Jill Eischeid shops the Bargain Mart in this file photo.The Junior League of Chattanooga is closing what was for many decades its biggest source of money for the group's charitable and service work.
After 67 years, the Bargain Mart Thrift Store will liquidate its remaining inventory of clothes, furniture and other donated items at its Highland Plaza store over the next three weekends.
Jennifer Franklin, president of the 200-member women's group, said their lease is ending at the Hixson Pike store and the venture no longer fits with the schedules of most Junior League members.
The Bargain Mart generates only half the profits that it did five years ago, and getting member volunteers to work in the six-day-a-week business in harder as women's schedules grow busier every year.
"For now, this current business model is not working, so we've decided to close it down," Franklin said.
"Years ago, the majority of our members were stay-at-home moms who didn't work and some of them would volunteer to work at the store from eight to 10 hours a week. It's a different time now," she said.
The Junior League president said the store closing "opens a new chapter for the club's fundraising," and a task force is looking at other ways to more effectively support Junior League activities. The group has added membership in recent years, growing to include 200 active and 450 sustaining members, and on average the local Junior League has donated more than $100,000 a year for community projects, Franklin said.
The Junior League in Chattanooga, which was started in 1917, opened its first resale shop downtown in 1944 and relocated to Hixson in 1996.
Highland Plaza, which is operated by Fletcher Bright real estate company, will look for a new tenant for the 14,500 square feet now leased to the Junior League, company agent Linda Shaw said.
The Bargain Mart will begin liquidating its remaining inventory of donated goods during sales on the first three Saturdays in August. A final liquidation sale, known as Clean Sweep, is planned Sept. 24-25.
Clean Sweep is one of the League's two annual fundraisers. The other is Tour du Jour, the League's popular kitchen tour of homes, held each spring.
Profits from Junior League fundraisers support its mission to promote volunteerism, develop the potential of women and improve the community, Franklin said.