Ten Thousand Villages State College was founded two and a half years ago. Now, we’re excited to announce that we are positioned to expand our business and impact.
We have the opportunity to expand our footprint at the current State College location by connecting our current store to the vacant adjacent store front (formerly One Main Financial).
Through developing new relationships with fair-trade vendors, we would add even more clothing, accessories, gifts, and housewares, thus supporting more artisans and their families.
What this means for the global Village
We seek to help more artisans lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty by providing meaningful work and a marketplace for their goods in North America. In our first two and a half years of operation we have made more than $440,000 in purchases from artisans around the world. We anticipate that the expanded store will be even more impactful, and over the next two and half years we expect to increase artisan purchases to over $600,000.
What this means for our local Village
As the only retail store in State College featuring all fair-trade wares, we seek to increase our impact in the world and bring joy to our customers by offering more unique handicrafts to the community. In addition to providing a broader selection of handmade items, our expanded space will support community events such as crafting events, book reading circles for children, fair-trade fashion events, music, ethnic cooking, and more.
“Our store has been well received by the State College community and sometimes it feels like we are bursting at the seams. We’re excited to widen our impact with a larger store, bringing even more unique handicrafts to State College. In the last two years I’ve travelled to India and Peru to meet with some of our artisans and know firsthand the difference we are making in their lives and communities.“
Kieran Holland, Executive Director
Expanding the store will require opening the wall in our existing store to the adjoining storefront, installing new flooring, purchasing fixtures, and building a dressing room.
Our goal is to raise $35,000 for the expansion by May 17, 2021 so that we can begin to build out the space and open by September.
Thanks to 100 percent participation from our board and many friends and volunteers, we are well on our way.