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By John Hernandez
My Cousin’s Closet celebrated its first year anniversary in business on Feb. 11, 2013. The friendly second hand bargain store got its name from two cousins that used to share each others closet. Wendy Hookey and Bonney Glen, who grew up in Tucson, together, both wore the same sizes so they used to share each others clothing.
Wendy and her husband moved from Marana to Oracle six and a half years ago on her birthday. She said her husband likes to tell everyone the story that he bought her a house for her birthday. Bonney moved to Oracle from Pinetop.
Bonney and Wendy both had a lot of extra clothing in their closets and extra stuff in storage. They said they almost had enough stuff to open a store, so they held a family and friends donation day. Thus, My Cousin’s Closet was born.
The store sells gently used clothing, knickknacks, CDs, DVDs, candles, dishes, jewelry, and more. The clothing department has a kids section, and sections for teen boys, teen girls, men and women.
“We are trying to listen to people on what they would like to see in the store” said Wendy. Handmade soaps from My Body Blessings are sold in the store. These soaps are made by Mary Mercer from Mammoth. My Cousin’s Closet carries non-GMO organic eggs from Huntington Family Farms and Arizona mesquite honey from the Carlink Ranch.
Wendy has a degree in nutrition coaching and would like to bring awareness to the community about the importance of nutrition and eating healthy. The store now has a garden center where they grow and sell organic plants including varieties of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
The store also sells cut flowers on special holidays such as Valentines and Mother’s Day. Wendy has four pistachio nut and four almond trees at home along with pear, peach, cherry, fig, plum, and apple trees. “I love to grow things,” she said.
My Cousin’s Closet would eventually like to expand the store and add a farmer’s market. The market would provide fresh locally produced fruits, vegetables and food items for the community, as well as all-organic vegetable garden. Customers will be able to walk in the garden and pick their own produce, which they have already begun growing.
The cousins are all about community. They have a community bulletin board, sell products from local businesses, and offer classes at the store such as soap making and vision board making. Sierra Oaks School was the beneficiary of donated organic plants for their school garden.
Beginning May 12, My Cousins Closet started providing a distribution service for the community with the Bountiful Baskets program, where residents can purchase $50 worth of fruits and vegetables for $15 or organic baskets for $25. Every other week the vegetables are ready for pick up at My Cousins Closet at 9:15 a.m.
Those interested can order on Monday and Tuesday from noon to 8 p.m. on line at BountifulBaskets.com. In the baskets will be fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, squash, berries, strawberries and more. Sometimes there will be a different type of produce such as fennel or celery root.
For more information about Bountiful Baskets, contact Wendy at (520)896-2204 or visit the Bountiful Baskets website. Stop in and take a look at My Cousin’s Closet, it’s more than just a second hand store. As Wendy says, “It’s bringing the community together.”
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