In The News

Salvation Army store to open in West Chester

October 9, 2012  |  Salvation Army

Business Courier by Jon Newberry, Staff Reporter

The Salvation Army acquired a former Sears Hardware store in West Chester and plans to open its third family thrift store in the area, at Interstate 75 and Tylersville Road. More stores could be on the way.

The West Chester property needs some cosmetic improvements but should open in November, said Major Nancy Beauchamp, administrator of the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center in Norwood.

The nonprofit group bought the 21,400-square-foot building on 2.4 acres for $1.7 million last month. It’s next to a Lowe’s home improvement store.

Proceeds from thrift store sales support the rehab center, which has beds for 150 men who are “trying to get back on track and redeem their lives. The hope is that they become givers (in the community) rather than takers,” Beauchamp said.

None of the money that is put in the Salvation Army’s red kettles – a holiday tradition that kicks off in mid-November – goes to the rehab center, she said. All of those funds go directly back to the communities where it’s donated, she said.

“The only way we raise funds for this program is through the thrift stores and donations of clothes,” she said. The funds to purchase the thrift store came from the Salvation Army’s territory headquarters in New York, which will be paid back over time, Beauchamp said. It’s an investment in the community, she said.

Beauchamp said it took her two years to find the West Chester store and that she’s looking for other sites in Delhi Township and elsewhere.