From The Tribune staff reports
BIRMINGHAM — Sozo Trading Co., an upscale thrift store located in the Avondale community in Birmingham, is celebrating eight years on Saturday June 24, 2023. The store opens at 10 a.m. and will feature special discounts at the register all day and free Kona Ice snow cones from noon until 2 p.m., while supplies last.
“The store started eight years ago with a mission of bringing awareness to the work of our ministry,” said Suzanne Owens, CEO of Sozo Children. “Since then, we’ve expanded to include our own boutique line of clothing called Halo and added a truck to pick up large donations and host off site donation events.”
Sozo Trading Co. is a ministry of Birmingham-based Sozo Children, which serves the needs of vulnerable children in Uganda, Africa. Profits from the upscale thrift store support the work of the ministry in Uganda but the store also conducts outreach programs in the Birmingham community with job training programs, textile recycling and support of local families in need.
“The global goods section of the store is a great place to shop for a unique gift,” said Suzanne Owens, CEO of Sozo Children. “All sales from the store support the work we do in Uganda, but the global goods section has an even larger impact because the items there are hand-selected in Uganda from local artists and merchants who are learning to operate small businesses to support their families.”
Sozo Trading Co., was designed to create a sustainable income stream for Sozo Children and has since grown to be major part of the ministry’s funding along with child sponsorships, grant funding, donations and special events like mission trips to Africa and a Children’s Choir Tour.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response we’ve received from the community since we opened,” said Owens. “We get comments all the time from customers who say they love the experience of thrifting in the store. Our staff is amazing and they know so many of our regulars on a first name basis. We believe attention to detail is important.”
For more information on Sozo Children and Sozo Trading Co. visit www.sozochildren.org and www.sozotrading.org.
About Sozo Children
Sozo Children was founded in 2010 to serve the needs of vulnerable children in the nation of Uganda. Currently, Sozo provides for 125 children and maintains an upscale thrift store, Sozo Trading Co. in Avondale, benefitting the ministry. To learn more about Sozo Children, or to sponsor a child, visit www.sozochildren.org.