Helping Hands Thrift Shop founder and manager Linda Young sifts through some clothing at the shop in Lake Placid on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. Young has operated Helping Hands for 30 years. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Lake Placid’s Helping Hands Thrift Shop closed its doors on George and Bliss Lane last month after 31 years of service to the community.

This is a significant loss. Thrift stores play a crucial role in our communities, particularly in villages such as Lake Placid, where the cost of living is high and for the average person, living space is limited.

Thrift stores make fresh starts possible. The link between clutter and mental health is well documented: A 2016 study by researchers at the University of New Mexico found that “when (clutter) becomes excessive, it can threaten to physically and psychologically entrap a person in dysfunctional home environments, which contribute to personal distress and feelings of displacement and alienation.” We all reach a point in our lives when we need to let go of some things.

Thrift stores also have a positive environmental impact. Americans throw away up to 11.3 million tons of clothing each year, according to Bloomberg — that’s around 2,150 pieces each second. Thrift stores keep some of these items from ending up in the landfill.

Thrift stores also tend to be more affordable options for those who need household basics and furnishings because items are sold secondhand. For many people, having access these necessities at a discounted price is the difference between having them and not having them.

Helping Hands Thrift Shop’s director, Linda Young, said it best in an interview with the Enterprise last week:

“(The shop has) given people a chance to go in there and fill the needs of their families and to offer opportunities for people to volunteer,” Young said. “But extremely important is the fact that it has helped so, so many people. … People knowing where to bring things. People knowing where they can get things very inexpensively. People that needed it got it free.”

The Ecumenical Charities program, which operated the thrift shop, as well as Young and the shop’s volunteers, deserve a lot of praise for their service to this community over the years. We’re so sad to see this resource go, and we hope this closure isn’t forever. It’s true that that location wasn’t the best place for the thrift shop. We hope that someday, somehow, a new location will open up that will allow Helping Hands to continue to lend this community a hand when we need it most.