Business & Tech
Beyond Style, Shopping For a Cause
Newly opened second-hand store Life Emporium benefits a charity for seriously ill children and their families.
Bargain-hunters can shop for a cause other than fashion at a new second-hand store, Life Emporium, which opened two weeks ago in South Slope and donates proceeds to a children’s charity.
The store, at Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, houses two floors of cast-off clothing, furniture and bric-a-brac. Designer wear is displayed upstairs amid mannequins and faux-rock walls, while an obstacle course of furniture, oddities like an antiquated water pipe, and less desirable threads lurks in the basement.
The lower floor will appeal to true thrift scavengers, but cost-conscious fashionistas will prefer to browse the ground-floor racks. Most items are still winter-wear, but designer names abound, as well as some covetable shoes. A lovely pair of black velvet peep-toe slingbacks by Kate Spade (size 8) were priced at $52, and Versace heels with floral embroidered black netting and a long ribbon ankle-strap cost $59.99 (European size 37).
Items are arranged by color and garment type, which is useful as the store’s donors have been generous with the merchandise and there is plenty to sift through.
The wares may be second-hand, but they are not all cheap. A gold metal-mesh party bag by Whiting and Davis was on sale at $110 — not much less than it would have cost new, and steep for a second-hand store.
However, sales benefit a good cause, and that dictates a broader price range than at most thrift stores. Chai Lifeline, which owns the store, supports seriously ill children and their families with services like tutoring, transportation, food, educational awareness in schools and more.
“When a child is diagnosed with something like cancer, it isn’t just the child affected, it’s everyone else too — parents, siblings,” said Hershy Mayer, a volunteer who helped set up Life Emporium. “Chai Lifeline fills in the blanks.”
Life Emporium is closed on Saturdays. For those more interested in offloading than accumulating, the store will pick up large or cumbersome donations: Call 1-718-788-5433 to make arrangements.
