Lori Brouner began working as a night janitor and on the dock at the Methodist Thrift Shop in 1996 to supplement her income as a teacher’s aide. She must have made an impression – within a year she was managing the shop.
On Wednesday, after 24½ years Brouner spent her last official day on the clock at Durango’s iconic thrift store at 986 East Second Ave.
“It’s the people who’ve come across our paths that have made this place so wonderful. I’ve made a lot of friends in the community, getting to know the customers, the employees. It’s really bittersweet. I have a lot of gratitude for this place,” Brouner said after staff members surprised her with some fresh fruit, cookies, homemade dishes and pizza for a physically distant but socially close celebration on her last day.
The retirement has been long planned. Since June 2018, Brouner said she had planned to leave at the end of 2020.
She’s bought a small camper and plans to do some traveling, but otherwise she intends to remain in Durango. She said she’ll still be a familiar face around the thrift shop, but she’ll be on the other side of the counter, coming in as a customer.
Suzanne McMillen, who has been training with Brouner for two weeks, will be the shop’s new manager. She moved to Durango from the Los Angeles area.
Pedro Gonzalez, who was sorting donations on the dock Wednesday, has been with the thrift shop for 3½ years, and he said the changing of the guard will be a fairly big deal for staff members.
“Lori means a lot to me, to all of us. We’re like a family here,” he said.
Gonzalez, who comes from Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, is training to be a paramedic with the assistance of a scholarship he’s received from the Methodist Thrift Shop.
Cheryl Kraayenbrink, assistant manager, called Brouner a mentor and a friend.
“We’re pretty efficient here, and that’s Lori. She’s been here so long, and she keeps the store fun, and we do good things with the donations we receive,” Kraayenbrink said. “It’s the community that keeps this store going, and when people think about the Methodist Thrift Shop, they think about Lori.”
Kim McCarl, operations assistant, said every employee at the store realizes how important the shop is to the community, and that ethos comes from Brouner’s guidance.
“We have a wonderful staff, and that comes from her,” McCarl said. “ You don’t just work here for a job. You work here for the community. This is a feel-good job. You really get that through Lori.”
Brouner said it felt like the right time to leave and the right time for the shop to find someone new to lead it for the next quarter century.
The generosity of the community will keep the store strong, she said.
“We really care about the donations, and we try to find the right place for every donation we get,” she said. “There’s a story behind each item, sometimes it’s not just people cleaning out their closet. They may have lost a loved one, and that donation is their final reminder.”
parmijo@durangoherald.com
