January 29, 2024
Mary Gifford ’26 addresses sustainability with Friartown’s Closet initiative
By Ealish Brawley ’14
Providence College students will have a new place to shop on campus thanks to Mary Gifford ’26. The consignment shop Friartown’s Closet, opening in April 2024, will give students the opportunity to donate and purchase gently used clothing.
During her first year at PC, Gifford noticed that many classmates were interested in giving their clothing away. This usually turned into informal clothing swaps between friends and sometimes older students taking bags of unwanted items to residence halls for younger students.
“So many people have excess that they want to part with. It would be cool to have an organized way to do that on campus,” said Gifford, a social science major from Wenham, Massachusetts.
Through her experiences shopping in consignment stores and selling her own clothing on the app-based marketplace DePop, Gifford knew that establishing a consignment shop on campus would provide a practical solution, and the idea for Friartown’s Closet was born.
Financial support from the college helped Gifford launch her venture. In October 2023, she received a $9,000 grant from the Providentia Endowed Fund, which each year awards grants of up to $10,000 for projects, programs, and activities that promote, empower, and amplify women of all ages. The Providentia Society was established to celebrate 50 Years of Women at PC and amassed more than $2 million in donations in its first two years. Most of the leadership donors were women, a first for the college.
Gifford used the grant money to buy furniture to decorate the shop and fixtures to store and display the clothing, as well as appliances to launder the clothes before they are displayed for sale. Renovations began in Room 201 of the Feinstein Academic Center, a space formerly used by professors to record lectures during the pandemic. The shop will be managed and staffed by student workers. The grand opening is planned for Wednesday, April 3, at 4 p.m..
In January 2024, Gifford participated in the first Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition sponsored by the Donald Ryan Incubator for Entrepreneurship in the Arts and Sciences. A panel of alumni judges selected her from among six teams for the top prize of $5,000 and the right to represent PC in the BIG EAST Startup Challenge on February 29. She also received the audience choice prize of $500. The prizes were funded in part by a grant from the Anne Goss Foundation.
“Mary embodies key characteristics of a successful entrepreneur,” said Kelly Ramirez, director of the Donald Ryan Incubator. “She is creative, passionate, hardworking, and coachable. Her story illustrates how many resources exist for Providence College student entrepreneurs and I hope that the story of Friartown’s Closet will inspire more students to build their own ventures.”
Gifford received support for research and planning the venture as well. Mentored by Ramirez, she received a 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Grant through PC’s Center for Engaged Learning. It included a $4,000 stipend and $500 for supplies. The support allowed her to conduct market and operational research to create a business model for Friartown’s Closet.
Gifford shadowed the manager in a consignment store near her home to learn operational procedures. She also studied models of campus consignment shops at Marquette University, University of Connecticut, Wesleyan University, Yale University, and the University of Pittsburgh and conducted telephone interviews with their leadership teams. Gifford was excited to learn that many of these shops were so successful that the profits they generated were able to fund other sustainable community initiatives.
Gifford collected donations of clothing from parents, students, and alumni who attended Homecoming weekend in 2023.
She hopes that Friartown’s Closet will reduce clothing waste, especially with one-time use items such as formal attire for dances and color-themed outfits for basketball games. Students can bring these items to Friartown’s Closet and use their earned store credit to browse the shop, while making their donated items available for purchase by other students. Gifford anticipates that, in addition to reusing attire for dances and sporting events, students will be able to find professional attire for interviews and internships.
Once Friartown’s Closet’s operations are financially sustainable, Gifford hopes to partner with the PC’s Smith Hill Annex to host pop-ups in which people from the neighboring communities will be invited to shop from the store’s inventory for free.
Gifford is excited about the opportunity to give back to the community she loves. She is especially grateful for the Catholic and Dominican presence on campus. Raised in a Christian household, Gifford attended a Christian high school but was unfamiliar with what set Catholicism apart from other denominations. Through core requirements in the Development of Western Civilization, theology, and philosophy, Gifford learned more about Catholicism and desired to be received into the Church.
Through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program offered through Campus Ministry, Gifford became a member of the Catholic Church during the RCIA Mass in May 2023. She is grateful to one of her Civ professors, Rev. John Vidmar, O.P., associate professor of history, for encouraging her interest in Catholicism and coming to the RCIA Mass to support her.
Gifford chose to major in social science, a program that combines studies in anthropology, economics, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology, and has a minor in business and innovation. Having earned college credits in high school, she will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 2025, after her junior year, and plans to study for a master’s degree in business analytics as a senior. She finds the unpredictability of entrepreneurship exciting and looks forward to seeing how her interests in business and fashion will intersect in the future.
Support from campus programs, such as the Donald Ryan Incubator for Entrepreneurship in the Arts and Sciences, The Providentia Endowed Fund, and The Fund for Providence College, allow students like Mary Gifford ’26 to pursue their passions and enrich the PC community. Please consider making a gift today to help all PC students who have the next great idea.
