An allegiance to ‘Republic’

For sisters Michelle Mammini and Jeannette Tomany, having fun is serious business. As owners of Republic of Thrift, they not only work hard and have a blast doing it, they donate all net profits to the Sonoma Valley Unified School District – a whopping $106,000 in the first three years.

“It makes us feel what we’re doing is important,” said Jeannette.

“And we have a lot fun,” Michelle added. The sense of family extends to assistant manager Kira Hewitt, the staff and the customers. “We laugh all day.”

Jeannette started the business three years ago, and sister Michelle, an advisor from afar, moved from the South Bay to join the effort three days before it opened.

As kids, the sisters would rummage around their grandmother’s barn, exploring the knick-knacks and collectibles. That interest, along with healthy respect for bargain shopping, sparked the idea for a thrift store. Jeanette secured the space in the Springs, the previous site of a furniture store. She thought of the name while taking a shower.

The two admit that, even with experience in retail, they learned much on the fly in the early days: running and staffing a business, and how to price items, among the zillion details. One nuance is the eBay factor, as in building into the price a friendly margin for buyers who turn around and sell the items online.

Now, with the experience of seeing even the weirdest chotkes a few times, they can avoid the “accidental overpricing” and keep the inventory fresh. “The job is to move the merchandise,” Jeannette said. “I feel we’ve hit our groove.”

The store opened on a wave of thrift store chic, when second-hand shopping came out of the closet and into the mainstream. Any sense of embarrassment has been replaced by the pride of finding something cool, funky and cheap.  “People like the hunt,” Jeannette said.

As for incoming items, “you’ve got to be flexible, and go with the flow,” Michelle advised. Like the truck with 100 wedding dresses? “We see some random, weird things. You just can’t predict what people will buy.”

The charity element of the business – which converted to a nonprofit last year — was always part of the plan. With kids in different schools, they decided to direct donations to all the schools in the district, which comes with the pride of handing over big checks to support Valley school.

“I love,” the sisters said, in unison, “my job.”

Republic of Thrift is located at 17496 Highway 12. 707.933.9850. republicofthrift.com.