Can’t Pass It Up opens in Missouri Valley
By Don Harrold
News Editor
Can’t Pass It Up, a combined thrift and consignment store, opened Friday, Aug. 7 at 403 E. Erie St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Janice Grover, 55, who runs the store with business partner Tina Sears, described the operation.
Grover said the name came out of a list of options they wrote down.
“We kind of were going with lots of different names, and we had them all written down, and we just kind of all decided to pick a couple,” Grover said. “Well, we put Pass It Up; we really liked that. But that was already taken, so we put Can’t Pass It Up.”
The store operates on two tracks.
“Our business is a thrift store, but it’s also a consignment store. So people can bring their things in and if they don’t want to sell them or have part of it, they don’t have to consign,” Grover said. “They can just freely volunteer them to us, or they can consign.
And how we consign is we get 60, they get 40.”
Consignment intake is by appointment on Tuesdays. Grover said 18 people have consigned so far, and the next three Tuesdays are booked. “And they come in, and we sit down with them and go through what they have,” she said. “We don’t take anything that's stained and nothing that looks like it’s been worn a lot.”
Grover said running both models rather than one keeps prices down.
“Because I feel like some people don’t want to consign, and so I’m giving them the opportunity to go ahead and still give it to us and still being able to provide it to the customers at a better price, should I say, than some of the other thrift stores around,” she said. “I think things are used, we should have better prices on them. And I think people should be able to find what they’re looking for and give ideas of what they would like to have, as opposed to coming in and can’t find what they want because it's so messy or it's so crowded.”
Grover said she has worked in retail for a long time.
“I was a manager at Bugle Boy, a clothing store, a long time ago. I also owned a lot of kiosks in the mall, just kind of did my own thing. I also owned another consignment store in Crescent,” she said. “I closed it down due to I got cancer, and so I had to close my doors.”
She said the diagnosis changed how she thinks about age.
“Everybody says, ‘You're getting older, you're getting older.’ I don't wanna get older, I don't wanna get older. And I'm like, ‘Guys, I’m happy when I get a year older because I’ve already gone through cancer twice. I wanna be here,’” Grover said.
Sears, who is from Blair, Neb., and lives in Logan, handles the store’s Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts, Grover said. The store had more than 1,000 TikTok followers and at least 700 on Facebook before it opened, she said.
“The nice thing about it is I do have a business partner, so if I get ill again or something would happen, at least she can help pick it up and we can hire somebody to take my place for a little while until I got better,” Grover said. “That was the thing I didn’t have the first time around, so I had to close.”
Grover said she has introduced herself to other businesses in town and has discussed an arrangement with a local coffee shop to provide free coffee to her customers, with the store paying a monthly amount. “We don’t wanna compete with anybody. We're not trying to take business away from anybody,” she said. “Whatever you’re doing over here is great. I can send people that way once they're done looking here.”
The store is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Grover said she wants to add staff and expand the schedule. “I’m trying to be open later at night because, one, there’s not thrift stores open past 5:00,” she said.
“I just want to be able to be here for the public and give them a little bit more than what others do. ... My goal is to be open Monday through Sunday, every day,” she said.
Grover said she is working with the city on accessibility.
“I'm actually talking to the city, because we can’t get handicap in here and I wanna make it handicap accessible somehow,” she said. “Because I feel like they should be able to shop as well.”
“We wanna be here for everybody, all ages,” Grover said. “You know, we wanna make sure that everybody's finding what they need. And if they’re not, please let me know so that we can at least check around and find what you need, because we wanna make sure that we’re servicing the community.”
Can’t Pass It Up is at 403 E. Erie St. in Missouri Valley. The store can be reached at 402-672-8512 or cantpassitup.movalley@gmail.com.
