This North Jersey thrift store offers a boutique experience — and job training too

PATERSON — Shopping at a second-hand clothing store isn't always the most pleasant experience. But the Nest thrift store on Mill Street in Paterson feels more like a boutique in downtown Montclair.

The stylish clothes are neatly arranged, the walls are adorned with photographs of local landmarks, and trendy music plays softly on the speakers. The $2 price tags almost seem like a mistake. But pricing mistakes seem unlikely to happen under the meticulous eye of Marilinda Quiles, who manages the shop, along with her team of interns.

The shop, which opened in 2021, is an offshoot of Oasis, a local nonprofit that serves women and children in need, and which launched its internship program in February. The eight-week program gives students in its work-ready program and high school diploma courses something the organization could never offer before — hands-on practice in a retail setting before sending students into the real world.

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“You can teach women about customer service and give them some retail tips, but there was nowhere they could physically do it,” said Quiles, who brings 25 years of retail experience to her position.

In 1997, Oasis began as something much more simple — a soup kitchen for women and children, a service that still exists. If you visit around lunchtime the aroma of a warm home-cooked meal wafts through the hallways. The women and children who eat here can just walk in, no questions asked, no forms to fill out.

Three years ago, the nonprofit underwent a $4 million construction project that included a fourth-floor addition. Now the organization has grown to serve more than 1,000 people each day — vital in a city where a high percentage of residents live below the poverty line.

Beyond hot meals, the offerings at Oasis include computer classes, citizenship courses, career placement, yoga, and the thrift store on the first floor.

On a recent visit, the shop was staffed with two of its first four interns. Stephanie Vasquez was in the last week of her eight-week apprenticeship. A mother of four girls, she originally came to Oasis to see one of the four on-site social workers and to enroll her mother in citizenship classes. In addition to landing the internship, her 1-year-old daughter is now signed up for day care there, relieving an immense burden.

“I had to put a lot of things on hold when I had my children,” said Vasquez, who said becoming a parent took her out of the workforce. “This is helping me get a foot back in the door.”

Bonding over shoppers' stories of struggle

Vasquez’s tasks include sorting donated clothes that are stored in the basement. But she prefers to work upstairs inside the shop and interact with customers. Many of the shoppers are regulars, she said, and they bond over stories about their struggles and about the reasons for their purchases — whether for a job interview or a gift to a family member overseas.

“If you're a mom that needs help and you don’t know where to go, or you feel stuck, this place welcomes you and guides you,” Vasquez said. “Other places don’t treat you like a person, but like a number — that’s the worst.”

Vasquez’s trajectory at Oasis is one that administrators take pride in. Many clients come here for one thing — be it the soup kitchen or an ESL class — and the visit opens them up to a variety of other services.

“You can get ESL classes anywhere, but one of the things people love about this place are the wraparound services — there’s support for whatever’s holding you back in life,” said Senem Kaptan, the organization's grants manager. “I know it sounds cheesy but there’s more love here — you feel that here.”

Earlier that day, Kaptan gave Paterson Press a tour of the building. As she walked around the halls that display murals with positive messages, she passed a photo wall of recent graduates. It was striking that the graduates were all different ages and cultural backgrounds, serving as a reminder that anyone can wind up in a position to need help.

A sense of dignity

Shana McDuffie, the organization’s career counselor, said the biggest barriers to finding a job in Paterson are the language barrier, transportation and getting child care. But how a person's story ends depends on the individual.

“It’s all up to them,” McDuffie said.

Upon completion of her internship, Vasquez will meet with McDuffie and review her updated résumé. It can be an emotional experience and it is not uncommon for those who visit McDuffie to hug her after the meeting is over.

Kaptan believes that many of those who come to Oasis are “bounced around” from different social services and aren’t used to being treated with dignity. The idea of dignity also ties into the mission of the thrift store. The intentionally low prices allow Oasis students and clients to afford the items on the shelves.

“It means a lot for them to go into a store and purchase something with the money they’ve earned,” Kaptan said. “This is a luxury most of us take for granted.”

Around 2 p.m., when many of the courses end, the shop usually fills up with students who kill time browsing the latest wares. Daesha Collymore, 22, who just finished a GED course at Oasis, was one of those regulars. Now, she’s the newest intern.

“I had been trying to get into a GED program but I never thought I had the time,” said Collymore, who sat behind the cash register on her second day as an intern. “Then a case manager here introduced me.”

Her favorite part of the job is watching customers take different articles of clothing and combine them with pieces that may not have been made for each other, but somehow work together in an unexpected, cohesive way. That could also serve as a metaphor for Oasis itself — how it weaves together people at different stages of their lives, united by their wish to improve their circumstances.

Collymore may not know exactly what she wants to do with her life, but the classes have given her hope that anything is possible.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what’s next,” Collymore said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson thrift store Nest is a boutique experience with dual purpose