Boomerangs, a beloved thrift store chain in Boston, is closing and we have to lay off our 40 employees.

Boomerangs is so much more than a thrift store- it is a place of community and belonging, a place where people have found love and the most incredible weird stuff you could imagine. Many of our staff have been around long enough to watch your children grow up, to celebrate birthdays and graduations, and to mourn with you the passing of loved ones.

Boomerangs has been a haven for many queer and trans folks, disabled folks, older folks, neurodivergent folks, houseless folks, and so many people at all of the intersections, both customers and staff. It has had its messy moments, its hard transitions, its flubs, but we have continued to grow together as a community over the last 30 years.

Now, we are asking you to support our team as we prepare for this huge change. Unfortunately, the staff at Boomerangs make minimum wage, and no hourly worker makes more than $19 an hour, regardless of how long they have been working for Boomerangs. It is the awful truth that many of our staff live very precariously from paycheck to paycheck because those wages are not enough to sustain the cost of living in Boston.

While our staff are grateful that the majority of us will be receiving some meager severances, there are a handful of folks who are not eligible to receive this support and many folks for whom this small severance will not last them beyond a week or two.

While we are working with our staff, many of whom have dedicated 5, 10, 15, 20 years to Boomerangs, to develop resumes and cover letters, we know that the job market is hard right now.

We have employees currently undergoing cancer treatments, experiencing houselessness and incredible housing insecurity, are single parents and caretakers, disabled folks who have a hard time finding accessible work, trans folks who struggle to find accepting environments, and staff facing so many other systemic barriers that make this transition an uneasy one.

We are fundraising to support our team so that they can be taken care of while we experience the enormous grief of saying goodbye to Boomerangs while also trying to enter the job market.

Please feel free to share this among your networks and thank you for all of the love and support you all have shared with us over the last several weeks and years. It has been such a gift to be in community with all of you.

With love & gratitude,

The Boomerangs Team