The First Fridays Art Walk this month hosted a new business to benefit and empower women in transition.
Fresh Start Treasures, a resale boutique owned by Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, opened a one-time only pop-up shop in Roosevelt Street’s RooPho Realty office in an attempt to advertise their new location opening next month on East Thomas Road. The second-hand store specializes in designer clothing and accessories.
The foundation, a nonprofit women’s resource center, is dedicated to helping divorced or estranged women build skills and secure jobs through computer classes, professional training, child care facilities and mentoring programs, according to store manager Claudia Canterbury.
Friday’s pop-up shop offered customers approximately 100 pieces, Canterbury said. An estimated ten thousand pieces remained in the center’s warehouse. The new store’s location will boast over 5,000 square feet of floor space, as well as private dressing rooms in the designer clothing section.
Canterbury said the majority of the store’s merchandise is tailored toward job interviews.
“We wardrobe (the women),” Canterbury said. “We give them career outfits to wear for interviews. Basically, any female preparing for an interview should pay us a visit.”
However, the store is eager to attract younger customers as well, and the merchandise is not limited to career clothing.
“About the only thing we don’t have is fragrance, and we’ll figure that one out,” Canterbury said, citing shoes, purses and scarves as samples of the store’s wares.
The store also carries several items donated by Katie Couric, a former CBS Evening News anchor and avid supporter of the foundation.
“There’s a special closet at the (Women’s Resource) center just full of Katie’s clothes,” said Leezie Kim, Executive Board of Directors community volunteer. “We call it ‘Katie’s Closet.’”
As a nonprofit organization, the store’s merchandise is made up entirely of donations from the community and sponsors. Donors receive tax write-offs for their donations.
The resale store’s prices are especially friendly to customers with tight budgets.
“Items are priced at three dollars on up,” Canterbury said. “Most items are under twenty dollars.”
The location at 3949 East Thomas Road is tentatively scheduled to open by December 3.
Contact the reporter at chloe.brooks@asu.edu
