The Free Store:

Two volunteers packing up at the New Haven Free Store got into a fight. One struck a blow with a fire extinguisher. The other reached for a knife. That was the scene that led to two arrests Thursday night, according to Downtown District Manager Lt. Rebecca Sweeney.

She said police reported to the free store at 55 Church St. at around 6:30 p.m. on a report of two people fighting. Two volunteers a man and a woman who had been helping the store pack up for its move to Court Street had gotten into a dispute. The man grabbed a fire extinguisher and struck the woman with it, Sweeney said. The woman found a large kitchen knife but didn’t injure the man, Sweeney said.

Both people were arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon and breach of peace. The woman suffered minor injuries, Sweeney said.

The store has been one of the more unusual and remarked-upon entries in downtown’s small-business economy. It was to give away donated merchandise to customers, who line up every day for a chance to get in, and to train people in bicycle repair; it also aims to make a profit. It got free space itself for the first few months of business as part of an effort called Project Storefronts, which aims to fill vacant retail locations short-term with businesses looking to get on their feet. Then the landlord starts charging rent or as in the case of the Free Store, the business moves to a different location when a paying tenant emerges.

Ben Aubin, a founder of the Free Store, released the following statement on Friday afternoon:

"I recently moved to New Haven from Portland, Oregon. While living there I assisted a bike shop named Well-Tuned Fast Bikes in their marketing. Thirty days in to opening the owner Tom Daly had his shop robbed. We wrote to local press and within 2 weeks members of the community came together and replaced everything that had been stolen through donations."
The history of Free Stores stretches back for many decades. In the mid to late 1960's a theater group called The Diggers opened the first Free store in San Francisco, calling it the "Free Frame of Reference." The name of the store drew inspiration from the Digger Slogan, "Create the conditions that you describe."