Thrift store expands to Orchards

The St. Vincent de Paul Store, a thrift store that opened at Clarkston in the early 1960s, has expanded to a large, airy building in Lewiston Orchards.

The second St. Vincent de Paul Store is in the building most recently occupied by Wolf’s Rexall Drugs, at the top of the Fifth Street grade.

Half of the 8,000-square-foot building has been converted to a showroom, with nearly 40 racks of clothing on one side, dozens of brand new mattresses leaning against the wall on the other side, and shelves of shoes, toys, books and knick knacks in between.

The clothing is used, but newly-cleaned, little-worn and attractively displayed. The average cost is less than a quarter of the cost in a department store; most of the price tags are under $5.

St. Vincent de Paul Director Jerry M. McConnell said the decision to open a second store was made because of the excellent retail location, and because there weren’t any other thrift stores in the Orchards.

But the Goodwill Industries store in North Lewiston may relocate next door to the new St. Vincent de Paul Store.

McConnell said he’s trying to set a standard with the new Lewiston thrift outlet. He’s a stickler for cleanliness and quality. “There’s a sense of dignity about it,’’ McConnell explained.’’Quality at a savings, that’s what we’re offering.’’

He also wanted to create an open, well-lighted shopping environment. “I don’t believe because you’re low-income you have to go to dark, dull, dingy places.’’

McConnell said he hopes the store will draw customers from all income levels who are looking for savings. “They will be creating charitable dollars as a spinoff’’ of that savings, he pointed out.

“By tradition, people feel (a thrift store) is only for poor people. But we can’t help poor people if only low-income people buy here. They don’t have the purchasing power,’’ McConnell explained. “We need people who really want to be savers.’’

He noted the store offers a selection of work clothes, priced for big savings.

With the exception of the mattresses, all of the clothes and other items displayed at the thrift store are donations. McConnell said the mattresses are purchased new, because used mattresses aren’t easily cleaned and “springs with 10 to 20 years of fatigue in them, I’m not providing something of value.’’

McConnell said the profits from the two St. Vincent de Paul stores go back into the stores or are put in a charitable fund for services to low-income families.

He said the St. Vincent de Paul social services office at Clarkston provides about $1,000 worth of mattresses and bed springs per month to needy families. “We have a waiting list for beds that stretches into April,’’ he said.

The stores provide a source of money for charitable work, jobs and a sheltered workshop for disabled workers, McConnell said. The stores employ six full-and three part-time workers, plus 18 volunteers who work from two to 16 hours a week.

The new store added another three positions, he said.

Items still are washed and repaired at Clarkston, but clothes are sorted and bundled in a large work area in the new store. Donations can be accepted at either location.

McConnell stressed that none of the clothing is thrown away. Clothing that is stained, ripped or heavily worn is bundled and taken by the semi-trailer load to the coast.

Some of the clothing goes to Third World nations, some to street people in urban areas and some to making rags. Ironically, some of the rags are used to make the kind of paper that is made into money, he said.

This story was published in the Feb. 11, 1990, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.