Owner of Howland’s Sprinkle Kindness Thrifts & Gifts emphasizes giving back
Tracy Gantz is the owner of Sprinkle Kindness Thrifts & Gifts in Howland.
Gantz has always wanted to own a thrift store, inspired by her mom who taught her how to be thrifty at a young age.
“My mom passed in 2022 on Mother’s Day, and she had a lot of really nice stuff. She loved to thrift, but she always bought way too much. Then she’d put it away and forget she had it,” she said. “It started out as an estate sale that kept going and going. People would ask if they could donate things, and I didn’t want to say no.”
Sprinkle Kindness Thrifts & Gifts first opened inside First Baptist Church in Warren before Gantz moved to a permanent location in The Market Place Plaza in 2023.
“In the beginning, all my helpers were people who had lost their mothers, too,” Gantz said. “It brought us together as a community, and we could relate to one another. We get so many people in here who can relate to us. It seems like it’s a store, but it’s more of a ministry.”
Inside, customers can shop for women’s clothing, kitchen and home decor, books and greeting cards, as well as jewelry and gifts.
In addition to one-of-a-kind thrifted finds, Gantz also invited local vendors to sell products inside Sprinkle Kindness Thrifts & Gifts.
“I wanted a place where we could bring the community together to find nice, giftable things,” she said. “I go out and source stuff that I think our customers would like, but I wanted to have local people be able to make stuff and bring it in. It’s been pretty cool. We have one 3-D printing guy who makes tons of stuff, then we have another 3-D printer who makes clickers and fidgets. We have sweet treats, wax melts, soaps and so much jewelry from several different jewelry vendors. It’s been pretty amazing. We have a lady who will custom paint anything. She’s done chairs, purses, shoes, jackets, vests- you name it, and she’ll paint it.”
The store is open from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 5000 E Market St. in Howland.
Through the thrift store, Gantz is passionate about giving back to community members in need.
“I’m a pastor’s wife and I help with a women’s pregnancy resource center, so [customers] knew I was going to do good stuff with the money from the store,” she said. “I also help out with a program called Door of Hope, and it’s an abortion recovery program. We give monthly to them.”
Her husband is Pastor Chuck Gantz at Seeking God’s Glory Church in downtown Warren.
“We have blessing bags where we have little things of shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a Bible and stuff that they’ll need, that they might not necessarily have,” she said. “Sprinkle Kindness gives stuff for their blessing bags or money towards it.”
Community members and customers at Sprinkle Kindness often reach out to Gantz when they know there’s a local family in need.
“They’ll message me on Facebook when they know there’s a family whose house caught on fire, or there was flooding,” she said. “Sometimes it’s helping a teenage girl who doesn’t have any clothes that’ll fit her. If we’re able to help, we definitely will, because a lot of times we’ll have the size clothes they need, or the things they need for their kitchen.”
