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| Michelle Custeau, left, and Chelsea Roy opened Maine St. Thrift in Gray to bring unique, affordable new and used treasures to the community. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Having just opened on Oct. 17, Maine St. Thrift features competitive prices and although they don’t offer consignment, they will purchase items outright if they are right for the store. They do also accept donations, which they say is how they are able to keep prices low.
“The best thing for us about having this business is we constantly get to treasure hunt – we love thrifting and this gives us an opportunity to share our finds with the community,” Chelsea said. “We are really the only thrift store in town so we’re hoping to be the local spot for new-to-you goods.”
Chelsea and Michelle took a leap of faith in opening Maine St. Thrift after previously operated booths at local shops to then deciding that they wanted to give it a go on our own.
“I think the biggest thing for us is not just the connections we’ve made in Gray but in the local thrifting community as a whole,” Chelsea said. “I met my best friend through having a booth at the same spot and Michelle and I met through being neighboring vendors at another. We met Misty Gallant through her estate sale business, Two Thrifty Girls, and somehow convinced her to take on a spot in our store and she has been a wonderful mentor.”
According to Michelle, creating great relationships with customers is at the heart of what will make Maine St. Thrift successful.
“You get what you give,” she said. “Of course, having a good variety of items at affordable prices is also important. We started this store in part because we were so frustrated with the increased prices at a lot of stores that are donation-based entities. We wanted to establish a store that has essential items as well as one that’s really unique and has fun things all at reasonable prices.”
Michelle said Maine St. Thrift can source items for people in all areas and ship items to them that they may want.
“However, we primarily service the immediate area within our store,” she said. “We also want to be reseller friendly so for people who have booths of their own or sell online, we keep our prices low enough that you can purchase an item and resell it and still make a profit. We aren’t trying to squeeze every penny out of every item. We’d rather make a small amount per piece but still have that person come back to us time after time and build a relationship with them that is hopefully long lasting.”
Since the store opened both Michelle and Chelsea say that the outpouring of love and support has been amazing.
“We just want to continue growing and supporting the amazing community that has been cheering us on since our first post announcing our opening,” they said. “We are two moms to young girls that just decided to pursue a dream to show our kids you can achieve whatever you want with hard work.”
Early feedback from customers has been positive and supportive.
“The feedback we’ve been getting the most of is that the store is well appointed, a lot of great variety and good prices,” Chelsea said. “We’ve had booths at a few local spots including Maine Vintage Thrift in Windham, and the owners Nick and Jess have been amazing mentors and are just wonderful people who have such an incredible established business. They treat their vendors so well and are the most encouraging people who continue to support us.”
Maine St. Thrift is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Those hours may change based upon customer demand. They encourage following their social media pages to keep up with new items, events, and updates.
To learn more about Maine St. Thrift, find them on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok under Maine St. Thrift. <