Within a week of its opening, a thrift store in Pinellas County catering to the area’s transgender community was robbed when a cash box holding $200 was swiped overnight.

According to Michael Keeffe, he noticed the missing funds when he went in to open Julio’s Closet one morning in January.

“I had no idea anything was wrong until I went to look for the cash box,” Keeffe said. “There were several valuable items in the store that were untouched and nothing was moved. So I was surprised when I couldn’t find the box.”

Keeffe said he filed a police report and some fingerprints were recovered, but they weren’t clear enough to give an identity to the possible culprit. Keeffe said he is using the loss as a lesson, and the store now has a secure safe.

“My thoughts are that either a customer or someone who works in the community center took it,” Keeffe said. “But there’s no way of knowing and all we can do is just move forward.”

Julio’s Closet is housed within the Community Connections Tampa Bay Center at 9945 66th St. North. The small 300-square-foot store is the first business past the entrance of the building and Keeffe said he wanted a non-LGBT home for the store to better benefit transgender people who wish to remain stealth.

“We picked a neighborhood location because the goal of many transgender people is to live comfortably in their neighborhood every day,” he said. “People know who we are and what we’re doing, but the goal of FORGE is to integrate into the community at large.”

And so far the store has seen some success, despite the setback of the theft. Keeffe said through word-of-mouth, the customer base is growing and so is support.

Keeffe explained that the name of the thrift store was chosen to honor Julio Silverwolf, a Pinellas County transgender man who died after a suspected suicide.

“He was well-known in the transgender community and it’s a tragic loss,” Keeffe said. “It’s our way of honoring him.”

The store is open Thursdays through Sundays and focuses primarily on larger sized women’s clothes and smaller sizes of men’s clothes.
However, donations of all sizes are happily accepted.

“We get a lot of foot traffic here from other businesses and the money raised goes to a good cause,” Keeffe said. “About 90% of the proceeds go back to FORGE and 10% goes to support this community center. It’s a win-win.”

Julio’s Closet is also looking for volunteers to man the store. Anyone interested can speak with Keeffe at the store from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

“We’re already outgrowing our space and sometime soon I plan on holding a full-scale grand opening,” Keeffe said.