The Discovery Shoppe, providing a quaint atmosphere and rare finds, has earned more than a million dollars for Butte County charities
By Helen Harlan
The holiday season is looming; and if you’re an average Chicoan looking for an alternative to the lines, crowds and questionable labor practices associated with big box stores and online retailers, The Discovery Shoppe in Downtown could be the perfect portal that’s waiting for you. And – you might even run into one of your old teachers while you’re browsing.
“We price things very, very reasonably, lower than you could find at a department store,” said Liz Granskog, a retired Shasta Elementary fourth-grade instructor and president of the Discovery Shoppe’s board of directors. “We’re anticipating a busy holiday season.”
Nestled in a white house at 315 Flume St., the cash-only thrift store has been in contínuos operation since 1959. It’s been tucked into several locations over the decades but settled into its current home in 1973.
The store’s 92-person staff are all volunteers. Many are retired educators.
“I think we (teachers) get along with people,” observed Citrus Elementary second-grade teacher Diane Fellner. “We’re very accepting, and we enjoy people.” Working the register on a winter morning, Fellner added, “And I was good at math because I could do second-grade math, so that’s why I could be a cashier.”
On any given day, an enterprising thrifter can find plenty of interesting items in the shop, including a working Keurig coffee machine, a vintage 1970s fondue set, a hand-made quilt or a tiny pair of Texas-shaped earrings.
“Some of our jewelry is really special,” Granskog said. “It’s just amazing what some people will donate.”
Susan Reed, owner of Chico’s Bootleg Vintage, recently scored a rare fashion find while sifting through the racks on her weekly visit: It was a long puffer coat from the 1980s, similar to the one worn by Winona Ryder in Netflix’s hit Stranger Things. As a professional thrifter, Reed said she bought the coat for ten dollars and will price it at thirty for resale.
“These puffy 80s coats were ubiquitous,” Reed recalled. “It was kind of like a mom coat. My mom had one. It was purple.”
Beyond taking pride in her vintage fashion find, Reed can sleep easy knowing that her purchase will go to a local charity. Since 1996, the Discovery Shoppe League has donated over $1.1 million to local non-profits. Some recent recipients include Annie’s Star Quilt Guild, Ability First Sports and the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, which recently acquired a new staff member with their donation: a K9 named Discovery.
“That’s what we pride ourselves on – we all work, sell these things and donate them back to the community,” Granskog explained. “This year alone, I think we gave $135,000 back to other non-profits.”
One emboldened slug stands out on the store’s list of charity donations by year: “2020. No Charities Due to Covid-19.” Four years later, the store has maintained its pandemic hours and is open just three and a half days a week – down from its pre-pandemic six. And yet, as it heads into its 66th year in operation, business has been booming.
“Our business is better,” Granskog notes. “We’re making more money than we were before Covid, even being open the shorter days. Not many businesses can say that.”
To the average customer, it’s clear that much of that can be said due to the scrappy and resilient nature of 45% of the Discovery Shoppe’s staff: its teachers.
“When you’re a teacher, you’re on every day, all day,” Granskog reflected. “You have a million things bombarding you and children saying, ‘I need this, I need this.’ It’s a very good background to have for a retail business because a lot of unexpected things happen when you’re teaching. So we’re prepared, we hope for the unexpected. We can handle it. “
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