BY SAM VISE | FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — A new chapter for community giving has opened in Opelika. On June 17, Four Corners Ministries celebrated the grand opening of its newest thrift store, located at 820 Columbus Parkway (next to Angel’s Antiques and Flea Mall). This marks the ministry’s first store in Opelika, adding a fourth location to its network of thrift stores.
Four Corners Ministries started over 20 years ago in Wadley, Alabama, when Pastor Jimmy Sprayberry of Mountain Springs Baptist Church went on a short-term mission trip. Inspired, he and Pastor Paul Wilson of Wadley Baptist Church founded Four Corners Ministries to engage rural Alabamians in global missions.
For years, the ministry facilitated short-term mission trips to countries like Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Sudan and Uganda.
The ministry’s work in Uganda began in 2007 after a pivotal encounter on a flight where Sprayberry met a Ugandan pastor. After forming a friendship, Sprayberry felt a divine calling to establish a center of ministry in Uganda.
The pair formed Abaana’s Hope, a multifaceted ministry located in the village of Kinene in northern Uganda. It holds a church, primary school, child development program, medical clinic and farm.
Four Corners Ministries started opening thrift stores to support Abaana’s Hope and spread their mission.
“Our mission is to keep Christ crucified at the center of everything that we do so that we can reach the four corners of the earth — north, south, east and west — with the gospel,” said Four Corners Ministries President Yancy Carpenter. “We exist to communicate and demonstrate the gospel to unreached and under equipped people groups. So that’s primarily in northern Uganda, but there’s also a need for that here and we see that every day.”
After the success of the other three thrift stores in Roanoke, Talladega and Valley, Four Corners Ministries began looking for a spot near its headquarters in downtown Opelika.
“We don’t want to just be retail for revenue to support the mission,” Carpenter said. “We want to be salt and light here. We want to encourage people with God’s word and the gospel and pray with them. So our staff here, they know that’s part of their role and we’re so excited to have an opportunity to meet customers who need to be prayed for and want to be prayed for.”
Carpenter said that one thing that makes Four Corners Ministries thrift stores unique is that they give Bibles away for free as they are donated.
The Opelika store in particular is unique in the way that people can donate gently used items.
“We really wanted to do something to make it more convenient for the donor,” Carpenter said. “The thrift store doesn’t exist without good donations, and so we’ve got a donation center next door to the thrift store where there’s a big, bright orange curve, and you pull up and some of our guys will come out and accept your donations. You don’t have to get out of the car, we want to make that very convenient. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so you get a donation receipt that’s tax deductible for your donation. We hope it’s convenient for our donors to come and pull up curbside and drop off their donations.”
The store also offers free pickup for larger donations like furniture. Carpenter said that the new thrift store needs more furniture, men’s clothing, children’s clothing and toys if one is looking to donate. If one is looking to shop, the store currently has an abundance of women’s clothing.
“I’m just hoping that [the thrift store] is a place where people can come and buy clothes that are of high quality at a low price that helps support the ministry,” Carpenter said. “But also people can come and donate their gently used clothes and put them to good use, also where our employees can have a work environment where they can use the gifts that God’s given them for His glory and encourage the donors and the customers that come in. We are already seeing that take place, which is really encouraging.”
This new thrift store not only aids the ministry’s efforts in Uganda, it benefits the local community by providing employment opportunities and a place for locals to shop budget-friendly merchandise.
“Many men who are in this [addiction recovery] program, they need jobs, so we’ve got a couple of those guys working with us in the back,” Carpenter said. “They’ve just been a joy to get to know and serve with, but it gets them a record of showing up to work on time and following the instructions and helping them get their life back together as well. There’s a lot of people involved and a lot of college students. They need flexible hours and we’re able to work with their schedules.”
Most of the employees at the new store are Auburn University students.
“I’ve met a lot of wonderful people,” said Tiffany Johnson, an employee and senior at AU. “It’s a great community to work in and I really enjoy it.”
The store also will run frequent sales and discounts for the community. They offer 10% off for military members every day and senior citizens every Wednesday.
The store uses a color of the week tagging system for items. Each tag color corresponds to a specific week. Items stay on the floor for four weeks at their initial price. If an item doesn’t sell within those four weeks, it then goes 50% off for its fifth week. This system rotates weekly, with a new color going on 50% off, which helps keep the store’s inventory fresh and encourages a five-week turnover.
Every Monday and Tuesday, there’s a special promotion — items tagged with the color that will be 50% off the following week are available for 20% off. This system aims to maximize revenue from donations while offering weekly deals to customers.
A portion of the back wall is lit up with the color of the week so that customers know what color tags to look out for.
Business has been growing each day since the thrift store’s grand opening, according to assistant manager Marquetta Callaway.
“We’ve been having a lot of donations as the days go by, as far as the community goes, having a lot of more people interested in who we are and what we stand for,” Callaway said. “Yeah, it’s growing. I love it, it’s been fun.”
Carpenter said that Four Corners Ministries will continue to build thrift stores in communities that need them. He said he is grateful for the chance to serve the community and hopes that the thrift stores will help spread the teachings of the ministry.
Currently, the store’s hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To learn more about Four Corners Ministries and its mission, email info@fourcorners.org or visit the website at www.fourcorners.org/. To contact the Opelika thrift store location, call (334) 737-5515.
