{"id":32537,"date":"2023-07-31T23:02:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T05:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/methodist-thrift-shop-in-cortez-to-celebrate-50-years-in-business\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:59:17","slug":"methodist-thrift-shop-in-cortez-to-celebrate-50-years-in-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/methodist-thrift-shop-in-cortez-to-celebrate-50-years-in-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Methodist Thrift Shop in Cortez to celebrate 50 years in business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Methodist Thrift Shop will hold their 50th anniversary celebration Aug. 11-12. (Shylee Graf\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Methodist Thrift Shop in Cortez is celebrating its 50th year in business in August. The thrift store will host a celebration on Aug. 11 and 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be free cookies and snow cones, and items will be 50% off. The public also will be able to tour the back of the store.<\/p>\n

Jean Schwien, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Cortez, said that the thrift store is run almost entirely by volunteers, and that its goal is to help low-income community members. The store is also a place for community members to \u201cdiscover hidden treasures and collectibles,\u201d Schwien said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Methodist Thrift Shop sells various types of jewelry, including some Native American pieces. Notah Dineh helps the shop price these items for sale. (Shylee Graf\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Schwien spoke about the history of the thrift store. The store started originally to cover the mortgage for a new church building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe records we have start in 1973, but we think it was going for five or six years before that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The business started in the basement of the old Methodist church, where Underwood Plaza is now located on Beech Street. The building the thrift store is now located in is the third building the business has occupied in 50 years.<\/p>\n

Proceeds go toward local nonprofit organizations like Hope\u2019s Kitchen, the Bridge Shelter, and Good Samaritan Food Pantry. Items are also donated to local outreach programs and families affected by home fires or other disasters, Schwien said. Homeless folks are provided with warm clothing as well.<\/p>\n

\"The
The original Methodist Thrift Shop, at 22 E. First St., before it moved in the 1990s to 444 E. Main St. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cLiterally hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone into the community in 50 years,\u201d Schwien stated. \u201cWe want to provide a place where people with not a lot of money can come and shop with dignity and get what they need for their families at a price they can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to community outreach in Cortez, Methodist Thrift Shop<\/a> sends trailer loads of items down to Chinle, Arizona, for an outreach program there, Schwien stated.<\/p>\n

The store also does textile recycling. If items are donated that can\u2019t be sold, they go onto a trailer. When that trailer is full, the textiles are bailed and put on a semitrailer and shipped off to Four Corners Textile Recycling. The store doesn\u2019t make a profit from this, but their goal is to keep these items out of the landfill.<\/p>\n

Members of the First United Methodist Church, as well as community friends, come together to volunteer at the thrift store, sorting and organizing items.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor people who feel lonely, it\u2019s a great place to connect,\u201d Schwien said.<\/p>\n

The event will double as their annual back to school sale, so all children\u2019s clothes will be on the racks, ready for purchase.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Methodist Thrift Shop offers great finds for families. (Shylee Graf\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

celebration will feature 50% sales and goodies for everyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81833,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537\/revisions\/81833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32537"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}