Photo Credit: Neve Levinson
It’s official! The new Free Store is OPEN!
Gavin Stewart ‘21, shared with The Quindecim last Monday that he has “been enlightened by Brett [Rapkin-Citrenbaum ‘20,]’s dream and idea of a year-long Free Store.” Stewart described the purpose of a Free Store as “a place where people can put their stuff that they don’t really use or don’t want, and they can pick up stuff that they want to use or they have a desire for. So if you go in there in need of pants, and you see some pants that fit you, and they’re kinda cool pants, you can take ‘em, and that’s just a thing.” This Free Store is replacing the one currently located between Hooper and Dulaney.
As Stewart pointed out, “[t]here’s no money. It’s moneyless. We’re destroying capitalism.”
Beyond this, Stewart emphasized that “really, this place is something that I want the school to define for itself. I have some good ideas, but I really want it to be a community space” where community members can implement their visions for a communal space.
One example of a creative idea emerging from the new space is that “the Fashion Club is linking up with the Free Store and making clothes, and making their own fashion out of clothes that are donated to the Free Store, maybe showcasing it back into the Free Store, so you could have your own brand and you see people wearing the clothes that you created. There’s sort of a sustainability aspect linked to it, as well.”
Related to the sustainability aspect of the Free Store, Stewart pointed out that, to make all of this happen “takes people and people’s time. I have a great team of people working with me this semester, great staff who have been helping me out: Daniela [Beall], the [Sustainability Coordinator]..and it kinda just takes like time too…we need to find a space, and it needs to be cleared out, it needs to be clean, and it needs to be designed so like it doesn’t get obliterated, and it takes a lot of planning, and rules, and anticipation of what could go wrong.”
An email to the Goucher faculty, staff, and students and signed “the Free Store,” noted that “[t]he Free Store will open at 10 a.m. and close at 10:00 p.m. everyday.”
Stewart is stipulating that items brought to the Free Store are clean and free from holes — basically, “it’s clothes that you can see other people wearing.”
Stewart closed the interview with a clear directive: “You know, Goucher, I’m putting this in the hands of you. I love you…let’s make it happen.”
Find the new Free Store in Heubeck 128 next to the laundry room.
