(2/2/07)  A second-hand clothing store will soon be opening at 55 University Drive, in the space formerly occupied by the Amherst Bulletin.  All proceeds from the store will benefit The Fisher Home, a hospice residence in North Amherst.

Eva Fierst is on The Fisher Home's Board of Directors, and is heading up the project.  She said the store will sell high-quality clothing, housewares, china, children's clothing and toys, all donated by the community. 

The organization is paying rent on the space, and there will be a paid part-time manager, but volunteers will comprise the rest of the staffing.  The goal is to have the lowest possible overhead in order to provide maximum support to The Fisher Home.  Fierst, who is Education Coordinator for UMass' University Gallery, will not be involved with the day-to-day operations.

Those interested in volunteering to work at the store should call Fierst at 586-5984.  She plans to hold orientation and training sessions for those volunteers, and she hopes that high school and college students will want to be involved.

What to call the place?  “There's no name yet,” Fierst said.  “We're looking for the perfect name.”  She had picked one out, but has since changed her mind.  Now she wants creative input from members of the community to come up with the store's name.  She invited those with name ideas to call her at 586-5984.  The person whose suggestion is chosen will receive special recognition at the grand opening celebration.  Timing for that event hasn't been set, because the store's opening date isn't yet certain.  Fierst said that she hopes to open in the next few weeks, by mid-March at the latest.   

The store is mostly empty so far, but Fierst gives an enthusiastic tour.  There will be a dressing room in the back and a whole area devoted to children's items.  A nook in one wall will display china with other housewares nearby, while the main space will be rack upon rack of clothing.  In a shrewd cost-saving move, Fierst frequented the liquidator company that handled the closing of Lord & Taylor at the Ingleside Mall two years ago, and got them to donate many store fixtures.  Friends and supporters have provided other pieces, such as the large round table that will be part of a conference room, where Fierst envisions members of the community gathering for projects, such as quilting bees, perhaps. 

Once the store opens, people will be able to drop off donations there.  Until then, Fierst has arranged for free pick-up of items in the Amherst area – donors should call 256-6049 to make arrangements.  Donations can also be dropped off at The Fisher Home, 1165 North Pleasant Street; at Fierst's home in Florence at 10 Park Street (call 586-5984 for more information); and with Barbara Snoek at the Lathrop Community, 50 Huckleberry Lane in Easthampton (call 529-1979 for more information.)

Fierst wants donations of only pristine items – clean, gently-used, no missing buttons.  One category she would like to focus on is professional clothing for students soon to enter the work force. 

“We want to foster the exchange of clothes from business people to young people going into the field,” she said. “We have all these people going into the business world who have to have something to wear.” 

The organization has spent two years seeking a good location for the store, and they are pleased with the University Drive space.  Fierst noted the ample parking and convenient proximity to the post office and supermarkets. 

The Fisher Home is a six-bed residential hospice providing end-of-life care.  Its nurses, health aids and trained volunteers also go to patients' homes.  Fierst explained that a network of support people make up the full hospice team, including massage therapists, occupational therapists, musicians and spiritual guides.   That high level of care is expensive, Fierst said, and The Fisher Home relies heavily on monetary donations.  Proceeds from the store will supplement such funds.

Consideration of death and dying is an area where Fierst expects the Baby Boomers to have an impact. 

“The whole end-of-life time and the way we're looking at that – I think that will be re-examined by my generation,” she said, noting the ways they have influenced issues and ideas at each stage of their lives thus far.

“I think they'll find hospice very attractive.  Not just in the last days, but the last months – that's when hospice is most effective, not just as an emergency last-minute thing,” she said.  “It is a careful, thoughtful compassionate journey that does take time, and not just for the person taking the journey, but also the family.” 

The Fisher Home is creating a new web site to provide information about its services.  They can also be reached by phone at 549-0115.

-- Stephanie O'Keeffe