wui 1 a
Student budgets
benefit
from quality
handicrafts
By Cyndi Bacon
Of The Print
The only thing that is "senior
citizen" about the Senior Citi
zen Craft Shoppe in Oregon City
is the name, according to Leia
Watson, six-year veteran man
ager.
The Shoppe, located at 721
Main Street, is chuck-full of
hand-made crafts designed by
local residents and sold on con
signment with a one-third com
mission mark-up by the store.
"We take anything hand-made
and new," Watson said. "I mean
you can't go out and buy some
thing and put it in the shop.
We've had people buy stuff here
because they were made by hand
instead of Japan."
The Shoppe began in March
1967 at 216 Seventh Street
under the management of Helen
Curtis, long-time senior citizen
resident of Oregon City, said
Toni Pfeifer, president of the
corporation.
At that time it
had the backing of the Clacka
mas County Economic Oppor
tunity, a branch of the state
office of Economic Opportunity.
In December 1968 the cor
poration withdrew
from the
EOA "because they could make
their own way", Pfeifer said.
The Shoppe changed location to
706 Main and then in 1972 mov
ed to its present location.
"I "I took the shop over in
1971," Watson said.
"I had
never been in the store before
the morning I walked in to take
it over. We had no help and very
little money."
"Back then you had to be a
member to sell goods," Pfeifer
said.
"It was a 145-member
group then and it has grown
considerably since then."
A non-profit organization, the
shoppe is strictly run by volun
teer help. There are two volun
teers at one time each day with
14 in-all.
"There's a policy of no-refund
and no exchange," Watson said.
"If they pay us for a craft and
it is at the end of the month and
I pay the other fellow, then
there is no way to get the money
back."
Everything is a big seller,
Watson said. Some sellers in
clude wooden toys, baby things,
kitchen items--dish towels, pot
holders,
aprons, decorations--
house slippers, afghans, capes,
quilts, comforters and purses,
among an array of many other
items,-which are all priced very,
very inexpensively.
"We also have hand-made
dolls," Watson said. "We use
to sell an awful lot, but most of
them don't sell like they used
to."
"I guess I'm getting a little bit
hard-nosed," she said. "If some
thing doesn't sell. I'll tell them
to take it somewhere else to
sell it. Sometimes an idea goes
out of style".
The Shoppe is open Monday
through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to
5:30 p.m., "but, we stay open
if something is going on,"
Watson said.
Ada Jordan (above, left) and
Mabie Vaughn, clerks at the
Senior Citizens' Store in Oregon
City, discuss sales during a brief
lull in business. Vaughn, (right)
works on a baby afghan which,
when finished, will be sold in the
store. At bottom, various hand
crafted wares are displayed with
in the store.
Photos by Lorraine Stratton
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