The Morning Light

Miriam Switching Post is closing — but its mission isn’t going anywhere

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief

Published September 16, 2025

Miriam Switching Post

For nearly 70 years, the Miriam Switching Post has been a quiet treasure in St. Louis. Not just a resale shop, but a place where mission and meaning live alongside vintage lamps, gently loved furniture and sparkling pieces of jewelry that carry stories of their own.

Like many of you, I’ve wandered through its aisles over the years, hunting for a bargain and sometimes leaving with more than I came for. One of my favorite lamps — the kind that makes a room feel cozy and lived in — came from the Switching Post. Often when I flip the switch, I’m reminded that the light it gives isn’t just mine. It’s part of a bigger story: a community coming together to help families whose children learn differently, to give them a school where they can thrive.

Last week came the news: Miriam’s resale shop will close its Brentwood location on Nov. 1. After months of tough conversations, the board concluded that rising costs, dwindling revenues and a looming 40% rent hike left no way to keep the doors open.

Hearing this news, I felt a wave of déjà vu. Back in 2016, I remember being genuinely sad — actually, I think the word I used at the time was “unhinged” — when the resale clothing and accessories ScholarShop closed after decades in business, citing a sharp decrease in revenue. The quality of the shop’s merchandise had declined and resale donations originating from cheaper fashion retailers — chains like H&M and Forever 21 — didn’t come close to exacting the same price as their designer counterparts.

What connects these two resale landmarks, Miriam Switching Post and the ScholarShop, is that they were both born out of Jewish values and Jewish leadership. The Scholarship Foundation, which the ScholarShop supported, began in 1920 as a project of the National Council of Jewish Women–St. Louis Section. In 1929, it incorporated as the St. Louis Jewish Scholarship Foundation before later becoming independent and non-sectarian. To this day, the Foundation continues to provide interest-free loans and grants for postsecondary students with financial need.

The ScholarShop itself came from the vision of Evelyn Newman, a brilliant marketing mind and philanthropist who believed resale could be more than just bargain-hunting. She understood that fashion could be recycled into opportunity. For more than 50 years, St. Louisans donated their best designer clothes and accessories, and those items — a Chanel suit here, a St. John knit there — helped pay for young people’s education.

Miriam Switching Post continued in that proud tradition. From the start, Miriam has been a Jewish institution, guided by the values of education, tzedakah and community. The shop carried that mission forward; its proceeds provide financial assistance to families who attend Miriam School and Learning Center, a school for students with learning challenges.

Generations of volunteers — many of them Jewish women who poured their time and heart into the store — made sure the Switching Post thrummed with purpose. For families like Susie Luten’s — she’s a descendant of Miriam’s founder, Fannie Landau — the shop wasn’t just a place to buy or donate furniture. It was part of their family story, a living legacy.

So yes, this closing is sad. But it’s also a reminder of something bigger: for decades, Jewish women in St. Louis have been at the forefront of turning generosity, creativity and a good bargain into something lasting and life-changing. These shops were never just about resale. They were about opportunity, dignity and hope. And that mission endures — no matter what happens to the brick and mortar.

Thankfully, NCJW-STL’s Resale Shop continues to thrive. It provides roughly 50% of the nonprofit’s budget, which goes to fund programs to help improve the lives of women, children and families. In fact, its annual Couturier sale, featuring the best of the best designer items for a fraction of the price, will take place Oct. 22-25. If you’ve never been, consider this your invitation. You’ll leave with more than just a bargain — you’ll be part of a tradition of giving that makes our community stronger.

So while the doors to the Switching Post will close this fall, its light will not go out. According to Meg Bamford, head of Miriam School and Learning Center, this is not the end of the Switching Post’s story, it is simply a new chapter. Miriam has created the Switching Post Scholarship & Innovation Fund to carry on its spirit, raising money for financial aid and new programming.

“We are incredibly proud of what the Switching Post has meant to Miriam and to the broader community,” Bamford said in a statement. “And we are actively exploring ways to reimagine what’s next — whether that’s a new model, a new space, or a fresh vision inspired by the same heart and purpose.”

So, in time, a new version of the Switching Post may emerge.

For now, though, I’ll think of that lamp — and of all the treasures, tangible and intangible, that the Switching Post has given our community. What a gift it has been.

About the Contributor

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief

A native of Westbury, New York, Ellen Futterman broke into the world of big city journalism as a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the latter part of the 20th century. Deciding that Tinsel Town was not exciting enough for her, she moved on to that hub of glamour and sophistication, Belleville, Ill., where she became a feature writer, columnist and food editor for the Belleville News-Democrat. A year later the St. Louis Post-Dispatch scooped her up, neither guessing at the full range of her talents, nor the extent of her shoe collection. She went on to work at the Post-Dispatch for 25 years, during which time she covered hard news, education, features, investigative projects, profiles, sports, entertainment, fashion, interiors, business, travel and movies. She won numerous major local and national awards for her reporting on “Women Who Kill” and on a four-part series about teen-age pregnancy, ‘Children Having Children.'” Among her many jobs at the newspaper, Ellen was a columnist for three years, Arts and Entertainment Editor, Critic-at-large and Daily Features (Everyday) Editor. She invented two sections from scratch, one of which recently morphed from Get Out, begun in 1995, to GO. In January of 2009, Ellen joined the St. Louis Jewish Light as its editor, where she is responsible for overseeing editorial operations, including managing both staff members and freelancers. Under her tutelage, the Light has won 16 Rockower Awards — considered the Jewish Pulitzer’s — including two personally for Excellence in Commentary for her weekly News & Schmooze column. She also is the communications content editor for the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis. Ellen and her husband, Jeff Burkett, a middle school principal, live in Olivette and have three children. Ellen can be reached at 314-743-3669 or at [email protected].