Free Store Gives It Away

Years ago when I lived in Durango, Colorado, I used to pack up my dog Gunner and Jeep over Ouray Pass to visit Telluride almost weekly. Great town. Or used to be. Anyway, if you've spent a little time there, you probably have seen the famed Free Box, where locals donated sweaters, pants, fleece, jackets, boots, and other random clothing for anyone to take. It's literally a few stacked bins on a side street under an overhang to protect from the weather. It was a total 1960s concept, first created by the Diggers in Haight-Ashbury, and people loved it. Friends would always show me all sorts of cool stuff like vintage down vests or ski pants from the 1970s. It wasn't a low-rent Goodwill teeming with bedbugs. Sometimes the stuff was really nice, nearly brand new. It made sense for a town like Telluride back then, when the mayor was a laid-back pot-head activist named Dreadlock Stevie. But a "Free Box" in New York's Financial District is another story.

Located at 99 Nassau Street, the Free Store certainly offers more than ski boots and sweaters. The finds have included jewelry, vintage clothing, books, DVDs, video cameras, and cutlery. But nothing, ultimately, is for free; the store needs to pay rent and managed to secure a $9,000 Grants for Arts in Public Spaces grant and additional funds from the 9/11 Fund. Athena Robles, who opened the store with fellow artist Anna Stein, told the New York Post, “It’s amazing when we tell customers, ‘Yes, you can take anything and it’s free. ... It’s a good time to do a project like this, especially near Wall Street. No one has any money now.”

“Alternative and generous systems such as bartering have long been used in times of financial hardship,” said the store owners in a statement. “Artists, in particular, are familiar with having to be creative to make ends meet and have functioned on generous systems, especially artist-to-artist. Free Store aims to broaden this circle of trust and exchange by including the general public.” Why choose the Financial District? My guess: unemployed bankers.