Where others saw old clothes, Sandra Bryand saw opportunity, not for herself, but for those in need throughout the Machias area. For the past 13 years, Bryand has run a series of thrift shops at various sites – first in Whitneyville, then Machias. Her goal hasn’t been to make a profit; rather she seeks to create jobs and to get the clothes into the hands of people who could use them. For the past 10 years, she’s run Bags ‘O Rags, now at 40 Main St. in Machias, a building she owns.

“My goal has been to offer [clothes] as cheaply as possible and still pay the expenses of running the place,” the Machias resident explained. “I take no income [from the business].”

In April, she opened B’s Hive: An Exotic Emporium, a consignment store for 14 merchants, in the other half of that building. Her goal there is to provide an opportunity to craftsmen and small businesspeople who can’t afford their own retail space.

“The costs of rents for people is just outrageous,” she recalled. “So I called all my friends who used to have shops, and asked them if they had any stock left in their attics or their basements. We’ve done pretty well,

not just in developing customers, but in finding people who want to display their wares here.”

In a way, Bryand is following a family tradition, as both her grandmother and her mother were antique dealers. In fact, her mother’s antique cash register now sits on the counter at B’s Hive.

What drives Bryand to help others? It’s her way of giving back for what she’s been given.

Bryand’s father is Edward Bryand, who revolutionized the papermaking industry with the honeycomb-roll paper machine. His invention makes possible such parts of everyday life as sanitary wipes, single-ply toilet tissue, disposable diapers, thin feminine-hygiene products and fiberglass shingles. The geosciences building at the University of Maine is named after him.

So Bryand’s inheritance left her well provided for.

“I just feel like I have way more than any one person deserves,” she said. “I want to not just help people, but to help them help themselves.”

Her parents, both of whom grew up poor during the Depression, taught her valuable lessons as well.

“They really did teach me their values – that education and hard work are most important,” she said.

She passed these values on to her son, Kelly, now a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. “He’s embarrassed by his good fortunes as well,” she said with a smile.

Bryand arrived in Washington County 25 years ago, when she came to teach in Calais. She discovered a different kind of economy there.

“There weren’t any jobs, and it was a depressed economy,” she said. “Working people put together income through seasonal work and handcrafts. I knew I would have to live that way too.”

She started her thrift shop, then called the Free Store, in the Whitneyville Town Hall in 1987. At first, everything was free, but when people insisted on paying, she set up a jar for donations.

After six months, town officials made the decision to tear down the building, so Bryand moved her business to Machias, where it became the Freedom Center, at three different locations in three consecutive years. She took a year off to run a food co-op, then bought 28 Main St. and reopened as Bags ‘O Rags.

Through the years, Bryand also has been a tutor, a tax preparer, a typesetter at a print shop and a writer for Wild Blueberry magazine. She also served as a selectman and on the planning board in Whitneyville, her home for 16 years.

Her full-time job these days is taking care of her 14-year-old daughter Carilee, who is severely disabled, in addition to overseeing Bags ‘O Rags and B’s Hive.

Bags ‘O Rags recently completed a hasty move to 40 Main St., just in time for Halloween, its busiest time of year. It had been housed at 28 Main, but then the adjacent building, home of the original Helen’s Restaurant, burned in September. That left McKinney Books, due to move into the burned building, without a home. So Bryand, who had been planning an eventual move anyway, graciously transferred Bags ‘O Rags to 40 Main, so the bookstore could move into 28 Main.

With six rooms full of unsorted clothing in the back of the store, Bryand still has some reorganizing to do. Over the next six months, she hopes to set up children’s and men’s sections and some bargain bins.

Even the worst of the clothing she receives gets reused. She encouraged those making quilts or rugs to come for fabrics. She turns the worst of the cottons into rags for area mechanics and painters.

She also has taken part in relief efforts, shipping boxes of clothing to India, Cameroon and North Carolina.

“If I had enough time and energy, I would buy a tractor-trailer and go out and do it myself,” she said.

During the time the store was closed, Bryand found out how much people appreciated her efforts.

“When we were closed for 10 days to make the move, people were calling us at home to find out when we were coming back,” she said. “It makes me smile. That’s what it’s all about for me. It makes me feel good.”