Opportunity Shop

The Opportunity Shop sits at 1427 Wisconsin Avenue NW in a brick rowhouse that has anchored the same stretch of Georgetown since 1933. From the sidewalk it reads like any other narrow storefront on this block, but the door opens into two floors of organized inventory that bear no resemblance to a typical thrift operation. Glass cases line the walls. Crystal and porcelain occupy shelves arranged with deliberate care. The staircase to the second floor leads past framed artwork and decorative objects to rooms holding sterling silver, fine jewelry, Asian collectibles, and furniture. The effect is closer to a small antiques gallery than a donation bin.

The shop was founded under the umbrella of the Christ Child Society of Washington, DC, an organization dating to 1887. Mary Virginia Merrick, a member of a prominent Washington family who sustained a spinal injury as a teenager, established the society after organizing a group of friends to sew clothing for a mother with no means to dress her newborn. That original layette program continues today. Merrick spent decades building programs for children living in poverty despite spending much of her own life in pain and partial paralysis. The shop opened in 1933 as a revenue arm of her organization and has run on the same model ever since. Every dollar from the floor goes to the mission.

The inventory is broad and intentional. The shop accepts antiques, fine jewelry, sterling silver, crystal, china, decorative arts, Asian collectibles, and designer accessories including pieces from Chanel, Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany. Clothing, books, and appliances are not taken. What arrives has been evaluated and priced by people who know the category. Paige Shoemaker, the shop’s arts and antiques specialist and consignor liaison, handles incoming consignments. The price range runs from a few dollars to several thousand, and the 0 threshold matters: items valued below that are accepted as outright donations; above it, consignors receive between 50 and 60 percent of the sale price.

New inventory arrives weekly, which makes repeat visits worth scheduling. Some volunteers have worked here for more than forty years. The shop supports three active programs run by the Christ Child Society: the Beloved Babies Layette Program, which provides newborn essentials to low-income families; Girls on the Rise, an after-school and summer program for girls aged 8 to 18 at the Mary Virginia Merrick Center in Southeast DC; and the Student Success Program, which delivers tutoring and literacy services. Together these programs reach more than 10,000 DC children and families each year.

Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon to five, and Sunday noon to four. The shop is closed Monday and Tuesday. The online store at opshopdc.com lists current inventory and accepts purchases for those who cannot visit in person. For consignment inquiries, contact Paige Shoemaker at pshoemaker@christchilddc.org before bringing items in. Street parking on Wisconsin Avenue is metered and competitive on weekends; arriving early on a weekday afternoon tends to mean both better parking and first look at any new arrivals.