For many years, Boomerangs was so much more than a thrift store – it was a place of community and belonging, a place where people found love and the most incredible weird stuff you could imagine. Since we opened our first store on Canal Street in the mid-nineties, it has been a pleasure to be a part of the neighborhoods in Boston & Cambridge.

Over the years, our mission to raise money for HIV/AIDS services and care brought people of all walks of life into our stores and into our communities. While we are sad to be shutting our doors, we want to share our deep appreciation for all of you. Boomerangs has been a haven for many queer and trans folks, disabled folks, older folks, neurodivergent folks, houseless folks, and so many people at all of the intersections, both customers and staff. We have had our messy moments, our hard transitions, and our flubs, but we have continued to grow together as a community over the last 30 years.

For some, donating to Boomerangs was one of the first steps after losing people they loved to AIDS related complications. Others used their donations to remember those long passed. It was an honor to be able to witness the grief and loss, to be grounded in why we do what we do, and to give their loved ones’ items a new purpose. We couldn’t have done it without our amazing staff and volunteers throughout the years. The spirits of David Dickson, Faye Grace, Hank Theosine, and so many more live on in the legacy of care and love they brought to our stores every day. They embodied community in every way.

So many of our staff have been a part of the Boomerangs world for 5, 10, 15, even 20 years. It truly has been a magical space for us and our customers alike over the last 30 years. Many of our staff have been around long enough to watch your children grow up, to celebrate birthdays and graduations, and to mourn w/ you the passing of loved ones. So many of us, both customers and staff, have been forever changed by the community and chaos encapsulated by Boomerangs. We’ve danced, we’ve cried, we’ve shared so much together.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for everything. We will miss you.

The Boomerangs Team