Thrifty shoppers in Greater Morristown now must travel a bit farther for high-end bargains. But the ladies who run the Bargain Box promise it’s worth the trip.
“We love it,” shop Manager Maggie Moffitt said of the new location on Harding’s Country Mile. “It’s bright, it’s open, and there is a lot of interaction with our volunteers…The whole loft effect is really inviting.”
On Friday, dignitaries cut the ribbon to officially open the spacious store at 1117 Mt. Kemble Ave., where the Bargain Box moved in early August after 31 years in Morris Township, about five miles down the road.
The Bargain Box is operated by the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center to raise money for the hospital.
“There is not a project at the hospital that the Women’s Association has not touched in some way,” said hospital President Trish O’Keefe, a longtime shopper at the Bargain Box who attended the ribbon-cutting.
It’s been smooth sailing since the move, said Mary Courtemanche, president of the Women’s Association.
“It’s open, it’s airy, it’s shopper-friendly…yet it feels like you’re at home,” said Courtemanche. Gently worn name-brand women’s and men’s wear are arrayed on two levels, under skylights that bathe the place in sunshine.
Although the new digs have roughly the same space as the old location, the layout is more open and not conducive to displaying furniture and decorative items as before.
But it’s next door to the Wightman farmstand, a popular destination that should be an added inducement to shoppers.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin; click / hover on images for captions:
Established in Morristown more than six decades ago, the Bargain Box had been lodged in recent times across Mt. Kemble Avenue from Atlantic Rehabilitation. The rehab center is moving to a new facility in Madison, and a housing development is planned to replace it along with the former Bargain Box building.
Sarah Churgin, owner of Acquisitions Fine Jewelry and Antiques in Harding, bought 1117 Mt. Kemble last year. Built in the late 1980s for a Four Seasons clothing store, it most recently contained Richard Bevin Antiques, Churgin said.
The Bargain Box has signed a five-year lease. Churgin said she was delighted to welcome the nonprofit tenant to the vacant store.
“They did a marvelous renovation to the building and brought new life to it. I hope they get decades of use out if it,” said Churgin. “I came up through the thrift world as a customer. To give back now gives me a chance to come full circle.”
“It’s worth it. The staff here is wonderful,” said Robert Angley, who has been coming once a week from Woodbridge with his wife Patricia to volunteer.
