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42 Beachwood Buzz
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February 2016
A New Year, a New Career ­ From Teaching to Resale
by Channah Appel
I started teaching back in
1981. My husband was teaching
too. He was and is a rabbi for an
organization called Aish HaTorah,
and we just celebrated 25 years in
Cleveland.
Together, we have always
worked with the community, and I
am a connector by nature, so peo-
ple who needed things and others
who were getting rid of things
have always crossed my path. Call
it serendipity, "Bashert", G-d or luck,
but folks that want stuff and men-
tion it to me are often surprised
when the very things they need
show up on my doorstep.
Examples come by the dozens
and include a massage table, XXXL
leather coat, long skirts, red hats,
shampoo samples, kids' books,
snow pants, leftover art supplies,
hard-to-find suits and shoes, and
the list goes on.
In 1981, when we lived in Israel,
the American students who had
extras and the needy neighbors
who had nothing all came and
went in and out of our apartment.
When we moved back to Cleve-
land, I continued sending things to
Israel, until the luggage allowances
changed, the economy got bad,
and my friends here in Cleveland
were comfortable telling me what
they lacked.
Thanks to my students, donations
kept coming in. I became youth
director for NCSY, an organization
that connects Jewish teens, and the
kids got involved with the clothing
too. Slowly, our home was getting
buried in hundreds of bags of do-
nations, and families would "shop"
in our back porch, which oozed
into the living room and eventually
into the yard. We got a permit for a
double shed in the back yard, but
there were too many donations to
continue operating from home.
When deciding to open a retail
shop, seed money was provided
by a businessman who had been
studying with my husband, and
Take2 resale was born.
This non-profit store, currently
located at 4141 Mayfield Road,
South Euclid, has been a real
labor of love. I learned quickly
that switching from pure gifts and
good deeds, to charging $1-$5 per
item and trying to cover rent, was
not an easy task. The first week,
we received over 4,000 pounds of
clothing and housewares, which
took over 16 man-hours to sort.
The volunteers cancelled frequent-
ly and I needed to hire a manager
and some staff because I could not
do it all alone.
I have no business training and
love hanging out on Facebook,
but need loads of help with social
media. I am learning as I go, and
my fellow thrift-and-resale-shop
owners in the area have been
wonderful!
Sara, from Fabulous Finds on
Noble Road, taught me the ins and
outs of disinfecting the plush items
to satisfy government require-
ments. Annette, from LaSheek
Resale on Mayfield Road, helped
me learn to keep my daily sales
records. Jerry Akrish, the dad of
past NCSYers with whom I worked,
became my cash register teacher;
and Ari Galperin, a past NCSYer, my
credit card educator.
Friends helped to break down
walls, and Dale, my husband's
student, painted the store. It was
a joint effort to get us ready for
opening day.
A friend from the Jewish com-
munity connected our store with
Cleveland Job Corps and they sent
us volunteers, and other govern-
ment agencies helped as well.
I learned quickly that people like
to see items with clear prices. Cus-
tomers (and the fire marshal) like
clear aisles, and the piles in the bins
must get sorted quickly so there is
room for more donations.
We discovered that the locals
include immigrants from Nepal
(thousands have resettled here
in the Cleveland area) and elderly
Russians from the local assisted-liv-
ing homes; hair dressers from Cen-
tral Africa, and lots of grandparents
who are raising their grandchildren.
I met young students from
South Euclid who were looking for
volunteer opportunities so that
they could qualify for the national
honor society in middle school,
and these families spent Saturdays
taping flyers to local screen doors.
My goal is to keep the prices
down so that local families can
get clothing and household items
that are within their budgets. That
makes it tricky to meet our expens-
es. Once expenses are covered,
proceeds will be used for educa-
tional trips to Israel.
A second store, Take2Boutique,
is now open here in Beachwood,
behind Mika's Wig Salon, at 2199
South Green Road. This is a more
upscale store.
A new career? Yes! I love to recy-
cle clothing and goods and make
matches between donors and
customers. We have a wish list that
is a mile long. Stop in and meet our
amazing manager, Eric, and our
other sorters and volunteers.
My goal is to keep the
prices down so that local
families can get clothing
and household items that
are within their budgets
.
Hannah Appel in Take 2, a re-
sale store she recently opened
at 4141 Mayfield Road.