5th Street Thrift Store

Sometimes a misspelling is an error, and sometimes it is on purpose – and at least once, it’s both. Consider the Disabled American Veterans store, 730 N. Fifth Street. A reader wrote this past week: “I drive past the Disabled Am. Vet store weekly, and as a newcomer to Prescott I have a question about their signs. Both their store, sign on the fence and truck say ‘Trift’ – I assume the word to be ‘Thrift’ but it is missing the ‘H.’ “Is there a reason the word ‘Thrift’ is misspelled? I checked the dictionary and cannot find the word ‘Trift’? Thanks in advance for your response.” The local DAV officials told me that a disabled veteran, M. Seidel, painted the signs shortly before he died of a brain tumor. They are not clear on how long ago he did this; the store’s current managers have been here three and five years – and it pre-dates them. Also, The Daily Courier published a letter to the editor in 2003 stating the same reasoning. To wit, they attribute the misspelling to Mr. Seidel’s impairment. “The Prescott DAV Chapter 16 decided to retain the TRIFT STORE spelling in his honor,” according to the 2003 letter and a press release from the store. “We operate the only TRIFT STORE in the country.” That’s very admirable. The manager told me this past week that Seidel “thought he spelled it correctly, and we decided to honor and memorialize that.” Consider also a headline we had on Page 1A in January: “Favour-able: Prominent attorney lived, shaped Prescott history.” A reader asked whether we had shifted to the European spellings for words such as “favor.” Nope, we did it on purpose – a play on words with the man’s name. It was a story about Al Favour, who died at the age of 93 on Jan. 12. So, you never know when something is a mistake, a missed take or a misteak. (Sorry, play on words again.)*** By the way, “the TRIFT STORE has succeeded because of the support and patronage of the local community. DAV members of Prescott Chapter 16 thank the people of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and surrounding communities for their contributions and purchases at the store.”