MUCH TO OFFER-Sheri Long, owner of Madre's Thrift Shop, sits among the store's many wares. Madre's Thrift Shop on Royal Avenue has a slightly different policy than other retail stores: If you can't pay for an item, the owner will simply give it to you.

Sheri Long, 48, says her new store, which offers women's, men's and children's clothes, baby furniture, housewares and knickknacks, is more a mission than a business.

"There's such need in Simi Valley it shocks me," Long said. "I never knew it before I opened the store."

Her husband, Anthony Long, 51, supplements the store with his electrical contracting business. The couple's goal for the thrift shop is to pay the bills. Anything above that, he said, goes toward no-cost or low-cost items.

"If we make our bills, great. If not, we have another business to offset the cost," Anthony said. "I would much rather know that the needs of the community are being met."

People who come into the store and can pay often give a little more to make up for those who can't.

"I love thrift shops. It's fun to look around," said Mary Johansen, 47, a first-time shopper at the store. "It's a very positive atmosphere that I find here."

Before the store opened in July, Anthony shared office space with a computer repair business. When the business' owner retired, the storefront became available.

About the same time, some friends of the Longs wanted to start a recovery home for people on drugs or alcohol.

"They needed a place for the people in the program to have a job and wanted to open a thrift shop," Anthony said. "This would allow people to work and give them a way of paying back and a work ethic."

The recovery program failed to launch but the thrift shop idea appealed to Sheri.

"One day while taking a shower, a little voice said to me 'Why don't you do it,'" Sheri said.

So the Longs began networking with local churches. The Live Ride Christian Fellowship just happened to have a 40foot container of donations suitable for a thrift shop.

In addition, Sheri formed a partnership with the Community Pregnancy Clinic of Simi Valley. The clinic passes donations of maternity and baby items along to the store, and in return, clients shop there.

Renovation of the space started in June and was finished in a month. The Longs look on the store as a ministry opportunity.

"It's a two-way street: People will be blessed by donating things they'd discard and you have people who are in need of those things," Anthony said.

The Longs have lived in Simi Valley for 14 years; Anthony is a third-generation electrician.

Sheri is a selfproclaimed "Valley girl," born and raised in Canoga Park. While interested in business as a college student, motherhood took precedence.

The couple's son Anthony Jr., 17, a junior at Apollo High School, helps in the store after classes. Son Austin, 14, is a freshman at Royal High School.

They also have two adult sons, Terry, 30, who lives in Huntington Beach, and James, 23, a senior at the University of Colorado.

Sheri's eyes tear up when she talks about homelessness. Two women who live in the nearby park recently got jobs and came in to the thrift store. "One of the women, Jill, came in for clothes to go to work. She didn't want free things anymore," Sheri said. "I opened an account because she wanted to start paying when she got her paycheck."

Madre's Thrift Shop is at 1667 Royal Ave., and is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.