By Caroline Carr
When Lifelong announced it was getting out of the thrift business in January, they were naturally met with disappointment from the community. At the time, they couldn’t yet reveal what would come next for the Broadway thrift shop that had been a quintessential Capitol Hill spot for more than twenty years.
The Lifelong nonprofit will be moving away from retail to focus its efforts on an expanded kitchen and meal services mission doubling its size in Georgetown, making way for a new effort in reuse and recycling: Magpie Thrift.
The new beginning on Broadway starts next week.
Magpie will be a thrift store that encourages patrons to reuse, recycle, and make do with less.
“Although we are sad and have been grieving the loss of that identity, life is about moving forward and creating new things,” said owner Tamara Asakawa who previously served as the longtime director of Lifelong Thrift.
The new store will be a space for shopping along with upcycling workshops, senior downsizing assistance programs, and community events.
Magpie will begin as a for-profit venture that will fund the launch of Everly, a nonprofit created by Asakawa. In time, she hopes to raise the money to merge the two entities and return the thrift back to its roots as a nonprofit. Asakawa was intent on transparency with the store’s new for-profit status, and is confident that this is both necessary and temporary. Continue reading
