85 YEARS IN STYLE NCJW/CLE’s Thriftique Showroom engages volunteers, shoppers for a cause
By Jane Kaufman
A
s it enters its 85th year, Thriftique Showroom has become more than a way station for gently used clothing and antiques, more than a bargain hunter’s gold mine, and more than a mission-driven charitable endeavor on the part of the National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland. It has become a community, and even a family, to its customers, volunteers and staff. “Even now, when I pop in the store, the best (is) when I see some of my old customers, and it’s my understanding they still ask about me,” says Jackie Rothstein, who was formerly vice president of Thriftique for nine years. As a volunteer, Rothstein helped Thriftique manager Abbe Froimson oversee the entire operation. Rothstein, who grew up in the family that owned Jo-Ann Stores, says she has “a business sense.” She occasionally drove the box truck with Froimson to retrieve donated items on days when the driver was absent. “I remember carrying sofas out of apartments at Acacia,” Rothstein says. “Pickups couldn’t stop just because we didn’t have a driver.” She also credited the late Sarah Weintraub with teaching other volunteers “so much,” including how to sort dollar bills efficiently into the cash register. A member of The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Beachwood, Rothstein says she conceived of a weekly sale, a concept that entails marking down certain items in the store – and sometimes all of them. She enjoys watching customers “go hunting for their treasure.” The Bedford Heights showroom is the latest adaptation of one of Cleveland’s oldest thrift shops. After opening in the mid-1930s, it has continued for generations to be a major source of
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Jstyle
Fall/Winter 2021
Above: The Thrift Shop, Thriftique’s predecessor, located at 16701 Chagrin Blvd. in Shaker Heights, opened in 1981. | Photo / Western Reserve Historical Society Below: Thriftique Showroom relies on both volunteers and staff including Rosean Schmidt, from left, Abbe Froimson and Karen Morris. | Photo / NCJW/CLE
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