On Burnet Road, just 1.1 miles away from the McCallum campus, was the thrift store Savers. A store that quickly became a large part of McCallum culture.

“My favorite memory was during Murder on the Orient Express,” junior Hudson Harvey said, referring to her time working on the 2019 MacTheatre production. “I was on costume crew for the first time, and we had to go look for some pieces for the show, and I remember just running around with three of the senior girls as a freshman, having the best time of my life looking for crazy dresses.”

Over the summer, it was announced that this Savers would be permanently closing on Sept. 4 due to increased rent for the building space.

Savers’ closing not only means closed doors and an empty building but also the loss of part of McCallum. 

“I’m so upset,” Harvey said. “It was totally a hangout spot after school or during long breaks at rehearsal, and it was so convenient.”

Because Savers offered a large variety of clothing items, it was appealing to the unique population of students at McCallum.

“I feel like since we are a fine arts school, a lot of the students here at McCallum are very different from each other,” senior Keely McNab said. “So thrifting is a very prominent thing here. I think it’s important because it provided a kind of creative outlet for a lot of students and gave them ways to express themselves.”

A trip to Savers was only a five-minute drive after school — the location brought many students to the store.

“Since it was so close to McCallum, I think it’s pretty significant just because a lot of us did go shopping there and liked finding unique pieces,” McNab said. “So that shutting down took away a place for a lot of McCallum students. A lot of the students here like to do things like thrifting and are into fashion and sewing. Throughout the hallways, everybody has a very unique sense of fashion and expressing themselves whereas I feel like at other high schools, it’s a little bit more like the status quo. Here I feel like everyone is a lot more creative with how they express themselves.”

Because Savers was a thrift store, it not only provided different and creative styles of clothing, but it also allowed students to rely on the lower prices of secondhand items to afford clothes.

“I think Savers [was] important to people who don’t have the money to buy new clothes from places,” sophomore Ame Jonrow said. “I have a large family, and we’ve been getting clothes just from Savers for a long time. Considering how much money clothes cost, and how much is rising, it’s really important to have clothes and a way to afford them.”

Savers was one of the few thrift stores in the area that did not raise its prices as thrifting became more of a trend than a means of finding affordable clothing.

“It’s always been more affordable,” Jonrow said. “Getting large amounts of things and individual items hasn’t grown in price as much. Thrifting has grown in popularity, and therefore, there are places where the prices are rising. At Goodwill, the prices have gone up, and for certain people, who struggle more than my family, it’s difficult just to afford it.”

Savers was a low-cost solution to increased prices from retail clothing and name brands, while also still allowing room for creativity in clothing choice.

“I have multiple siblings, we all dress differently, and we need different types of things,” Jonrow said. “And so having Savers was affordable for parents, and I liked looking for clothes, looking through the racks and finding cool things.”

Savers provided something for many students who shopped there — whether inexpensive clothing, interesting items or just time out of the house.

“Over quarantine, I’d be sitting at home all day and doing homework, but then at the end of the day, I could go to Savers, find some cool stuff, and then make stuff with that at home,” Mcnab said. “I went there a lot because it kind of took my mind off of things. And it gave me a way to be creative. So [Savers] closing was kind of like the end of an era.”

Although it was the affordability of items and the proximity to McCallum that drew many students to Savers, it was the atmosphere and the service that kept them coming back.

“The cashiers were always so interested in what we were doing and gave us advice,” Harvey said.

Savers was reliable — with prices, items, and employees — which provided a sense of comfort to customers.

“Every time I walked in there, I knew where everything was,” McNab said. “And I always knew whenever I walked in that I would find something really cool and interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever been there and not found something. I’m going to miss having the consistency.”

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