Thrift shop donates more than $1 million to schools

MARBLEHEAD, MA (WBZ/CNN) - Shoppers at the Magic Hat Thrift Shop near Boston never know what they might find when they visit.

"I absolutely love the Magic Hat,” said Kathleen Rosenberg who’s a regular at the store. "I'm here daily, it's a gem in town."

What makes the store special is that the proceeds from the store's inventory of donated goods benefit each one of Marblehead's six public schools.

The store just hit a huge milestone in April.

Since it opened in 2005, the store has donated $1 million to the parent-teacher organizations.

"It's a lot of money, it's a lot of money," said Chris Bruell who shops at the store.

Magic Hat Thrift Shop has just about everything you need to stuff your closet or outfit your home.

"We buy Kindles, French books, we have poets come and speak to the kids,” said Wendy Roworth, president and treasurer of the shop. “These are all programs that would not be if not for the Magic Hat."

And everything for sale is donated. That keeps the sorting room jammed full.

"I think it's amazing,” said another shopper, Tai Palacios. “You gotta have plates, you gotta have clothes, you gotta have chairs, tables. Everything here is perfect for where I am in life."

The store has grown so much it has had to hire a small staff. That's in addition to its army of volunteers.

"It could be from an estate sale, it could be from downsizing,” Roworth said. “It could be things that their children have outgrown. I personally am wearing a Vineyard Vines shirt that I bought here for about $4."

Everything is priced to move.

But again, the Marblehead school children are the real winners here not the store’s customers.

"It's from the heart,” Roworth said. “And it's something that everybody here absolutely loves."

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