APPLETON (NBC 26) — A new thrift store in Appleton has a unique take on forgotten belongings. Five-year-old Serena showed NBC 26 just To show us just what you can find in Left Behind Thrift Store.
Serena is no beginner when it comes to thrifting. As she poked around the toy section, something caught her eye.
“It’s a jewelry box… look at that,” said Serena.
One child’s trash is Serena’s new treasure. She found something for her brother too.
“Spider-Man eggs 'cause he loves Spider-Man,” said Serena.
Serena and her grandmother Elaine popped into Left Behind not knowing what they’d find inside.
This is the same thing owner Michael Day thinks as he’s cleaning out properties that he manages.
“Prior to coming up with the idea just to turn around and sell, we were just tossing it. If there was something somebody wanted that was cleaned out, they’d take it but otherwise, most of it we just tossed. I didn't want to keep throwing it in the landfill,” said Michael Day, the owner of Left Behind.
Instead of throwing the items he found a way, he started selling them online.
“I always wanted to do a storefront and I like to think on a grandiose scale. So, I'd like to have a storefront in Green Bay, in Fond du Lac… we'll take care of getting this one up and running first,” said Day.
His brick-and-mortar has been up and running for about a month now, but they still list all of their items on their website.
“We've had a lot of positive feedback from it. I mean, they loved the idea,” said Day.
Day said people love their take on thrift shopping. So much so, that they even have a regular customer already.
“We have a woman who stops in every week, she wants to see what's new. So, she knows that she's already told us that that's been in the tote already,” said Day.
Out with the old and in with the used. The frequency of their pickups varies, but they have a storage space with dozens of boxes waiting to hit the floor.
They always have their eyes peeled for collectors' items, and Day told us about one of their most frequent finds.
“We get a lot of vinyl records, and some of those are worth some money and they're just sitting there in a box probably forgotten about,” said Day.
Forgotten about or left behind. They’ve taken the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” literally.
Left Behind LLC is located at 205 W Wisconsin Ave in Appleton.
