Country Store moves to new location

Snowflakes as big as quarters didn’t deter the Country Store crew on Saturday morning as they hauled boxes of household goods, toys and clothing racks to a waiting trailer. As soon as the racks were in the trailer, volunteers carried out armloads of clothes on hangers and re-hung them for the short trip to their new digs, around the corner at the former Odyssey Auto Glass building at 5 4th Ave. West in Polson.

The Country Store, an all-volunteer thrift store, is staffed by members of 10 community churches. All the churches “mustered up some help for the move,” according to Phyllis Dresen, secretary of the Country Store board. 

Country Store board chair Judy Muniz said the moving party began about 9 a.m. Saturday with Muniz, Dresen and thrift store workers Katie Cottle, Bonnie Eddy, Hazle Heth and Carol Wheat helping out, as well as a group of 10 men and others who happened along.

The Country Store had a huge moving sale, with half price on everything, for the last couple of weeks to decrease the amount of things that needed to be moved. The store is empty now, except for a couple of counters at the front and a few odds and ends, which will be ferried over this Thursday. 

On Thursday the volunteers will begin unpacking and organizing the new store, which offers approximately 1700 square feet of space. With a smooth new concrete floor, a new paint job, new door and display window, the store will be ready to go. 

The Country Store moved into its former home on Main Street in 1990, Dresen said. Their old storefront was located in a building owned by the American Legion, which announced last summer that it would be for sale, and offered the space to the Country Store for less than the asking price. Church members ultimately decided not to buy the building. 

Dresen got involved in 2002 when her church, the Nazarene Church in Pablo, joined the Country Store volunteer force. She's proud of the fact that all the funds made by the Country Store go back into the community through the partner churches. 

Each church takes a half day each week and works either morning or afternoon. The volunteers are mostly women, although a few men help out too. Together, they clerk the store, sort and price donated clothing, shoes, household goods and toys, and place the items out on the racks and shelves. 

The community will need to wait for their Country Store fix until everything is unpacked, set up, and arranged; that might take a while so the Country Store is closed indefinitely.

    Country store volunteers Hazle Heth, left, Judy Muniz, and Carol Wheat straighten up some odds and ends, all that is left in the Country Store building after the moving crew worked on Saturday. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)