‘Happy Hour’ helps provide funding for vet care
The lure of a good thrift store can’t be underestimated — especially if the ones benefiting are animals in need of care.
Just Ask Gloria Salazar of Palmview, who made the 300mile trip to Boerne on Saturday to attend the Hill Country Animal League Thrift Store’s Happy Hour event.
“I came specifically for this,” said Salazar, who also picked up her daughter and grandchildren in nearby San Antonio. “We were going to go downtown to the River Walk, but I prefer to come over here. It’s for a good cause.”
Marcus Carter, general manager of the Hill Country Animal League at 115 W. Bandera Road, started the thrift store’s happy hour when he first took over as general manager more than a year ago.
The profits “are 100 percent put back into our low-cost veterinarian clinic,” Carter said.
On Jan. 29, a motorist failed to slow in time before crashing into the Kendall County Animal League Thrift Store’s storefront. Structural damage resulted in a two-week closure for the store. Photo courtesy of Marcus Carter
During the happy hour, the store stays open later, offers discounts and joins forces with food and beverage outlets.
“We’re partnering with Lost Oak Cellars winery and Stolze’s Smokehouse barbecue. They both come out and serve,” he said.
The store’s happy hour pricing offers 25 percent off on all items.
“But the gimmick is, if you give your business to the winery or barbecue, you get half off instead, for the whole night,” Carter added.
With the funding from the thrift store, the clinic can spay or neuter 700 to 800 animals a month and perform checkups for another 200 to 300, he said.
The store faced a challenge 2 p.m. Jan. 29 when an errant vehicle plowed through the front of the building, just three months after a renovation, Carter said.
The driver was unable to properly decelerate off Bandera Road when turning into the street-front parking, he added.
“They hit the curb, lost control, and barreled right in.” Carter said. “It did structural damage, so it hindered us quite a bit.”
The thrift was open at the time. “We had customers and everything,” he said. “We just happened to have no one in this corner when it happened.”
The store closed for two weeks, but when it reopened, customers flocked to the location.
“Business was phenomenal,” he said. “It was a madhouse. We had a really fantastic day for sales.”
The community keeps giving, he said, which is great for an operation that exists 100% on donations.
“The Boerne community really supports us. Dropping off items we turn around and sell, all for a good cause,” Carter said.
Boerne residents Jeremiah and Aiden Brouhard made it to Saturday’s happy hour to support local businesses and support the spayandneuter program. “Marcus is a great guy to deal with over here and everybody here’s really friendly, so we try to come over here and find little treasures,” Jeremiah Brouhard said.
The “treasures” the Brouhards walked away with Saturday included a golf club bag, stereo speakers, a jacket and two pairs of tennis shoes.
The Animal League’s quarterly happy hour will run 5-9 p.m. General store hours are Monday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.. For more, call 830-249-8040 or visit hcaltx.org.
“The Boerne community really supports us.”
— Marcus Carter, Hill Country Animal League
A motorist crashed into the Kendall County Animal League Thrift Store building on Jan. 29, leaving a gaping hole in the structure. Photo courtesy of Marcus Carter
A shopper makes her way through the aisles Saturday at the Kendall County Animal League Thrift Store’s ‘Happy Hour’ event. Star photo by Jeff B. Flinn
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