By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
Pioneer Times photo/Joseph Cyr
NEW LOCATION — The Cubby Thrift Store opened in Houlton at the Houlton Shopping Plaza. Showing off some of the holiday items in the store are Amanda Sanford, left, and Billie Jo Colter, store manager
HOULTON — For the past five years, the Cubby Thrift Stores in Presque Isle and Caribou have provided shoppers in those areas with lightly used goods, clothing and other items at a discounted price.
And that service also has a nice side benefit as proceeds from the stores are used to help children with life-threatening illnesses. Now that same service is available to shoppers in Houlton.
Chris Johnson, co-owner/founder of The Cubby, said the decision to open a store in Houlton was a no-brainer.
“When we started The Cubby in Caribou, we realized our goal for raising funds for children with life-threatening illnesses needed to expand in order to meet some of our goals,” Johnson said. “We had a very eutopic expectation that when we opened, we would generate all this money and it would go to our cause.”
Pioneer Times photo/Joseph Cyr
Holidays — The Cubby Thrift Store in Houlton has plenty of discounted items for the holidays.
The reality of the matter soon set in, though, as rent, utilities, lawyer fees (for setting up the foundation) ate into the profits the first two stores generated. Therefore, expansion was in order to try to increase the amount of revenue coming in each month.
The Houlton location opened in September and has seen a steady influx of customers. In addition to the stores in Presque Isle and Caribou, there is also one located in Madawaska.
Located in the Houlton Shopping plaza, sandwiched between Mardens and Label Shoppers, Houlton’s Cubby Thrift Store sees a great deal of traffic from people searching out bargains.
“Houlton has been on our list to expand to for some time, and was actually going to be our third store, but the Madawaska opportunity came up so we had to act on that one first,” he explained.
The Cubby accepts all items that are in good condition, including clothing, shoes and boots, movies, appliances, hardware, beds, televisions, books, furniture, jewelry, music and electronics.
“Some of our items really seem to appeal to a person’s sense of nostalgia,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of people who are looking for small televisions to put in camps and people really like the VHS movies. You never know on the retail side what is going to interest people.”
There are no real limitations on what the store will accept for donations, as long as the items are in good condition.
“We really try not to say ‘No’ to anything,” Johnson said. “If people are generous enough to consider us, we take on the liability that sometimes we will get stuff we can’t sell.”
Currently, ceramic Christmas trees are one of the hottest sellers. The Houlton location also has a large collection of music on vinyl albums and eight-track tapes. The offer free pickup and affordable delivery.
Johnson added they also have a recycling program where people can drop off televisions for free. Those units, if they cannot be sold, are sent to a recycling center in southern Maine.
All of the items in the store are from donations made to the stores.
Chris and his wife Cindy first started The Cubby Thrift Stores after experience a life-threatening illness with their own child. In 2001, doctors told the Johnsons their son Kaleb (also known as Cubby) would not live to see his fourth birthday. Kaleb was born with a life-threatening illness called neurofibromatosis Type 1, where tumors grow on nerves.
His health took a turn for the worse; but the Johnsons attribute the grace of God and the faithful prayers of their community in helping Kaleb live to see his fourth birthday, and beyond.
Inspired by the many acts of kindness shown by members of their community, the Johnsons decided to give something back and opened their first store in Caribou.
In addition to selling clothing, furniture, and home décor, they began “The Cubby Gives” program (formerly the Cubby Fund) to provide financial support to County children who are living with a chronic or life-threatening illness.
“The program helps families cover physician fees and also helps pay food, lodging and transportation costs, medical adaptive equipment and anything that relates to medical needs for the family,” Johnson said.
Cubby Gives supports the monthly Hero Program, which recognizes a child for their bravery in the face of adversity. The child receives $100 (or a similar gift), a story in their local media outlet, and in-store recognition. Since the store’s inception in 2010, over 55 children have been the Hero of the Month.
Those who know of a child with a chronic or life-threatening illness and would like to nominate them for the Cubby’s Hero of the Month program, contact Cindy Johnson at 760-7070 or stop by one of the stores in Presque Isle, Caribou, Madawaska and Houlton or visit them on Facebook.
