Lake Oconee’s Saint Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital officially opened its new Upscale Thrift Store on Aug. 26.
The Greene County Chamber of Commerce celebrated the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the same day.
The ceremony allowed visitors to tour the new store’s space, while refreshments were provided. Multiple hospital board members, staff, and volunteers were recognized during the celebration.
The Upscale Thrift Store is located at 4980 Carey Station Rd., directly across the street from the hospital.
During the ceremony, Stonish Pierce, president and CEO of Saint Mary’s Health Care system, credited community support for making the new store possible. He additionally acknowledged some of the healthcare system’s accomplishments over the last year.
“The support from this community is making St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital a top-notch one, and that’s where this new upscale thrift store comes in,” Pierce said. “This store is a fun and ongoing way to support good sales, and when you shop here, every dollar, beyond the cost of operating the store, goes into enhancing the technology and services available at St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital.”
Pierce noted that Saint Mary’s Hospital in Athens also operates an Upscale Thrift Store, with the same operation for funds received. He credited Angie Patterson, Saint Mary’s professional retail manager, for launching the idea to open a new store specifically for the Greensboro location.
“She works with our auxiliary volunteers at our upscale thrift store in Athens, and together, they have made that store into an award-winning shop that was recently recognized as the Consignment Store Category 2025 Community Choice Award winner in the greater Athens area,” Pierce said. “You might think that selling a $6 blouse, a $0.50 book, or a $10 table won’t help the hospital that much, but it does, and the Athens thrift shop has generated more than $2 million in sales since it was established in 2008.”
Patterson spoke during the ceremony, thanking community members for their store donations, as well as the volunteers who helped her set up the shop. She says that they “worked tirelessly” to help her set up the store for the grand opening.
“I want to give God the glory for this because he started this and gave me the vision for it,” Patterson said. “We were here last night until 7:30 p.m. to make sure that this was upscaled the way that the vision is supposed to be; so, we want just to thank you and to acknowledge that this is just the beginning.”
According to Patterson, she initially conceived the idea for the shop in February. The location was first publicly announced in June, and she believes the community was instantly supportive of the cause.
“The whole community really seemed to get behind this project because they love the hospital,” Patterson said. “A couple of original people who had donated two really expensive paintings came today, and that really set my heart on fire. They saw it from the beginning, and we barely had anything in it.”
Overall, Patterson hopes to bring success to the new thrift store “in the same way or more” than the Saint Mary’s thrift store for the Athens location. She additionally hopes to see more volunteers in the near future.
“We just got the word we were supposed to get [an award] in Athens, and that’s the goal here,” she said. “[We would love] more volunteers, but the ones we have are absolutely phenomenal, and I love every one of them; they have been a major blessing.”