Despite owning a second-hand store called The Thrifty Irishman, Kensington native Robert McCormac seems to value the karma police more than Lady Luck. While the thrill of thrift comes in finding fortunate come-ups— the vintage tee that fits perfectly into your nostalgic 80s collection or that designer handbag that you snagged for a fraction of its actual cost—McCormac never hesitates to help those less fortunate than others.

“If somebody needs something I tell my employees to give it to them,” McCormac said. “If you hear a mom say to their kid, ‘we can’t afford that,’ we’ll just let them have it. We can make money elsewhere.”

The Thrifty Irishman (3251 Cedar Street) is located one block off bustling Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond and opened last Thanksgiving. Clients from all over the River Wards, Philadelphia and the surrounding area come in to see the store’s warehouse-like floor that’s full of clothing, games, media, art, furniture and architectural salvage.

“In our situation, we joke around and say we are the Bloomingdale’s of thrift,” McCormac said in reference to his store’s name brand selection of clothing. “You can walk into our clothing department—kids, ladies — and it will rival any shopping mall with high-end names and great prices.”

While The Thrifty Irishman showroom has an impressive array of products like Abercrombie shirts, Levis jeans and Alfani blazers, McCormac doesn’t individually ticket items. When each item is ticketed, customers may change prices or pull tags off in efforts to pay less for more. To avoid this, McCormac makes all items in a certain category the same low price. For example all men’s suits are $20 and all jackets are $10 no matter what brand they are.

“Everything is one price so it’s your choice to pick out the Armani or the K-Mart, except for the really expensive things like the Coach handbags that we keep behind the counter,” he said. “Even so, we sell everything really inexpensively.”

While The Thrifty Irishman has popular brands for sale, McCormac and his employees put special items aside and give them away to those in need. Wheelchairs, walkers and other items for those with special needs are kept in the back of the building.

“You’re never going to come in here and buy a wheelchair,” McCormac said. “But if you call in and ask for one, we have one in the back so you can send someone over to pick it up. We try to hold off on selling these things so we can give them away.”

“We had a chairlift we found at a house cleanup,” he recounted. “I said to the girls who work for me, ‘we’re not going to sell that.’ We called my hairdresser to see if they knew anybody that needed it. Sure enough they had an 80-year old lady in Bridesburg who needed it because Medicare wouldn’t cover something like that. So we dropped it off to her— it was awesome. She needed it and we just so happened to have it.”

The store also runs clothing drives with several organizations. If an organization wants to raise money through a clothing drive, the Thrifty Irishman will weigh out the total collection and buy it for their showroom. McCormac will then make a donation to St. Vincent’s de Paul church or the Science Leadership Academy, a school downtown.

“My son went to Science Leadership Academy—it’s a good school with kids from all over the place,” McCormac said. “I basically said to the principal that I have people just dropping stuff off [at the Thrift Store] and I want to keep this place karma based. So if somebody [donates] something, I’ll write a check to the school. We don’t do this because we have to—it’s good karma and a win-win.”

The Thrifty Irishman also performs house and basement cleanouts, pickups and will even deliver to a customer’s front door for free. McCormac believes it is customer service like this that will keep his store in business. And if there’s ever something you’re looking for, McCormac says never hesitate to ask for it.

“If you come in looking for X, we’ll put you down on a list and give you a call first if it comes in,” McCormac said. “I think that’s something that customers latch on to. We have an older guy in his 60s who comes in collecting old toys and games. Whenever we get something for him we’ll give him a call. You never know what someone will want.”

After almost a year in business, what’s been McCormac’s favorite story from The Thrifty Irishman?

“It was an old 70s scenery painting as long as a couch and the thing just wasn’t selling,” McCormac said. “This guy comes in and he starts staring at it and then I watched him go into the painting. I’m no artist, by any stretch, but the guy just loved it. He didn’t have enough money for it, and I told him that I wanted him to have it because he loved it. I knew he wasn’t going to take it back and sell it; he was going to cherish that painting. Even though he couldn’t afford it we wanted him to have it because he loved it.”

Just like the karma, what comes around to the Thrifty Irishman goes around to those who sincerely want it. To McCormac that’s just as important as making money in the end.

“Not that we don’t need money, McCormac said. “We need to pay people but you can always make money.”

The Thrifty Irishman is open Mon. to Wed., 10AM – 6PM, Thurs. to Fri., 10AM – 7PM, Sat., 10AM – 6PM, and Sun., 10AM – 5PM. For more information call 215-March17 (215-627-2417).