When it comes to thrift stores, the days of cold and dark and dank are over.
“We’re changing from those old hole-in-the-wall thrifts,” said Salvation Army Capt. Dennis Earnhart as he surveyed the new Orchards store that will open on Thursday. “We call them ‘family stores’ now and we want them to be clean and bright and safe.”
And competitive, he added. The Great Recession saw a proliferation of mom-and-pop as well as nonprofit agency thrift stores nationwide, he noted. There are significantly more than there used to be.
In 2006, the Salvation Army opened a thrift store in space it leased from the Fred Meyer on Northeast Highway 99. But the thrift store closed last year as Fred Meyer developed new plans for the site — namely, a new Fred Meyer fueling station.
Which is too bad, Earnhart said, because it was hard to beat that site’s prominent location alongside Interstate 5. On the other hand, the new store is on a pretty prominent corner, the northeastern wedge of Fourth Plain Boulevard and Northeast 117th Avenue (state Highway 500), and it’s certainly brighter, cheerier and, at 20,000 square feet, a little bit bigger than the Hazel Dell store.
“We don’t have much of an advertising budget,” Earnhart said. “We depend on word of mouth. People trust us.”
The Salvation Army funnels the proceeds from its thrift stores to its Adult Rehabilitation Centers. There are 24 of these nationwide and one in northeast Portland, Earnhart said, with 120 residential beds for people in recovery from addiction. Thrift store money does not pay for the social services — housing subsidies, case management and emergency assistance — provided by the Salvation Army of Clark County. Learn more at www.vancouver.salvationarmynw.org.
The grand opening of the new Salvation Army Family Store begins at 9 a.m. Thursday at 11808 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd. There will be raffle drawings, including for an autographed Portland Trail Blazers basketball, and a ticket giveaway. Prize drawings continue through the weekend.
Earnhart said the Salvation Army is continuing to look for another Clark County location, back on the west side.
“There’s enough support in Clark County for two stores,” he said.
