By Kirk Starratt
The Salvation Army will close its Kentville thrift store this spring.
Major Ross Grandy said the decision was made after a financial review for the past several years illustrated the store wasn’t bringing in enough money to sustain it.
“We’re not in the business to compete,” Grandy said. “It was to fulfill a need, not compete. We just want to make sure people are looked after.”
If the need can be met somewhere else, he said, it frees up resources for the Salvation Army to help people in other ways. The thrift store had to deal with high overhead, a loss of customers with retail businesses moving out of Kentville, the number of other second-hand stores in the area and free clothing giveaways.
Grandy said officials haven’t ruled out establishing a smaller shop with lower overhead costs in the future but the Main Street location will close when the lease is up at the end of May.
Any profit from the thrift store operations goes to the Salvation Army’s family services fund to help people in need. However, Grandy said the store has been losing money and they have had to take funds from the church to keep it open.
Although it was a difficult decision, he said, the reality is the local branch will be in a better position to help people without operating the store.
Store manager Maxine Bezanson said the closure is sad, for regular customers and the generous people who donate items.
“There are steady clients here every day of the week,” she said. “They’re going to miss it.”
Bezanson said it would have sales beginning in January to try to clear as much merchandise as possible, but will continue taking in as many donations as they can until the store closes.
Currently the only full-time paid employee, Bezanson went to work managing the store after retiring from her job with the phone company almost 15 years ago. The thrift store has been in its current location for about 17 years and had previously been located in back of the former Canadian Tire.
Bezanson said they had a great landlord in building owner Shawn Penney and she hopes he’ll be able to find someone else to take over the space.
Penney said the Salvation Army has been a great tenant and the thrift store is good for the community, too.
He plans to work with a marketing company to find a new tenant to lease the 3,400 square-foot commercial space, which will be available the first of June.
