When Claudia Lacy was growing up in a single-parent household in Mound in the 1970s, she was embarrassed when her mother shopped at thrift stores and garage sales for the family.
Last year, Lacy launched The Langdon, a charitable resale shop in her hometown.
"She must be laughing," said Lacy, referring to her mother who died a few months after the shop opened. "Now I'm surrounded by secondhand things."
Lacy, a former investment portfolio manager, moved from Dallas back to Mound. "I was retired and wanted to use my time to fill a need in the community," she said.
"We all have so much stuff. I could turn it into dollars to give to what people care about."
Lacy's twist on traditional resale shops is that donors of the items get to choose the charity or organization that benefits from the sale.
"We all have different loves and passions — from the Animal Humane Society to mental illness," she said.
For her new venture, Lacy chose a building resembling a grandiose log cabin that she remembered visiting as a child when it housed an antique store. She named her store The Langdon, after the serene lake it sits on.