Downtown Express photo by Robert Voris

August Fishman, age 20 months, at Rondo last Tuesday.

Thrift store with unique cause to stay open, for now

Liat Silberman bustled through Rondo, the recently-opened thrift shop whose proceeds go to support the Church Street School for Music and Art, on Tuesday, helping parents pick out “nearly new” onesies and calling out prices for unmarked toys.

“That’s $40,” she said in her Australian twang, pointing to a toddler-sized kitchen set. “Oh, let’s just call it $15,” she called to a clerk who held up a fistful of small shirts for appraisal.

The success of Rondo has led the Church Street School to extend the store’s run until at least June 4th.Silberman said the only obstacle to an even longer existence is volunteer fatigue.

Donations have continued to flow in, including luxury items like a toddler’s Burberry overcoat, which sold within a day for $15, and a Bugaboo with all the bells and whistles, also gone in a day for a tenth of its retail price, as well as more quotidian objects like car seats and board games.

“The day it walks in, that’s the day it walks out,” Silberman said of her wares. “The delight of the store is that everything’s unexpected.”

Rondo is open from 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Monday through Friday. All proceeds go to the Church Street School for Music and Art, located at 74 Warren Street between Greenwich and West Broadway.

— Robert Voris