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Six years ago, four women: Sharon Bloomquist, Sandi Furlow, Arvis Thompson and Evalyn Carlson, pooled their resources and creative minds and founded ODDZ & ENDZ, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. The purpose was four-fold: 1) To provide an environmental alternative to goods being sent to the landfill. 2) To offer affordable used furniture and household goods to the community struggling with the high cost of living and housing. 3) To donate profits to other start-up and struggling 501c(3) nonprofits in the county. 4) To have a place to hang out and offer an unusual shopping experience, just for fun.
And ostensibly, the business would be run by volunteers.The goal was for ODDZ & ENDZ to be an independent nonprofit organization that wouldn’t receive funds from the county, city or get any grant monies.
“Our goal was to give the store five years to gauge its needs and success and, if successful, hand it over to younger more energetic people to carry on the new tradition,” said EvaLyn Carlson.
“It has been an amazing adventure,” she said, “the community has been solidly behind the store with donations of goods, volunteer services, and of course, fun shopping.
“We have also reached out in other ways by donating to families (and single people) in crisis and working with the Job Service to provide a job learning experience.
“ We have partnered with Girl Scouts on projects such as donating and packing emergency purses for distribution by the Safe Shelter in Duluth and other Violence Prevention programs and hosted the father-daughter dance.”
“Then too, we helped with Estate Sales, supported local fundraisers, and worked in conjunction with Public Health and Human Services and the Salvation Army.”
Carlson said that of the four who started together, two have “retired,” and “Sharon and I know that with our health issues (my cancer recovery and her cancer treatment), it is beyond time for us to move on to more relaxing things. Hammocks and sunshine, perhaps? So, we are looking for the possibility of others (individuals or organizations) to take over the business.”
Carlson laments that if no one steps up to take over the duties of running the ODDZ & ENDZ store, “We will have to close this fall.”
But until that time comes, “We will be open as usual three days a week throughout the summer,” she said. ODDZ & ENDZ is located at 2066 West Highway 61 (south side of the highway, west of the US Forest Service office in Grand Marais) and is open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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