When Lumina Thrift opened toward the end of 2025 with a mission of helping fund an organization that supports locals facing intimate partner violence, survivors came into the store to donate items from their own homes.
“They were actually really joyful and so happy that they have an opportunity to give back based on the fact that they had gotten so much help from Lumina,” thrift store staff member Jeannie Carpenter said. “They were coming in and giving us everything that they didn’t need anymore and with such joy and such gratitude for everything, that it was just really lovely having the interactions with them.”
Fifty volunteers and five staff members make up the team at Lumina Thrift, a group that has stayed together with a shared mission of supporting the community.
“I’m not going anywhere. I love it here,” Carpenter said.
The team behind Lumina Thrift used to run The Hope Chest thrift store for Wilshire Health & Community Services. When Wilshire filed for bankruptcy last year, it was forced to close the thrift store.
With Lumina Alliance already looking to open a thrift store, Lumina Thrift manager Jenann McLennan said Lumina “adopted” them to open the store, with the first day of operation on Nov. 17, 2025.
“It’s been magical ever since,” McLennan said. “They’re just the best nonprofit, and they’re so sincere about their values and character.”
Every purchase from Lumina Thrift supports local survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence by funding Lumina’s services, including transitional housing, emergency shelter, and therapy.
“To know that we are working with an organization that really honors the idea that all people matter and that they come first, people come first, human beings come first, is profoundly rewarding,” McLennan said. Clients of Lumina Alliance also qualify for a $50 voucher at the thrift store, where they can purchase clothing and items for their home.
In the boutique room, a chandelier hangs above racks of high-end clothing brands, sold at a fraction of retail price.
“You never know what you’re going to find when you come here,” McLennan said.
The bling room nearby features gold and silver jewelry, collector’s items, and dolls.
When they receive donations from the community, Lumina Thrift staffers view themselves as stewards of the gifts.
“It’s an honor to have them select us, and we want to honor what they give us and the memories they have and who they belong to and how hard they work to purchase those items to begin with,” she said.
McLennan, who’s worked in thrift stores supporting nonprofits for 16 years, said it’s all about people giving.
“What was really icing on the cake is the nonprofit aspect,” McLennan said. “Because, it’s wonderful to work with a purpose and to know the purpose that you have is succeeding in terms of goals of supporting other people, making your community stronger, making your community better.”
McLennan said that secondhand shopping is growing by leaps and bounds and that younger generations are coming together to make thrifting a hugely successful business.
Lumina Alliance and the people behind it have given McLennan hope amid a time of negative news and world events.
“It gives me hope that there are people out there who care about others and who want to be part of the solution, not the problem, and who want to be proactive, not reactive, and who want to do what’s best for their neighbors,” McLennan said. “And I’m so grateful to be a part of that and to be surrounded by that because the opposite of that would be unacceptable.”
Fast fact
• The CSU Chancellor’s Office awarded Paso Robles Joint Unified School District a $30,000 grant to host an algebra institute this summer. The five-week academic enrichment program will serve roughly 60 incoming middle and high school students who will be nominated by their teachers based on academic readiness and potential, according to the district. The program will run Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon at Flamson Junior High from June 10 through July 10. Δ
Reach Intern Katy Clark at ntintern@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2026.