![](http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/file-177-.jpg")
You may have just stepped inside 3fifteen, the Rescue Mission’s newest thrift store, but you wouldn’t know it. Absent is the usual, um, aroma but present is a spiffy design highlighted by blue walls and a welcoming layout. Grab a latte from the attached Café Kubal and start browsing.
Located inside Marshall Square Mall, 3fifteen caters to the Syracuse University crowd, but anyone can shop there, just like at the Rescue Mission’s 12 Thrifty Shoppers. And its mission remains the same: selling quality items to help fund the Rescue Mission’s growing need for meals and shelter for its clients.
“People are stunned when they find out that 3fifteen is a thrift store,” says Rescue Mission executive director and CEO Alan Thornton. “It looks like a fashion boutique. Everyone that’s come in has been blown away: the ambiance, the lighting, the café, how it looks and feels. It has a different energy level about it.”
While Café Kubal may have a different entryway than 3fifteen, walk through either to access the same physical space, with the café on the south end. “The goal of the partnership with Café Kubal was to create a space that would be inviting for SU students and staff, as well as the hospital workforces on the Hill,” Thornton adds.
The way 3fifteen was built to appeal to that demographic is no accident. The Rescue Mission worked closely with students in the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) program at SU’s Whitman School of Management to envision the store. “We had been working with them for a year in improving our supply chain and retail operations to generate more revenue,” Thornton says.
“At the same time, we here were thinking it would be great to have a donation center on the Hill. That very day we discussed that here at the Mission, I received an email that the Follett’s {bookstore} space was becoming available. Then everything came together. To have it come out the way it looks now is just an incredible success.”
While shoppers can browse quality used clothing, shoes, belts, hats and scarves, they’ll also find a section, at least until Halloween, of costumes. The front of the space holds a long counter with items from Guatemala; 10 percent of purchases from Team Guatemala go back into Rescue Mission programs. Excellent quality furniture, lamps, mirrors and home décor are scattered throughout the store’s 5,000 square feet. And a deep selection of kitchen items should help out any apartment dweller.
“We have arranged for free furniture delivery for students that live on the Hill,” Thornton stresses. “Not all of our stores are capable of taking furniture, and certainly students have a need for furniture.”
3fifteen, Marshall Square Mall, 720 University Ave., is open Mondays to Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m. For more information, call 449-6700 or visit 3fifteen.org.
