Thrift stores are hot spots

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles about how the downturn in the local economy is adversely affecting some Hernando County residents and how they are coping with it.

SPRING HILL Celinda Jones of Spring Hill hit the jackpot at St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop recently when she found a green windbreaker bearing the insignia of the Miami Hurricanes - her 11-year-old son's favorite team. At 50 cents, it's a steal.
"He'll be so excited," Jones beams.
A few minutes later she comes across another 50-cent find: a gray turtleneck sweater for her husband Dennis.
Not to be outdone, Jones found something she had been searching for: a pair of brown sandals. And it only set her back $1.
Jones, 50, lost her job as a certified nursing assistant last October.
Since then, she has scoured the area for work but has found nothing.
"There's nothing out there," says Jones, 50. "I've been out there knocking on doors. It's bad. It's really bad."
After getting laid off from his construction job, her husband found work as a shrimper, so there is some money coming in for them and their two children still at home.
She clips coupons and buys a lot of buy-one-get-one-free items at the grocery store. Most days, the family stays home and saves money.
She doesn't go to the pricier department stores because "I can't afford the prices now."
"We're really having to cut (back)," she says.

Thrift store traffic is up

These days, Jones and others who have hit hard times due to the downturn in the economy, are making the thrift store circuit, whether it's Goodwill, the Salvation Army or some of the others in the area.
A survey by the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops (NARTS) showed sales for the fourth quarter of 2008 increased 71.4 percent over the comparable period in 2007.
Of 185 respondents, 82.3 percent of stores had a rise in new customers.
"The slumping economy may draw people in, but once they visit a resale shop for the first time they are pleasantly surprised with the high quality of merchandise and are forever hooked on a new way of smart spending," NARTS President Chris Cowman said in a press release.
Woody Cornetta, president of the Hernando-Citrus district for St. Vincent de Paul, said he is seeing an uptick in the number of people buying furniture, clothes and other goods at his Spring Hill thrift store at 1291 Kass Circle.
Many also are receiving help with rental payments or utility bills, he said.

Stretching a dollar

Michelle Smith-Foster hits the Spring Hill St. Vincent de Paul thrift store three or four times a week looking for bargains.
And on one recent Wednesday, she saw sales aplenty, including a like-new black blazer for 50 cents she quickly stashed in her shopping cart.
She displayed a Liz Claiborne purse she recently bought there for $2, not to mention the pair of brown loafers she nabbed for $2.
"I used to buy $200 shoes," she jokes. "I don't see any sense in it now."
Some of the stuff she finds she sends to her sisters in New York.
"They don't have much and I try to help them out," said Smith-Foster, 53.
But these days, she's also on the lookout for sales to help herself.
"I'm trying to stretch a dollar," she says.
Smith-Foster is more fortunate than some: She was able to keep her certified nursing assistant position at Brooksville's Heron Pointe after being laid off from Spring Hill Regional.
But she's still worried, especially when she reads every day about more people losing their jobs.
She says she is being frugal - in case she joins the ranks of the unemployed.
To make extra money, she took in a roommate. She's cutting costs by shopping at thrift stores.
"You never know," she says. "But I have faith."

Living day-to-day

Wal-Mart, Sears, Belk and Bealls are popular retailers frequented by many in Hernando County.
You won't see Carolyn Dryden treading the polished floors of those stores. "I don't even walk into those places," she says.
Times are too tight for Dryden, who is doing all she can to support herself and her 9-year-old daughter.
But you will see Dryden eagerly scanning the aisles of local thrift stores or stopping at weekend garage sales.
To save money, she buys used shoes, clothes and other items at marked-down prices.
"It's a lot cheaper," she says.
Dryden, 46, does landscaping and gardening chores for people in the area and gets paid cash daily. She has no health insurance.
She takes the money she earns, along with the food stamps, to buy groceries.
The thrift store is ideal for saving money, she says. She comes in once or twice a week. She doesn't always find what she wants. It's something of a crap shoot. The beauty of thrift stores is the inventory can change from day to day.
Dryden says she has put in applications for housekeeping at local hospitals but has not found a steady job yet.
She believes President Barack Obama is on "the right track" in trying to fix the economy.
Meanwhile, she says she does a lot of praying.
And who knows, she jokes, "maybe I'll win the Lotto."