in this area seem to be so disproportionately well off. Have you been to Newark? If not go downtown-it has come to YOU...I have to crunch actual crime figures based on relative population densities, but seriously....when will the voices fogging this run-down "ghost-plaza" window realize that the same voices you guys use when you wake up at O-Dawn-Hundred to go to stand in pre-dawn yardsale lines and such are better focused on the "front end of democracy" where you can improve the economy to the point that you don't have to spend $2 to purchase a dead man's trousers. BTW..you realize that if you purchase the clothes of a deceased haunted soul that you will become haunted yourself..right??
ReplyDeleteI have shopped at this little gem for about 3 years. I LOVE this place and the super sweet little ladies that run it!!
ReplyDeleteWow..I even took the time to read that post again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating and over-reacting.
ReplyDelete"Are you trying to make some extraordinarily naive connection between civic involvement and a drastically improved way of life for EVERYBODY."
Perhaps instead of offering those lovely "Comegys v. Bovine Excrement in 2009" ads you could print a copy of the Constitution/Bill of Rights from time to time. Wow..just wow.
Livingston-- First of all, Joe is more involved in local politics than some local politicians, and seeing as how this is his blog, he kinda' has the right to post whatever he wants. (Comegys=Crap stickers and all...)
ReplyDeleteSecondly, while I see what you're driving at, you're doing a terrible job of making your point. Your little pie-in-the-sky scenario just doesn't wash. Sure, we'd all love to see more citizens getting involved in the front end of the process, but even with improved participation there will a.)always be those less fortunate than ourselves who need cheap clothing, and b.) those who just like bargain shopping.
"when will the voices fogging this run-down "ghost-plaza" window realize that the same voices you guys use when you wake up at O-Dawn-Hundred to go to stand in pre-dawn yardsale lines and such are better focused on the "front end of democracy" where you can improve the economy to the point that you don't have to spend $2 to purchase a dead man's trousers."
Seriously, man? We're just gonna' wipe out poverty, 1,2,3. And while we're at it, let's tell those septuagenarians their little early-Saturday bargain shopping trips are over too.
You're tilting at windmills.
Wow..you guys are doomed. I now understand how the city got what the vote actually demonstrated last cycle (and the one prior to it). Enjoy the barrio, cabron!!
ReplyDeleteWell, there you have it-- the dismissive last whimper.
ReplyDeleteAgain, you're being naive, and you don't see that your sentiment is misguided. This town has myriad major problems, and yes more participation is needed if we're ever to affect change for the better-- but you're trying to build your argument on the wrong foundation. Using the flippin' "Opportunity Shop"? REALLY? How about driving the gauntlet up Rt. 13 and counting the hookers? How about home invasions? There are any number of other threads here you could've jumped into and made a relevant criticism.
And you know what, enough with the Newark thing. What hyperbolic nonsense. Have YOU ever been to Newark?
Yes...that is my point, again. I have experienced NJ on many memorable/forgetttable occasions from the beersoaked tailgates in the Meadowlands parking lots, to the glowing haze of Newark, to the amber waves of "Wedding Day in Secaucus" radiation, and luckily,to the lovely comped drinks at the Borgata using W's "Be My Friend Prior To Election Windfall Chack". These stipulated facts do NOT, REPEAT NOT, mean I want to live anywhere near there. I am contributing here, under my own name, under multiple threads today, to try to help your community and our state. I can only assume by your disdain for me (as well as facts regarding, what do the kids call it these days? Oh yes, "democracy")that you are, in-fact, my mother-in-law just trying to give me a stroke. Well played!! But tragically ineffective (as usual)..
ReplyDelete"I am contributing here, under my own name, under multiple threads today, to try to help your community and our state."
ReplyDeleteWell bless your benevolent heart.
"I can only assume by your disdain for me (as well as facts regarding, what do the kids call it these days? Oh yes, "democracy")"
Tell me how I've shown disdain for facts about democracy. Come on, tell me. You're using straw man arguments because you can't defend yourself. Well played. If that's the best you've got, I won't waste any more time on you.
I don't care if you waste time on me or not-I am not running for office....just show up and vote for actual local candidates you feel may help you instead of bitching anonymously like a fishwife(which NJ also has many many many many many of) when local MS-13 members tag your double-wide. Get it?
ReplyDelete1. I'm not "bitching" about anything but your hyperbolic, arrogant comments. The whole reason I called you to task in the first place was your ridiculous assertion that people who shop at a thrift store are deadbeat citizens who were somehow wrong for bargain shopping.
ReplyDelete2. I vote in EVERY election, be it local or national, so don't try to paint me with that brush.
3. You didn't bother to prove how I've shown "disdain for facts regarding democracy"
4. Insinuating that I live in a double-wide trailer is a childish way of invoking a stereotype of poverty as a means of making me look like some sort of backward yokel. The guy in that other thread was right-- you are, in fact, trolling.
