Ten Thousand Villages Plans Store Expansion

Ten Thousand Villages State College is a nonprofit operating the only fair-trade retailer in the Centre County area. After two and a half years in its location at 1341 S. Atherton St., management felt the need to expand to be able to carry more products from makers around the world.

The Ten Thousand Villages organization is dedicated to its partnerships with artisans, creating a market for their handcrafted products and ensuring they make a fair living wage in safe working conditions

The State College store capital campaign, “Widening Our Village’s Circle,” has set a goal of $35,000 the help double the small store’s space by expanding into the adjoining, currently empty storefront.

“In our first two years in business, we have been able to purchase nearly $450,000 worth of goods from international artisans,” said Joel Weidner, fundraising chair and Ten Thousand Villages State College board member. “Expanding will allow us to increase our purchases, making an even wider selection of handmade items and clothing available to the local community.”

Weidner said that the next two-and-a-half years could see the store purchase $600,000 of inventory.

The other benefit of the goal is that the nonprofit will be widening the circle by growing and connecting with more villages in 2021. Ten Thousand Villages’ ethical artisan investment model puts the maker first.

Their model gives artisans from developing countries the opportunity to establish financial stability and escape the cycle of poverty, as stated in a Ten Thousand Villages press release.

The model empowers artisans through:

– Commitment to fair wage pricing;

– Providing interest-free microloans;

– Maintaining long-term partnership; and

– Paying artisans in full before export.

“In the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit with artisans our State College community has helped support in both India and Peru,” executive director Kieran Holland said. “I can tell you firsthand that we are making a real difference in artisans’ lives, as well as the lives of their families and communities. It can mean that they can buy homes, send their children to school and obtain health care. The changes for these artisans can be huge.”

Although jewelry sales have dropped during the pandemic, the store has increased its sale of consumables, such as several varieties of coffee.

“One of the things we will do, once we open up an archway to our adjoining space, is to add more clothing in our store,” said Weidner. “We will have more room to store and display clothing and we will add a changing room. An additional area will be in place for our volunteers to store their personal items and to take a break.”

The enlarged space will also lend itself to supporting community events such as crafting, book reading circles for children, fair-trade fashion events, music, ethnic cooking and more.

Community members who would like to support the nonprofit’s capital campaign can do so at donorbox.org/ttvsc or by making a donation to Ten Thousand Villages State College during Centre Gives on Tuesday and Wednesday.