St. Vincent de Paul readies new Jeannette store for opening next week

The clothing racks are filling in and items are being priced for sale — the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store’s new Jeannette location is getting ready to reopen.

After more than 10 months of being closed when the faith-based nonprofit was forced out of its Clay Avenue location in December, volunteers are looking forward to Tuesday when shoppers can browse once again.

That will mean a resumption of revenue to aid the nonprofit’s goal of helping residents who need assistance paying bills and buying food. President Marilyn Lander and volunteer Jeff Dorko said they hope the added visibility on a main thoroughfare will draw more shoppers.

“We’re hoping to make a lot more money than we did so we can help a lot more people,” Lander said.

The store is set to be open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays in the former Arlington Shoes & Repairing building at 412 Harrison Ave./Route 130. Volunteers spent much of 2020 looking for a new home after the three-story building where the store operated for 17 years was being sold.

They eventually settled on the remodeled building at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and North First Street, and volunteers have been scrambling to get second-hand goods set up since getting the keys at the beginning of November. Racks of clothing greet shoppers at the front door, and decor, housewares and furniture are set up around the two rooms. All of the items have been directed there from St. Vincent de Paul stores throughout the area.

It is brightly lit and fresh, both assets Dorko and Lander said they hope will contribute to future success.

“I expect to be more successful because of the location, because the building is new and clean,” Dorko said. “It can only help the people around the area, for sure.”

The nonprofit distributes at least $30,000 annually to people in Jeannette, Harrison City, Trafford, Penn and Adamsburg. Anyone in those areas who needed help while the store was closed was referred to the Greensburg St. Vincent de Paul store.

“I think it’s a miracle,” said Lander, whose late husband founded the Jeannette store and managed it for nearly 30 years. “There have been so many road blocks, but I know it’s going to be fine in the end. We’re really happy with this place.”

Donations will be accepted only when the store is open. A ribbon cutting is planned for Thursday. Dorko commended the volunteers for sticking with the mission during the closure, which he said came at an “opportune moment” because the store would have been shut down anyway as a result of business restrictions meant to slow the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our volunteers hung in there through the whole thing,” he said. “That’s what carried us.”

The Clay Avenue location was sold Jan. 15 to Hanadynamics LLC of Harrison City. A sign on the outside of the building said it is available for lease. Fire Chief Bill Frye said an inspection was conducted there Tuesday in anticipation of a new occupant.