Opportunity Village opens furniture store

Rebecca Malone

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 9:19 a.m.

People usually have two choices when it comes to buying furniture:

Opportunity Village is hoping most Las Vegans will choose the latter and visit their new furniture thrift store that opened Thursday morning. The store is dedicated primarily to the sale of used furniture, but also has a small selection of other items.

"We're really excited about this new store, which will be the first time we've concentrated strictly on one type of item, namely furniture, at one of our stores," Linda Smith, resource development director for Opportunity Village, said.

"We have great bargains to offer, with a lot of new and nearly new furniture that has been donated by local homeowners, hotels, and businesses. We have a lot of furniture so we decided to consolidate most of it in one spot at this new store."

The furniture store at 4001 W. Sahara Ave. is the fourth Opportunity Village thrift Store in Las Vegas.

Ed Juthrie, executive director of Opportunity Village, said the stores fulfill two very important needs for the organization. They provide jobs for individuals with disabilities and they provide funding for other programs.

Juthrie said they are projecting that all of the thrift stores will make a surplus of around $133,000 by the end of the year. This is a little over half of the $220,000 the organization needs to raise without state funding in order to run its three main programs: Project Enable, P.R.I.D.E., and the Family Services Program.

These programs would not be able to exist without the employees of the thrift stores and their customers. The stores employ many disabled individuals to work throughout the stores.

"These stores provide a place for them to work in a integrated setting," Juthrie said. "It is an opportunity for them to work with the general public."

Magician Steve Wyrick, star of his own show at the Sahara hotel, was there to help with the grand opening Thursday of the furniture store.

Every person who spent $20 Thursday was given a "goodie bag" containing $50 worth of goodies, including a two-for-one coupon to the Wyrick's show and a coupon for a dozen free Krispy Kreme donuts.

Walker Furniture made a delivery for the opening consisting of 42 king head boards, 11 double head boards, 31 night stands and seven television armoires. All of this new furniture was added to the hundreds of other donations that covered the nearly 6,000 square feet of floor space.

"Our thrift stores are a very important part of the Opportunity Village mission," Smith said. "In addition to selling items at bargain prices, these stores enable us to create jobs for local people with disabilities. Allowing them to earn a paycheck while making a valuable contribution to society means a lot to them and their families."