The store at 1206 S. Broadway has undergone a complete interior renovation including new carpet, dressing rooms and displays along with reorganization. More displays have been added as well. Counters and register area will also be redone.

Tom Bradley, store manager, along with other store personnel including Leslie Halvorson, assistant manager, Mesa Cox, team leader, and Mary Willson, cashier/organizer, were on hand greeting visitors when they arrived for the ribbon cutting ceremony and open house. The Minot thrift store has 14 staff members and volunteers.

Lisa Olson, Fargo, vice president of Retail Operations for Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Thrift Stores, said Minot was the first thrift store, built and opened in 1986. She said they have gone through the “ups and downs” of the Minot community and plan to be here for many more years.

Three-fold purpose

Eloise Ogden/MDN Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Thrift Store personnel and Minot Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and others took part in cutting the ribbon on Friday to celebrate the newly renovated thrift store in Minot. Those in the photo include Tom Bradley, thrift store manager, and Lisa Olson, Fargo, vice president of Retail Operations, both front center, Leslie Halvorson, assistant manager, and Mesa Cox, team leader.

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch thrift stores serve a three-fold purpose in communities, according to a news release.

The stores provide ongoing funding for residential treatment and education services to at-risk children and their families who live in North Dakota. The Ranch provides these services in Minot, Bismarck and Fargo.

The thrift stores are a major North Dakota employer, paying out nearly $3 million in salaries each year. They also donate clothes, coats, hats and other necessities to people living in poverty. Last year, Ranch thrift stores donated clothing to 740 adults and 460 children referred to the Ranch by 28 local agencies, according to the news release.

Ranch thrift stores also contribute to a cleaner planet by providing a place for people to donate items they no longer need or want, the news release said. The thrift stores recycle clothing and other materials. Clothing that won’t sell in the stores is sold, by the pound, to a recycling company that provides affordable clothing to lower income people throughout the world. Damaged clothing is recycled into wiping rags. Clothing and textiles not suitable for rags are processed back into fibers that can be remanufactured into paper, yarn, insulation, carpet padding, sound-proofing, etc. Ranch thrift stores recycled more than 1.8 million pounds of clothing.

The Minot thrift store is open Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.