The Christian Home and Bible School Variety Shoppe
2235 W Old US Highway 441
Mt Dora, FL 32757-3509
352-383-0236
What is the Christian Home and Bible School Variety Shoppe?
It depends on whom you ask, some call it a store with varied merchandise, some call it a thrift shop, others call it a junk shop and it has been called worse! The merchandise sold in this store is all donated by private individuals and businesses, so one might call it a store that sells primarily second hand merchandise.
What merchandise does the CHBS-VS sell?
Again this depends on what is donated to the “shoppe”, it can be pretty near anything from used clothing, shoes, kitchen items, books, tools and lots of questionable items from Taiwan.
What is my interest in the CHBS-VS?
Actually none! I could care less if it goes out of business and they put a Go-Go bar on the site (in fact the donation center was once a bar of some reputation and may well have served a better function than it now occupies). I have created this website to voice my opinion about this “shoppe”, its business practices, the prices it charges, the merchandise it sells and some of the people that work there.
Are the employees paid for their work or are they volunteers?
Most all of the employees are paid to work there, it has been suggested that some of the people working there would be unemployable in a mainstream situation.
How much money does the CHBS-VS bring in everyday?
Again, this depends how brisk the sales are on any given day, on average it is believed that the sales total around $2,000! One might interpret this to mean that there is big money to be made by people’s castoffs. Do the math, this would mean that every week about $12,000 is realized and every month about $52,000 is realized and every year about $624,000 is realized!! This is over half a million dollars!!!
Remember, the money CHBS-VS realizes is all from items they received for nothing!
Should I continue to donate items to the CHBS-VS?
This is something I cannot answer, accept to say there are other stores run by other organizations that are as deserving if not more deserving than the CHBS-VS.
Where are these stores and how can I contact them?
Humane Society of Lake County Thrift Shop
11 N. Eustis St.
Eustis, FL 32726
Phone: (352) 589-1772
Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday, Thursday, Friday;
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday
(my personal favorite)
Leesburg Humane Society Bargain Store
32445 CR 473
Leesburg, FL 34788
Phone: (352) 742-2686
Hours: 9am to 3 pm Mon-Sat
Leesburg Humane Society Bargain Store
41250 Emeralda Island Road
Leesburg, FL 34788
Phone: (352) 742-2686
Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mon-Sat
Cat Protection Society Resale Store
3725 N. Hwy. 19A
Mt. Dora, FL 32757
(352) 383-0685
Hours: 10:00am-4:00pm Mon-Sat
Should I “cut-off” the CHBS-VS and donate/purchase elsewhere?
Again, I cannot answer this for you, I can only give you my opinion of the CHBS-VS and have you take it from there. Here is a brief list of my chief concerns about the CHBS-VS: In the CHBS-VS all sales are final, so if you purchase an item bring it home and it does not work………..you are SOL! Let’s face it $5 here, $10 there, it all adds up for worthless merchandise. With so many dollar stores around, why not purchase it new at or below the price the CHBS-VS is charging. It can be argued that some of the money raised by the CHBS-VS goes to charity. Yes, but it can also be argued that charity begins at home. The Christian Home and Bible School in Mount Dora (where the proceeds of the CHBS-VS directly benefit) will
hire only teachers that are members of the Church of Christ (their parent church) in Mount Dora. Would you purchase merchandise from a store that refused to hire, Blacks, Hispanics, Catholics, the handicapped, etc? This may also be the case for CHBS-VS but, I am not certain of this statement.
Many of the donations in CHBS-VS are garage sale remains and it has been observed by one that many times the old price sticker from the garage sale is lower than the CHBS-VS price sticker. Why not buy directly from the garage sale holder and save money! The CHBS-VS often throws out the merchandise that will not sell. To one it would appear that there are no freebies and they want to bleed every cent out of one that they possible can! This brings to mind during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when farmers were unable to sell their milk; they often dumped it in the streets (this was while children were without milk and starving).
The CHBS-VS allows its employees to purchase merchandise BEFORE it even hits the floor and at an employee discount of 50%. It has been observed by one that certain employees have “bought” merchandise to resell through various venues. It is the opinion of one that while some employees of the CHBS-VS are kind, friendly and compassionate people, many of the employees make the word Christian in Christian Home and Bible School a noun and certainly not an adjective. One sometimes ponders why some employees at the CHBS-VS appear to hate their jobs, the CHBS-VS itself and the people that donate/purchase there.
One can only speculate and as previously pointed out above; some of the employees are possibly unemployable outside of this work situation.
Some of the reasons for this phenomena could be as follows:
Lack of education.
Lack of social/personal skills.
Lifestyle that is not conducive to full-time mainstream employment.
Poor work ethic.
Personal problems.
Emotional issues.
Resentment that their job is the “end of the line”.
I hope I have given you some perspective about the CHBS-VS and the tools to make up your own mind. I would be very interested to hear your opinion, so e-mail me or better yet add your own comments and/or personal experiences to this blog for the world to read!
If like me, you have grown to dislike, distrust and avoid the CHBS-VS, why not call or write a letter to the vice president of finance and express your opinion. His name and address are as follows:
Mr. Kent Means
Christian Home and Bible School
Vice President of Finance
301 W. 13th Avenue
Mount Dora, FL 32757
352-383-2155 Ext:206
kent.means@chbs.org
