Garage sales and good deeds

• Michelle Overbey

Shidor owner Michelle Overbey will use proceeds from the downtown Farmington secondhand shop to fund Salt & Light, her nonprofit that helps single parents buy a home. Nathan Hansen/Independent

Talk about it

What if you had a garage sale and it never ended?

It’s a scenario that might sound like a nightmare to any family who’s ever closed up shop at the end of a weekend sale, exhausted happy to be finished. But for Michelle Overbey it’s a reality. And she’s thrilled.

Shidor, Overbey’s new downtown Farmington secondhand store, started out as a four-day fundraiser for Salt & Light, the nonprofit organization Overbey founded to help single parents buy homes. But she got so many donations, and the sale went so well that she kept things running for a month in the Apple Valley space she’d found for the sale. When the owner of that spot found a longer-term tenant, Overbey packed boxes of clothes, plates, glasses and more into four garages and started looking for a new home for the business. When she found a spot at the corner of Third and Oak streets, she knew she was in the right place.

“I stood in front of the building and I just knew this is where I was supposed to be,” Overbey said.”

People seem happy to have her here, too. Overbey said she’s already had several people stop in as she’s worked to get things set up. Residents of two nearby senior apartment complexes have already offered to volunteer at the store. Word of the store is spreading quickly, if not always accurately. On Monday a woman stopped in to ask when the store is opening — Nov. 2 — and to ask if it was true it would only be available to single mothers — it’s not.

So, what is Shidor? Let’s start with the name. Shidor actually came from Overbey’s 3-year-old nephew. He calls his aunt ’Chelle, and he had trouble saying “’Chelle’s store.” In his mind, the word transformed itself into, “Shidor,” and the name just kind of stuck.

The store itself is a little bit harder to explain. Much of the space is currently taken up by clothing, but it’s more than a clothing store. There are toys. There are plates and silverware. There’s at least one computer. It’s a little bit of everything, and it’s all donated.

There are sweatshirts and suits, bicycles and books.

“The neat thing about it is, with the donations that come in we’ve got such varied items,” Overbey said. “We have a little bit of everything for everybody.”

That kind of variety is nice for shoppers, but it can make for some frustrating times as Overbey and the friends and family who are helping her organize everything in the shop.

“Sometimes we just get a few glasses or we get odds and ends,” Overbey said. “You’ve just got to go with it.”

Overbey is going. And going. She’s getting the new store ready while working a full-time job investigating worker’s compensation claims for an insurance company and running her nonprofit, which gives single parents half their down payment for a house if they successfully stick to a budget the organization helps them prepare. Profits from Shidor will support the foundation, which has helped 15 families in its three years of existence.

It’s a lot to take on for Overbey, who is herself a single mother, but she gets plenty of help. Families who get help from Overbey’s foundation are required to pitch in, and many of Overbey’s friends and family members have pitched in.

“I have really good friends and really good family,” she said. “I’m so appreciative of that, because I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my dream if it wasn’t for them.”

Donating

Shidor will take donations once it is up and running, but there are a few restrictions. Overbey doesn’t want computers, and she doesn’t want anything too big or heavy. She’s also not interested in things like car seats that could be recalled for safety problems.

Shidor is not set up yet to provide a tax break to donors, but Overbey is working on that.

Tags: business news, business, shidor