Thrift Store Lauded for its 'Impact' on Community

Supporting the Hatboro community’s thriving downtown and assisting the many charities that have served for nearly a decade has been a piece of cake.

Figuring out who will accept the President’s Award tonight for the Hatboro store, well that may be a bit trickier. Impact President and CEO Paul Baur paused to ponder the question.

“I’d love it if everybody went forward,” Baur said, noting that “quite a crew from the store” would be attending the Biennial . “For Impact to get the award it’s complimenting the whole community. Anybody that’s donated or shopped at Impact … They’re a part of this award.”

Meredith Baker, Greater Hatboro Chamber of Commerce operations manager, said the thrift store has positively impacted the Hatboro community by providing a variety of goods to individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford them. The icing on the cake is that the sale of people’s donated items is used to fund local charities. Impact, which also operates thrift stores in Norristown and Montgomeryville, donates $25,000 per month to a variety of charities and last year surpassed $1 million in contributions.

“They provide a way for people to give, but not necessarily write a check,” Baker said. “I think it gives people a sense of accomplishment or a sense of doing good for somebody else.”

Aside from the thrift store’s charitable arm, Baker credits Impact CFO Al Chagan in particular with spearheading Hatboro’s First Friday events. On April 1, the monthly night out of downtown shopping, dining and entertaining will celebrate its three-year anniversary.

“That’s his baby,” she said.

For Baur, who opened the Hatboro store with Chagan in December 2001, it’s hard to believe how much has been accomplished. Not only has Impact grown to three stores – with another 30,000-square-foot location being planned, possibly in New Jersey – but Baur has since begun consulting with others from as far away as Tennessee and North Carolina on developing the thrift store model.

“God put that longing in me to be able to do something more,” Baur said of Impact’s initial founding. “We are running this to support charities. It’s not my business. I don’t own it.”

Impact Thrift Store is one of four individuals to be honored during the Greater Hatboro Chamber of Commerce's Biennial Boro Ball tonight.