After five and a half months completely closed, the Free Market opened to customers on September 4th and is now open 1-5 pm on Thursdays and Fridays. We require everyone to wear a mask and limit customers to five at a time in the shop. Volunteers try to stay out of the shop, greeting customers outside the front door, taking donations to the side door, and working in the back to process donations. This seems to be working well, and our numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels. Given that most of our volunteers and many of our customers are in high-risk groups, we are being as careful as possible to be sure no one leaves the Free Market with a viral hitchhiker!
Many thanks to those who spent the lockdown cleaning out closets and garages; we have had lots of wonderful donations and more magical moments where someone finds exactly what they have always wanted!