As I would do with someone on a witness stand; where did I indicate scorn towards the homeless/less advantaged? My point (as I think a grand total of ONE other total reader comprehended) was that it is not just the homeless shopping here in this economy. I am "less-advantaged" myself you stunad bastard-why do you think I notice when others are suckered down an "idiot trail" of eventual helpless poverty and purchasing dead people's donations. I highlighted your psychedelic-mushroomed based lack of democratic grasp when I requoted your query about "how educated citizens fulfilling their civic duty by casting their properly registered vote could possibly evoke change". Novel concept, huh? If you genuinely knew who I was you would understand I am nothing but "whiskey tango" myself. Perhaps that is why I notice when more "well off" populations are forced to form a line reminiscient of festival seating at a Who concert to buy second hand clothing and beg for groceries. Joe-I have certain questions here-I can't believe people are genuinely this dense...is this you? How do you roll here; or are you just stirring the pot? People...have the balls to sign a name....or you will forever remain an uncounted tagged double-wide bitching fishwife..I am not a plant, or a first time poster/"troller" (you had no problem 'yee-haa-ing" with my viewpoints when I was chicken-poo enough to post anonymously). You guys will continue to get what you deserve until you lose the denial (and the crimson-necked attitude).
ReplyDeleteI took welivingston's comment just to mean that if people could be as passionate about being involved in city issues as they are about shopping, we'd all be better off.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Opportunity Shop is intended to be a low-cost clothing shop for people in need, others not-so-disadvantaged shop there, too, which is their right. I'm not truly poor, but I have shopped the Salvation Army and Goodwill when things got tight and we just plain needed clothes but couldn't afford to buy new.
If I remember right, this shop was started by a ladies group at the local synagogue to both help the poor and raise a little money for their organization. It was run by volunteers from that group. Anyone know if that's still the case?
Although he may not have expressed himself in a way people understand right off, Mr. Livingston is saying something important, which is more energy needs to be directed at improving things in our government if we expect to have less poverty and fewer hard times.
LOL, in a way, he reminds me of Joe. Has an edge to him that sometimes takes away from the valuable thing he's saying.
Mr. Livingston, did I peg this right, or shall I return to my rock?
"My point (as I think a grand total of ONE other total reader comprehended) was that it is not just the homeless shopping here in this economy."
ReplyDeleteIf that's what your point has been all along, then you've been doing a really bad job of making your case. So, you're a lawyer?
"where did I indicate scorn towards the homeless/less advantaged?"
Straw man. I never said you did. I asked if you had a problem with the less fortunate being able to buy cheap clothes.
"I am "less-advantaged" myself you stunad bastard-why do you think I notice when others are suckered down an "idiot trail" of eventual helpless poverty and purchasing dead people's donations."
Ooh- now we're name-calling! (What the hell is "stunad"?) And, again, please tell me what's wrong with shopping at a thrift store? I still don't feel like you've gotten to the nub of it. Oh, and not all the clothing is donated by estate, by the way. As a matter of fact, most of it comes from charitable donation.
"I highlighted your psychedelic-mushroomed based lack of democratic grasp when I requoted your query about "how educated citizens fulfilling their civic duty by casting their properly registered vote could possibly evoke change". Novel concept, huh?"
And now you insinuate that I do drugs. Cute. Oh, by the way, you might have noticed how I said "drastically improved way of life for EVERYBODY", and made sure to put the word "EVERYBODY" in all caps. Well, maybe you didn't. My point was that a rising tide doesn't necessarily lift all ships, and the less fortunate among us will always need a place to buy clothes on the cheap. I know quite a bit about our fine little democracy, my friend, so let's just let that one die already.
And finally we come to the little tirade at the end of your last comment, where you arrogantly sneer down upon us poor 'Burians, and our "crimson-necked attitude", even managing to insult the blogmaster along the way!
By the way, I'm not Joe, and I don't post my name for personal reasons.
And what's with the "fishwife" obsession?
5:50 said: "Although he may not have expressed himself in a way people understand right off, Mr. Livingston is saying something important, which is more energy needs to be directed at improving things in our government if we expect to have less poverty and fewer hard times."
ReplyDeleteWell there you have it. Succinctly put. That's what I've been trying to get out of him all along.
5:50...You my "rock" and continue to gloriously roll. As you may imagine by my "edge" I am not comfortable unless I can prove (in writing) I am offending (while not being profane or obscene) at least 30% of the population...otherwise people will call me a "sell out" or {gasp} a FOB...
ReplyDelete6:29 (and yadda-yadda-yadda). Glad we could end today with some sort of closure; but I am now even more convinced than ever that you are in fact my mother in law...Say "hi" to Lloyd Braun down in Del Boca Vista...{BTW Cabron/Stunad are international romance language greetings of respect and praise; be sure to work these words into your next conversation in your nearest Megalo-Mart check-out line.} Aloha.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs to remember not to let little comments like these distract us from the root causes of the city's illness. A pissing match won't get us anywhere.
ReplyDeleteJust a note to WEliv.....
ReplyDeleteSome of those modular homes(doublewides as you called them) are nicer than many stick-built homes.And no I am not a "fishwife" nor do I live in a trailer....
Joe,
ReplyDeleteOMG! Here we have citizens from Salisbury, Maryland babbling over nothing. This is why this town sucks.