WINTHROP — The ideas spring spontaneously from Shandra Rubchinuk’s mind, like corn from a popper. Pop: There could be an after-school program. Pop: How about a group for mothers? Pop: What if there were an indoor playground that children could use while mothers shopped? Wouldn’t it be great if there were space for events?

The possibilities are limited only by Rubchinuk’s mind, which never seems to slow down and is as energized by her quest to give back to her community as it is to grow her business. She has the vision, the energy to pull it off and the clientele anxious to support her. Now all she needs is the building.

“I’m trying to do more,” she said. “I just don’t have the space.”

Rubchinuk’s secondhand store, Everything Kids, has taken over the first floor of her Main Street home. In addition to the three display rooms stacked high with clothing, toys and other supplies for children of all ages, there is the kitchen given over to material waiting to be sorted, cleaned and displayed. Then there is the barn, which has two floors full of supplies that she knows people certainly would buy if they could be displayed properly.

“I’m surprised the barn hasn’t fallen down,” Rubchinuk said.

Angela Dakin, of North Monmouth, has found comfort in some of those talks. Dakin, who has visited Everything Kids nearly every month since it opened, is raising her 3-year-old granddaughter. Dakin just happened to notice Rubchinuk’s store one day while driving by.

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“It’s very personal when you go in,” Dakin said. “It’s a nice outlet for me. I don’t have too many friends my age that are raising their grandchildren.”

Whatever Rubchinuk does not sell goes to Tabitha’s Closet, a mission of the Winthrop United Methodist Church that gives away toys, clothes and other supplies.

Success has not translated into extreme profitability, Rubchinuk said. She works with tight profit margins to balance satisfactory payment to customers who trade in products with customers coming in hoping to buy those products at reduced rates.

“I am living and paying almost all my bills,” she said.

Rubchinuk said customer service begins long before it gets to the customers. It starts with lots of hard work. Rubchinuk washes all the clothes that come into her shop and, by her estimate, about 90 percent of the toys and other gear that go on display.

“Last night I was up until 1 (a.m.) trying to get clothes out,” Rubchinuk said. “I’m pretty much always working. My kids don’t mind it, but they don’t know any different.”

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Rubchinuk is eager to get out of her house and expand the business at the same time. The extra space she would gain with a move off-site not only would streamline and speed up the preparatory work, but also would allow Rubchinuk to display large items that she can now show only in the summer on her front lawn. She also could accept more of the material brought in by customers. As it is, she has to turn away a few people every day simply because she has no room. Parking, which is limited to her small driveway and on the street, is a problem.

“My process is broken because I don’t have the right facility,” she said.

Rubchinuk is ready to move her business, but finding a landing spot has proved difficult. She said she needs about 2,500 square feet “at a reasonable rent.” She has investigated a few spots and is still hopeful that at least one of them will pan out, but her search continues.

“I really would like to be in Winthrop,” she said. “In town would be perfect, and it would bring business to the downtown.”

Rubchinuk said her dream is much bigger than just operating Everything Kids in a new location. She envisions a secondhand store dedicated not just to children, but catering to women or the community at large. There would be space for a community center that would host after school programs for “tweens and teens,” and then there is the indoor playground.

“If I get it open it will sustain itself,” Rubchinuk said. “It’s going to take baby steps to get there.”


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