St. Margaret’s Cellar Door Thrift Shop

Driving along Highway 111 through the Palm Springs area, Tom and I would always look forward to stopping in at St. Margaret’s Cellar Door Thrift Shop to see if we could snag any deals.  It was always my favorite thrift shop when we were on vacation in the area until just a few years ago when it suddenly became a Goodwill store.  Goodwill could never compete with St. Margaret’s.

In my head, I always thought of St. Margaret’s as former President Gerald Ford’s place.  But in reality, he had no direct connection to the store except that St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert operated it and that happened to be the church the Fords attended.  Susan Ford was married at the church in 1979.  It was where both the President’s and the First Lady’s funerals were held in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

With any thrift store (and I’m sure it’s true for you), going to one is like going on a treasure hunt.  Expectations can’t be too great because you may walk away empty-handed.  But when you do find something at a great price, it’s a bit exciting.

One of the things that intrigued me about St. Margaret’s was that in the clothing section, there would be many beautiful, brand-new women’s and men’s clothes with the tags still on.  As I recall, I never paid more than $7 for a brand-name blazer or blouse that was tagged at a far greater price.

For me, the avid reader, the used-books section was a lot of fun to visit.  St. Margaret’s offered some good quality literature in addition to the usual romances, heavy-duty action stories, and how-to manuals.  Again, it was fun to peruse the many choices.

As for the volunteers running the thrift store, many of them were quite elderly.  One time I remember that I had to count out the bills and change for the kindly, charming gentleman behind the counter.  He was so happy that I had purchased a number of items.  I think he was also happy that I counted out the money for him.

Thinking of the Fords this week, I have to mention one of my favorite books.  Betty Ford: First Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer by Lisa McCubbin documents Betty’s battle with breast cancer and her success over addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs.  You can tell by the picture on the cover that, at times, she was “a character.”

So that’s it for now.  Hope you are having a great week!  In this time of Covid, we still have much to celebrate.