Nestled between Pappa Charlie’s Deli and Goodman Jewelers at the top of Spring Street, ABC Clothing Shop is a step above your average thrift store. Walk inside, and you’ll be greeted by one of 14 volunteers, who each dedicate up to 10 hours a month to work at the shop. A carefully curated selection of items hang on each rack, hand-picked from a much larger collection in the basement of the First Congregational Church. All proceeds go to charity.
Each article of clothing, sign, and hand-drawn tag tells a story. The window display varies seasonally and features a mannequin draped with the best and the latest, according to volunteers’ tastes.
ABC Clothing Shop was originally started as a chapter of A Better Chance, a Northeast-based scholarship program for underprivileged students which started in 1964. After Williamstown’s chapter of the program shut down in 2015, volunteers decided to continue ABC’s mission of donations-only, non-profit clothing sales, according to the shop’s website.
ABC’s board now recieves grant applications from charitable organizations in the Berkshires and greater South County area. The shop currently benefits 24 charities, among them the Williamstown Food Pantry and the Berkshire Academy for Advanced Musical Studies.
Over the years, ABC has taken many forms, from pop-up bargain-basement-style sales, to outdoor tents in front of Nature’s Closet, to booths at the Williamstown Farmers Market, according to Andrea Dupras, one of two store co-managers. “We’ve gone from that to having an actual retail space that’s open six days a week,” she said.
ABC’s first storefront, where the Tea and Boba Lounge is now, closed in December 2023 as businesses on Spring Street shuffled around, and opened the following January in their current location. The new space gives the store a more refined feel, but can sometimes be restrictive, according to Marketa Rulikova, chair of the ABC board and visiting assistant professor of sociology.
“It’s definitely more boutiquey than it was,” she told the Record. “We have to be more selective … in what we put out.”
Rulikova initially began volunteering for ABC out of sociological curiosity. “Every bag, when you open it, there is a story,” she said. When Rulikova started volunteering in 2014, she found that other volunteers’ responses to clothing were just as noteworthy as the clothes themselves. “I wanted to get a sense of all aspects of this enterprise,” she said. “It was super interesting … for me as a sociologist, to listen to all the volunteers commenting on the clothing.”
Volunteers and customers alike love ABC for the way it brings communities together. “It’s really lovely,” Cathy Nolan, a co-manager of ABC Clothing Shop, said. “It’s lovely to get to know students who are regulars [and] have conversations with alumni who come back.”
Robin Brickman, a volunteer at ABC, expressed a similar sentiment. “I just find it really cheerful to be here,” she said. “People are just interesting and nice.”
For Dupras, co-managing the shop has generated many fond memories. “One of the ski coaches’ sons was going to prom, and he needed a suit,” she said. “Literally that morning, someone had donated this really nice men’s two-piece suit. I said, ‘Here, have him try this on.’ He [did], and it fit like it was custom made for him. [The suit] came in that morning, and it went to prom the next day,” she said.
“Being able to meet an immediate need … and find something that fits and that they love — that’s really fun,” she added.
Many students also have favorite anecdotes from the shop. Nalin Gupta ’27 told the Record that he once met the original owner of an item he found at ABC. “I went there once, and one of the people who donated the stuff was like, ‘Hey, that’s my jacket that you’re wearing,’” he said. “He was an elderly man and he was like, ‘You’re wearing my suit. It looks good on you.’”
Gupta has been going to ABC Clothing Shop since the fall of his first year, and it has paid off. “I think 85 percent of the stuff I wear on a day-to-day basis is from ABC,” he said. “For me [going to ABC] is like leisure. Honestly, I’m usually not buying something, but I just want to go see what’s there.” Gupta has an interest in fashion, which he has cultivated by thrifting a small, versatile wardrobe.
“Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, J. Crew. Oh, and Banana Republic,” Gupta said, listing a few of the brands he’s bought from the shop.
While some students love finding designer brands at ABC, others, like Sophie Possick ’28, prize its one-of-a-kind items. “My favorite sweater right now is from ABC,” she said in an interview with the Record. “It was $5, and it’s a homemade snowman sweatshirt that someone sewed all these buttons on… It just makes me so happy.”
What’s next for ABC? Night hours, perhaps, according to Dupras. “We’d love to be open at night if we could, on Friday nights,” she said. “Coming into the warm weather, [we’re hoping to] be able to do something like that.”
Rulikova said that she loves the idea of inspiring a Spring Street culture shift. “Spring Street can get pretty empty, pretty early,” she said. “I would love it if we prove [staying open late] is a good move, and maybe inspire the rest of the stores. If we could contribute to a new culture of Spring Street, that would be a great legacy.”
If hours ever do expand, the shop may begin to welcome new customers. When asked for her advice to students who had never been to the ABC Clothing Shop, Isabel Beckrich ’27 replied, “You gotta go. You kind of have to look at everything, though,” she said. “It takes some digging, sometimes, to find the right things.”
“This store is incredible,” Gupta added, showing me a photo of his favorite ABC Italian leather book bag.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the store moved out of its first storefront in December 2022. It moved out in December 2023. The article was updated on March 5 at 2:50 p.m. to correct this error
