What happened to Hope Chest? SLO County nonprofit says it will ‘keep spirit alive’
When longstanding local nonprofit Wilshire Health and Community Services abruptly closed in June and subsequently filed for bankruptcy, many questions were left unanswered.
Chief among them: What would become of its Hospice Hope Chest Thrift Store in downtown San Luis Obispo?
It now seems that the beloved thrift store will live on — in part.
After pulling out of a $100,000 deal to buy Hope Chest, Lumina Alliance — a local organization that supporters survivors of sexual assault — announced it will open its own thrift store in San Luis Obispo, taking a piece of Wilshire’s legacy with it.
While not affiliated with Hope Chest or Wilshire, Lumina Thrift will adopt the entire staff of Wilshire’s now-closed thrift store, including its volunteers.
“This new venture brings together Lumina’s mission of supporting survivors with the expertise of a highly respected team known for running one of the most beloved thrift stores in the area,” the group said in a news release.
Lumina Thrift will open at 545 Higuera St. — across from Fred and Betty’s thrift store — on Nov. 17, with a grand opening from 3 to 5 p.m.
Donations will be accepted starting Oct. 20 every Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on site. Clothing and household items donated to the store will not only be available for sale but will also help furnish Lumina’s emergency shelter and transitional housing units for survivors.
“We’re so happy to keep doing what we love, working together as a team, connecting with the community, and giving new life to donated treasures,” Former Hope Chest Manager Jenann McLennan said in the release. “Partnering with Lumina Alliance means we get to keep that spirit alive while supporting a cause that truly matters. It feels like the start of something really special.”
Hope Chest inventory in limbo after failed sale
Hope Chest, located at 445 Higuera St., closed on July 11, almost two weeks after Wilshire shut its doors and three weeks before all five of its nonprofit and for-profit branches filed for bankruptcy.
The closure of the decades-old organization sent shock waves through the community, left former staff unemployed without severance and unpaid vendors hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt.
There remained hope that the Hope Chest thrift store — owned by Wilshire’s Hospice Partners nonprofit branch — would be sold to and preserved by another community-based organization, but the buyer pulled out on the eve of the sale.
The buyer was confirmed to be Lumina Alliance at an Aug. 28 bankruptcy court proceeding at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Barbara. At this same meeting, it was disclosed that Wilshire owed a $750,000 settlement to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lumina declined to comment on the failed sale.
The sale was far along by the time Lumina withdrew its offer, with a purchase agreement having been drawn up and approved by Nancy Zamora, Wilshire’s assigned Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee, she said at the Aug. 28 meeting.
Zamora said it was at this time Lumina discovered there was less inventory — or less valuable inventory — than previously believed, though she noted she was “not sure how much of that had an impact on their ultimate decision.”
At the time that Lumina was going to buy Hope Chest, the store was up for sale for $100,000, the estimated price of the donated inventory, an anonymous source told The Tribune.
According to a June inventory spreadsheet shared with The Tribune, the store had $122,000 worth of clothes, jewelry and other inventory, as well as equipment not included in the sale like an iPad register and Square credit card stand.
The Community Counseling Center was also at one point interested in buying the store, CEO James Statler told The Tribune. He was also given an $100,000 price tag.
“I don’t think it’s worth that anymore,” he told The Tribune in July. “I certainly wouldn’t pay top market price for it.”
During the Aug. 28 meeting, former Wilshire CFO Barbara Jennings said Hope Chest’s inventory was closer to $70,000 upon closure.
Though Lumina will now open its own thrift store and adopt the Hope Chest staff, the organization will not acquire Wilshire’s inventory.
“Unfortunately, I thought I might be able to convince them otherwise or revive (the sale), but I don’t seem to have been successful at that,” Zamora said during the August meeting.
Now, the fate of the $70,000 worth of donated clothes and items is unknown. The abandoned inventory still remains in the building, even though Wilshire hasn’t paid rent in months and is in the process of being evicted.
The store now appears to be undergoing renovations, including a new mural on the outside.
When asked at the Aug. 28 creditors’ meeting if they had any intentions of moving Hope Chest’s inventory out of the leased space, Wilshire CEO Tricia Smith said they “have no way of doing that.”
Statler said Wilshire “has left some things in knots, and one of those things is the relationship with the landlord of the thrift store.”
According to court records, rent on the store was $10,500 per month as of June 2025, which Wilshire paid up until it filed for bankruptcy, when the lease payments became the responsibility of the bankruptcy estate.
When an entity files for bankruptcy, an “automatic stay” is set which prevents any legal action from being taken upon the entity — including eviction.
The landlord of the Hope Chest property filed to lift the automatic stay and is in the process of gaining legal permission to evict Wilshire and end the lease two years early.
The history and financial success of Hope Chest
Wilshire opened Hope Chest in 2009 to raise money for its hospice services.
At any given time, the store was run by a group of three to six staff members and 50 to 80 volunteers.
“The Hope Chest was an example of the goodness that can be accomplished when talented and like-minded people come together with service in mind and the intention of contributing to the improved life of their community,” McLennan told The Tribune in a statement after the store’s closure.
The store also donated items to a number of other nonprofits such as Prado Day Center, Childrens Resource Network, Woods Humane Society animal shelter and Cal Poly, she said.
“Every donation received was considered a gift and the Hope Chest volunteers and staff considered themselves stewards of those gifts,” McLennan said. “Each item was appreciated as a treasure representing the history shared within the family of origin.”
The store was also a major source of capital for Wilshire.
Even as Wilshire’s home health and hospice branches started to face financial decline in 2023, the thrift store remained extremely lucrative.
In March 2025 — just three months before the organization shuttered into bankruptcy — the store brought in more than $10,000 in income, and an average income of $9,050 every month for the year prior, according to Hope Chest’s 2025 income statements and trend reports shared with The Tribune.
From March 2024 to March 2025, the store made a total of $623,398 in revenue and $108,603 in net profits, according to the financial reports. From July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023 — as Wilshire’s other branches began to shutter — the thrift store made $589,572 in revenue, according to a shared audited revenue report.
On Wilshire’s last day, Smith’s father, Warren, who was employed as a handyman, came in and stripped all the electronics out of the store, so customers could only pay with cash, a longtime Hope Chest volunteer told The Tribune.
Based on discussion during the August meeting, it appears an estimated $3,000 of items were sold that day.
“Where did that cash go?” asked the volunteer, who spoke with The Tribune on the condition of anonymity.
The volunteer said they were wary of Wilshire’s financial management after they allegedly heard Smith’s ex-husband “brag” about using the store credit card for gas to go to and from Lubbock, Texas, where he and Smith’s daughters went college and where Wilshire had an office.
The volunteer also claimed that when Hope Chest closed, Warren first said he bought the store’s delivery truck, but then backtracked and said a friend bought it because “it would be unethical” if he had.
At the Aug. 28 meeting, Smith said all four of Wilshire’s vehicles were sold to third-party buyers at market prices.
Wilshire’s lawyers did not respond to The Tribune’s multiple requests to comment for this story.
