MaineTransNet Thrift Shop Reopening
By Emily Connelly
Welcome (back) to Safe Combinations, we’re excited to see you!
The Safe Combinations Thrift Store reopened at the start of the month with a refreshed look and behind-the-scenes organization that will help it support the community even better than before. I visited the shop to speak with Kai Cardinal, manager of Safe Combinations, who has been helping transform the space. They had several major avenues they were looking to change up in January — resetting their upstairs space to make it it easier for customers to browse; making it easier for volunteers working both upstairs and downstairs in their back stock storage; and admin work to better reach out into the community and get more products out to people that are in need. And there are plans for more events like last year’s exciting thrifty fashion show, opening gallery space for trans artists, and more possibilities to come.
One major goal was to be a more welcoming space for community members coming in and browsing. ock on the shelves and clothes racks will be getting cycled through more, bringing in fresh products for shoppers and making it easier to find what they’re looking for. Kai also aims to make more room for volunteers behind the register and in the back rooms. “A lot of our goals are to make the thrift shop a project that’s easier for folks to come in and participate and be involved with the community, so we can have more than a couple of people in at a time without it being chaotic,” Kai said with a laugh. “I think in general, the definition for our first year and a half was “chaotic”. It worked out but it was not sustainable!”
Some of the shifts in the space are subtle but will be welcome changes for regular and new clients alike. Kai walked me through the thrift store to point out some of the changes, including the welcome and checkout counter shifting to be the first thing someone sees when they come through their front door. “We want people to walk in and immediately feel welcomed, not feeling like they are coming in a door they aren’t supposed to,” Kai said. There is more space for multiple volunteers to work behind the counter, with storage space and room to sort through items going on the shelves.
“We’re obviously limited in how much we can purchase for displays and storage areas, so trying to utilize the space we have, so it’s easier to look through. The goal is that it will make it all easier to shop through and pick through and find all the fun treasures we have,” Kai explained as we walked through the store. They showed off an easier-to-browse selection of bras, and wanted to remind everyone that they are here for bra fittings and binder fittings, hoping to support in all the ways they can. Seasonal displays are coming, which will allow easy access for things like Halloween costumes and bathing suits at different times of year.
They are expanding the kinds of treasures found in the thrift shop, too, with new gallery space opening in March. “We have a little bit of wall space, so one of the ways we want to support our community is to have a free gallery space,” explained Kai. “We’ll do a random drawing every month for who gets to put something up. I just know that it’s so valuable to have a space where you’re not paying to display, and while we’re limited in what we can have here from each artist, we can at least give them a space to be seen, and give the community direct access to these artists and their work.” You can let them know if you’re interested in being a part of that gallery — and be sure to stop by to see the art!
Kai brought me down to see their new storage spaces in the basement, where they have set up rooms for back stock and off season items. Kai explains that they had to shift their storage around multiple times through the past year and half. “Initially we were using one of our vaults, and then the ECC was great and made us a spot to use while we were finishing our more permanent storage rooms, and then we moved into our permanent ones. It’s been hard juggling how much we get in and how much we’re doing, and also resetting the storage space and reorganizing. So we took some time to build that out and make it so it’s more accessible and usable for anybody that wants to pick through clothes and sort things, and just in general a more comfortable space to volunteer and come spend an afternoon with us.” The team purchased and built shelves to hold the giant totes of clothes and other items, labeled and boxed up with care. Two volunteers were busy working through new donations while we toured the space, listening to music and showing how they can make quick work of all the donation sorting.
There’s more behind-the-scenes work happening to help expand the reach into the community. Kai explained, “we’ve been making ways to give more products out to people that are in need, and make it somewhat easier to do. We have a complicated program/business model here in that we need to fund ourselves, but we also want to maximize how much we’re giving to people.” One change will be bringing suggested donation prices down, so people can come in and spend the same amount of money, but leave with more. “We just get so much product coming through, there’s no reason not to,” said Kai. The thrift shop is also working to make more free punch cards available to community members, which are supported primarily through monthly Patreon donations. They’ve spent the past year and a half establishing partnerships with community organizations, so the thrift shop isn’t holding onto clothing and other items they don’t need that could be helpful to more community members. “We work a lot with Preble Street and Apparel Impact, so when we’re giving good quality products out to people who need it. Because we get a lot of products!” It wasn’t clear how many donations would come in when they started this project, but plenty do. “We’re simplifying what we hold, we are rotating our back stock more regularly, and we’ve been building a system that will help us do that. We’re trying not to just hold onto the things that people need and instead making sure they go to the folks that need them while also keeping us stocked.”
Every day the thrift shop is reaching more people, whether it is through the Instagram followers growing or more people coming in the door looking for new clothes or to have a welcoming space to enjoy. “We’re connected to a lot of organizations and have been building a lot of connections over the past year. The hope is that more events, more connecting, more partnerships will really help us. Obviously we’re not just here for trans folks, and it’s nice building a space where the community can get what they need and the support they’re looking for.” Kai has more ideas for future projects, and they’re hoping to tackle new things every month. “We always seem to find another corner we didn’t expect to be useful,” they said. Given the growth of this project over the last year and a half, I have to agree!