WAYNE, Mich. – As you open the glass doors of the Michigan Ave. Salvation Army store in Wayne, a musty yet familiar scent enters your nose and opens your eyes to endless racks of clothes organized by age, color, and gender.
Once you enter inside, you feel the small grains of sand that separate the soles of your shoes from the cream colored floor and as you hear the smooth jazz music blaring from the radio, you wonder to yourself, “where shall I begin this shopping journey.”
On the right half of the store, you see furniture and toys and on the left half, racks of clothes come together like a linen forest and you are greeted by nice employees like Shanae Blackmon, who said that the most rewarding part of her job is, “helping out the people.”
“More people have been coming in here because of the economy,” said Blackmon. Some people shop here for fun and style, but for most, they come out of necessity.
As I linger my way across the room to take a look at the vast number of men’s t-shirts, I overhear a mother and her daughter talking about which top looks sexiest, while by the children’s clothes section, I meet a man whose trip to the store is for a whole different purpose. “I’m getting some winter clothes for my granddaughters,” said Joe Allen, a retiree.
The store fills up with many nameless faces, some White, some Black, some rich, some poor, but it becomes busy none-the-less. People of all walks of life shop together, side by side, and as a community, yet none of them interact with one another. In a way, this store imitates life, as in real life, the rich people don’t know the names of the poor, and the poor certainly don’t know the names of the rich folk, but shopping together, it doesn’t really matter. Just like in real life in the city of Wayne, people just stick with their own, and don’t bother the others, yet everyone is respectful to one another.
As a mother wearing red sweat pants and a University of Michigan sweatshirt yells at her son to remain seated in the buggy, I venture off away from that noise to the furniture section where I see couches and tables that look like pieces from the set of Sanford and Son. I notice that the prices are low, perfect for someone who is making a start at adulthood or for someone starting over again. Hand on a beige wooden table; I think to myself, looking out the massive glass window looking out at a bleak and gray Michigan Avenue, that one day this table could be looking at a generation of colorful family dinners some day.
Walking to the exit, I turn around and get one last look of today’s patrons, browsing, touching, and selecting what could become a new favorite outfit, I say, “thank you” to the nice clerks and open the door to leave.
The cold Fall wind hits my face and as the door closes, the last sound from inside the store is an Anita Baker song. Smooth jazz is the perfect soundtrack to end this humbling trip to this Wayne County institution. To some, the smooth jazz adds a feel of luxury to enhance the shopping and for others it can be voice that encourages families to be strong during this hard economical time. I believe if stores could sing, the Salvation Army Store of Wayne would sing an uplifting song, filled with lyrics of love, family, and community.
The Wayne Salvation Army is located at
34620 W. Michigan Ave, Wayne, MI 48184
and you can learn more online - http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Photo #1(top) - The vast collection of clothes to buy at the Wayne Salvation Army. (photo by Scott Mullin)
Photo #2(bottom) - The workers of Salvation Army always are ther to please. (photo by Scott Mullin)
