Going out of business is the Hospital for Special Care Auxiliary Thrift Shop in New Britain, though volunteers working in the store this morning admit they haven't been trying to run it as a business.
"We might not give money to the hospital for the patients up there but the way I look at it these are patients as well," said Grace Bonola. "They need help."
She was talking about the people who come in off the street, into the shop on West Main Street. It can't pay its bills.
Parking is limited and there hasn't been anywhere near the volume the volunteers expected when they moved from a location on Arch Street three years ago.
But they've done their best for what customers they've had.
"If they come in and have a little bit of heartache," said Bonola, "we'll listen to their story and sometimes we'll direct them to where they need to go for help."
"A guy came in this Monday and I had a pair of boots and I think they were twelve dollars. He had nine dollars on him. I gave him the boots! For nine dollars," said Mack Babin, a volunteer.
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To save the New Britain thrift shop there's a GoFundMe page.
It was set up by one of the shop's next door neighbors, Teresa Martinez.
"This is the inner city, a lot of people can't afford to buy expensive clothes and next door they offer really nice things at affordable prices for the people of New Britain," she said.
