Saint Gianna Children’s Thrift Store opens downtown in Atchison

Saint Gianna Children’s Thrift Store opened its downtown doors with a simple promise: affordable children’s clothes, supplies and other basics within reach of Atchison families. The new shop at 731 Commercial St. gives the Pregnancy Resource Center of Atchison a more visible, public-facing way to support parents and young children.

The center says its services are free and confidential and include baby supplies and clothing, case management, pregnancy and parenting classes, and community referrals. Its main office remains at 1926 N. 2nd St. Bld. 5, and the organization says walk-ins are welcome during operating hours. The thrift store extends that mission into a storefront where residents can shop, donate and find help without leaving town.

That matters in a county where budgets can tighten quickly around diapers, clothing, toys and other everyday needs. Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas says more than 12 percent, or 1,960 people, living in Atchison County are food insecure. Its Atchison Family Support Center already provides food, help with utility payments, housing, clothing and case management, showing that Saint Gianna’s is entering a local network of basic-needs support that families already rely on.

Atchison County’s 2020 population was 16,348, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and even modest additions to local services can have an outsized effect in a community that size. A downtown children’s store also gives the Pregnancy Resource Center a stronger presence on Commercial Street, which City of Atchison and local economic-development efforts describe as part of downtown revitalization and historic commercial-district activity.

The store’s grand opening on Saturday, April 25, 2026, fit that broader pattern. It was not just a new storefront for the downtown district. It was another place where donated items can stay in circulation locally and where families can find low-cost children’s goods tied directly to a mission of support. In a city where many households are balancing limited resources, that kind of practical help can become part of the daily fabric of downtown Atchison.