by the Rev. Canon George Maxwell, Vicar
For more than seventy-five years, the Cathedral Thrift House has been a vital expression of our ministry to the city of Atlanta. Founded in 1949, the shop that grew to the store we now visit at 1893 Piedmont Road has offered something rare: a place where generosity and commerce meet, where a donor’s unneeded treasure becomes another person’s necessity or delight, and where the Cathedral’s commitment to serving the wider community has taken tangible, everyday form.
Over its long history, the Thrift House has returned more than $1.1 million to nonprofit charities in Atlanta, a testimony to what faithful stewardship, practiced consistently over decades, can accomplish.
None of that would have been possible without the extraordinary people who have given their time, talent, and care to this ministry. Managers and staff across the years have shaped the Thrift House into something more than a store. Nellie Holleman, the beloved manager of the store, once described it: “a touchstone of acknowledgement, the first hello of the day.”
Nellie’s leadership has embodied what the Thrift House has always been at its best. Alongside her, faithful volunteers have sorted donations, staffed the floor, advised customers, and built friendships that have made the store a community within a community. We are grateful for every one of them.
After prayerful deliberation, the Thrift House Board of Directors voted unanimously to close the shore at the end of September. Between now and then, we hope you will visit. Come to the store to browse or come simply to be present in a place that has meant so much to so many. Whatever you find on the racks or the shelves, you will also find something harder to name — the accumulated goodwill of seventy-five years of ministry, still very much alive.
We will miss it.