At a community meeting on Friday August 15, Elyse Hottel, interim director of Lift Up, a local food assistance non-profit, announced that the organization is closing thrift stores in Parachute and Rifle. She said that LiftUp’s primary mission has always been to provide food to communities from Aspen to Parachute and will now return to that focus.
LiftUp has been serving those in need since the oil shale industry bust in 1982 and added thrift stores in Rifle and Parachute in the 1990s. The Parachute store closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and then reopened less than a year ago. The Glenwood Springs Thrift Store closed earlier this year.
Hottel said at Friday’s sparsely-attended meeting that the organization is also selling the properties in Rifle and Parachute. Rifle has two buildings, one of which will remain open as a food pantry until a buyer is found.
Hottel told KDNK that if the Rifle property sells fast and there is not lease-back option, LiftUp can use its 24 foot mobile trailer.
The Parachute Thrift store closed last weekend. The Rifle store will remain open through August 30th.
