Merchant hit where it hurts

PITTSBORO -- Whoever burglarized Beggars and Choosers, one of Pittsboro's oldest merchants, snatched only the most precious items as they prowled the downtown shop in October.

They made off with the cash and the gold, silver and Victorian-era jewelry - and they took store owner Pam Smith's joy.

Of all she lost in the theft, it's her bliss she misses most. Seems she can't run the store without it.

"It's not the stuff and it's not the money," Smith says. "It's what it did to my spirit."

She'll be closing after a clearance sale today.

For 30 years, Smith's three-floored emporium on a corner across from the old courthouse served customers with an eye for the eclectic. Like the storekeeper herself, it all belonged to a different era: the vintage clothing, the chenille bedspreads, the antique furniture.

Beggars and Choosers began in another small Chatham County community, nearby Goldston, when Smith's husband, bluegrass bassist Thomas "Snuffy" Smith, suggested she put her "junk magnet" tendencies to good use.

After a couple of years, she began to think her 1940s women's suits and couture clothing from the '50s and '60s would sell better closer to the Triangle's colleges. But she wanted to raise her two young boys in a small town. Pittsboro, which still has only about 2,500 people, seemed perfect.

She bought the 1890s brick building, thinking she would never fill it.

The town embraced her.

"I went in there about once a week," says Chris Pratt, who has lived in Pittsboro for a decade. He bought Virlie's Grill, two doors down Hillsboro Street from Smith's store, a couple of years ago.

"I never knew what I was looking for when I went in," Pratt says of the Christmas decorations and old carrom boards that now hang in his restaurant.

The business grew as Smith bought whole estates, picking out the most desirable items and giving others to area thrift shops. As her collection of Depression-era clothing and accessories expanded, costumers for stage and film began to visit. She helped outfit "Bull Durham" and "Patch Adams."

Even in Chatham County, known for its artists and specialty farms, Smith says she's an eccentric. The daughter of a preacher, she has the residual accent of her coastal upbringing and a voice powerful enough for a pulpit - or a community theater stage, where she has spent a lot of time.

Her front display windows are a bit of drama, too, with Smith's mannequins in story-telling vignettes. One features a female form in a dog mask who appears to be holding class for a half-dozen canine figurines.

For the past five years, Smith has offered a special deal for clothing shoppers. Working from the stash in the basement, they could build an ensemble for free, but they had to wear every piece of it out of the store as they left.

"It livened up the town," Smith says, describing some of the mismatched combinations she sent into the streets.

Hidden in the store?

On special occasions, she wore costumes to work.

She was in she-devil garb for the Pittsboro Street Fair the weekend before Halloween, when the burglary happened. She spent much of the day outside, visiting, while employees ran the store and closed up that night.

About 45 minutes after closing, Smith went back to finish up.

She noticed the cash drawer was empty, but thought it was because it had been a busy day. Then she realized all the folding money was gone, too. She went upstairs and saw the jewelry cases had been picked clean.

The entire haul could have been taken out in one of the vintage pillowcases from the store's textile collection.

"We think maybe they hid in the store," Smith says, "and came out after it closed."

It wouldn't have been that hard, her husband suggests. "To hide in here, all you have to do is stand still."

When the police came, Smith was still in her sexy red-sequined devil dress, horns and crimson lipstick.

Looking forward

She reopened after the burglary and came to work as she always had, smiling, sporting a pair of striped Wicked Witch socks or some other bit of colorful attire.

She greeted her customers, helped them when they needed it.

"But whenever someone came in that I didn't know, I couldn't help but wonder, 'Could that be them? Could they have done it?'" Smith says.

The store - a source of income but also a social outlet for Smith, who gets to know people as they shop for a decades-old prom dress or a military jacket -had been tainted.

"I decided I had to close it," she says.

She's having a one-day sale from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. today to clear out the merchandise and, she hopes, the specter of loss. Everything will be 50 to 75 percent off.

At 62, Smith says she's not ready to retire, but not sure what she wants to do.

If the shop comes back, she says, it will be different from before.

"I have to make it my own again."