Every rack and shelf at Flamingos Resale Store does double duty: the merchandise at 2108 S Broadway Avenue in Tyler, Texas serves shoppers looking for secondhand furniture, clothing, and household goods, while the proceeds fund the work of the East Texas Crisis Center, the nonprofit that owns and operates the store. The center has provided safety, shelter, and education to victims of family violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and other violent crime since 1978, and Flamingos exists specifically to help underwrite that mission through retail sales rather than relying on donations alone.
The store keeps a five-day schedule, open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm, giving Tyler shoppers a consistent window to browse without the store competing for staff and volunteer time on Sundays or Mondays. Because the East Texas Crisis Center relies on community donations to stock the floor, the inventory tends toward the same broad mix found in most nonprofit-run resale shops: furniture, home goods, clothing, and household miscellany that turns over as new donations arrive and older stock sells through.
What sets Flamingos apart from a purely commercial resale shop is the direct line between a purchase and the crisis center’s frontline services. The East Texas Crisis Center runs a 24-hour crisis hotline, emergency shelter, case management, advocacy, counseling and support groups, and children’s programs, all built around the goal of helping survivors rebuild their lives and know they are not alone. Every dollar spent at Flamingos helps support that infrastructure, which makes a routine furniture or clothing purchase functionally similar to a small donation to survivor services in East Texas.
For shoppers, that mission does not change the day-to-day experience of browsing a resale shop: pieces still need to be evaluated for condition and price on the floor, and the mix of what is available depends on what the community has recently donated. But it does mean a Broadway Avenue shopping trip in Tyler can double as a way to support local survivors of violence without writing a separate check. Anyone wanting to check current stock, hours, or donation drop-off details can call the store directly at (903) 593-2553, or reach the East Texas Crisis Center’s 24-hour hotline at (800) 333-0358 if the visit is prompted by a need for the center’s core services rather than shopping.
The center emphasizes that walk-ins are welcome and no appointment is necessary for its support services, an open-door approach that mirrors the low-barrier, browse-anytime nature of the resale store itself. Flamingos Resale Store in Tyler, Texas is a nonprofit resale shop on South Broadway Avenue whose furniture, clothing, and household goods sales directly fund the East Texas Crisis Center’s shelter and support services for survivors of family violence and sexual assault.
