A feisty advocate for the mentally ill, Blumenthal was able to convince the Montgomery County Alliance for the Mentally Ill to provide seed money to start Jobs Unlimited, of which Upscale Resale is its first outreach program. The store was initially housed at Congressional Plaza in Rockville, but in 1994, when the shopping center was refurbished and rents increased, Upscale Resale had to relocate. The business moved to new digs down the block to the Talbot Center on Rockville Pike. A treasure-trove of eclectic and functional items, all the merchandise at the store, a United Way designate, is donated. Price tags vary from pennies to hundreds of dollars, and merchandise changes daily.
Some customers come every day to check out the new arrivals.
It s not just the average citizen who comes in here, Jenkins observes. People have driven up in Jaguars. Forty employees work at the store, all on a part-time basis. Some stayed on a waiting list for six years to be able to work there. Their disabilities range from depression to obsessive-compulsive disorder to schizophrenia.