A shop of all trades
The Clutterbug has been serving the community of Arva for the past decade.
Owners Jana and Michael Sheridan are passionate about recycling and up styling - the pair never throw anything out. With an overflowing attic, they set up their community shop where people can leave what they consider junk, leaving others with the opportunity to stumble across a real treasure.
Their passion began with them opening just two to three days weekly with one room. Today it’s five days in two stores with several rooms where the Clutterbug roams.
“We just kept going,” Michael beamed.
“It snowballed into a big wheel that kept turning.”
They initially wanted to set up as a charity shop. However, with the help of their accountant, the couple have opted to be a social enterprise, which allows them to donate all profits back into the community.
Over the years, they have donated over €200,000 to the community, helping out the local football club, sponsoring jerseys; schools; churches; Christmas lights; SOSAD: St Vincent de Paul; Tidy Towns; fundraisers; Arva Hall and special appeals for the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, with a minimum donation of €250 to each organisation and cause.
“The community donates the goods, and the shop returns the profits to the community,” Michael explained.
The store comes under the many names of thrift store, vintage haven, bike and hurling repair shop, up styling store, library, meeting point and ultimately - a treasure chest. Michael and Jana have endless ideas for their store, constantly evolving it to serve the community.
It has been a real hit among the people, a hub for thrifting, discovering, reading and learning with one customer saying it is “a plan that every community should be following”.
They take all goods, with those that can’t be sold brought to a recycling plant, which Jana and Michael would prefer as opposed to people not disposing of their items properly.
Both socially and environmentally the pair consider their store “the best shop on the planet for the planet”.
“It has become a social life as well,” Michael said, explaining that the couple “drink tea and talk to people” during their day.
“We meet all the new people that come to town, they all come in here at some stage whether they’re moving in or moving out.”
The store is a maze of China, renovated furniture, accessories, crockery, glassware, bicycles, cards, school equipment, swimwear, dog costumes and more. It is renowned for its vast book collection, over 10,000 novels, which Jana has sorted and signposted into genre order.
You really don’t know what you could come upon in the Clutterbug, it changes daily.
Open from Tuesday until Saturday from 11am to 5pm, call in to see what you might find.