October 15, 2020

Spotlight: Kyle Gustafson

Since 1982 our Richfield store has been an important part of this community. Arc’s Value Village is the face of The Arc Minnesota, often times the first time people hear of our organization and the important work we do serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Keeping the store operating at maximum speed is vital to the organization, and takes a very special team of committed people. We recently caught up with Kyle Gustafson, Assistant Manager, to learn more about him and his life:

Q: What is your background?
A: I came to Arc’s Value Village in 2015; I started as a supervisor at the Brooklyn Center location. I moved to an assistant manager position at the Richfield store in 2017 and have been here since. Before that I worked in a for profit thrift store.
 

Q: What do you love about Arc’s Value Village?
A: I love finding cool and interesting stuff, and joking around with the team. I also really enjoy talking to the shoppers, gives me an opportunity to see what it is they are looking for in our stores.
 

Q: What is one of your favorite finds at our store?
A: It is hard to pick just one item, when you come across so many unique things every day, but recently I found a bunch of retro Pee-Wee Herman stuff, I didn’t know there was a Pee-Wee Herman University.
 

Q: Who inspires you?
A: The team for sure, they push me to be the best leader I can be, and they have taught me to be patient. Also, our Business Manager Greg Rue. We both have that “let’s get as much stuff out the sales floor as possible” mentality, and its great sorting product with him.
 

Q: How do you enjoy your downtime?
A: Comics. I have about 3500 individual comics, organized, and stored in boxes. I go out searching for them, trying to complete collections. I have a notebook with lists of issue numbers I need but lately I have been binging on Monster Comics and Conan the Barbarian comics from the early to mid-1970’s.
 

Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?
A: A baseball player, a cowboy, or a comic book artist or all three at once. As I grew older, I just wanted to work in a field where I could contribute to helping people.
 

Q: What are words to live by?
A: No matter how torrential it is pouring, I’ll weather the storm.
 

Thank you Kyle! We appreciate you and your can-do attitude!