Serenading shoppers at St. Vincent De Paul’s new thrift shop in Boardman are, from left, Joe McKim, Linda Smrek and Rick Smrek. McKim is the musical director at St. Luke’s Parish in Boardman and Rick Smrek is a professional violinist with the Youngstown Symphony. Correspondent photo / Russell Brickey
BOARDMAN — Several hundred shoppers and supporters of St. Vincent De Paul Society gathered outside its new location to hear an invocation right before the store opened its doors for its grand opening.
The blessing came from Youngstown Bishop David Bonnar.
“We happen to live in a part of the world where there are many people with great needs. This new SVDP store is an answer to their prayers,” Bonnar said. “Thanks to the efforts of this community and the parishes within it, this store will be a lighthouse of hope for those who find themselves in deep and at times desolate waters of need.”
The ceremony included a reading from Saint Paul from the Bible, short speeches and a blessing from Bonnar who anointed the doorway with holy water.
The new location for the shop is located in the strip mall at 7392 Market Street in Boardman, across from the Southern Park Mall.
When the doors opened, the store immediately filled with enthusiastic shoppers. Lines formed at the cash registers and thrift store employees hustled to help shoppers load furniture purchases into their cars.
Alan Ricks, executive director of SVDP Mahoning district council, was on hand to talk to well-wishers and the media. SVDP raised $184,000 through donations from local Catholic parishes during a capital campaign to pay for the store, he said.
The Society initially opened a similar thrift store in Youngstown. It performed well financially, “But a thrift store really is a retail operation, and what better retail environment than across from Southern Park Mall and being in a shopping center?” Ricks said. “Not only that but the way (the building) is structured with the high ceilings is more of a welcoming effect.”
Planning for the new store took a year and a half, according to Gary Winslow, the store’s manager. SVDP took over its current space in November and embarked on a series of donation drives and pickups that took in household decorations, books, DVDs, clothing, furniture, toys, kitchenware and even flatscreen TVs.
“Virtually everything that you see within this store, with the exception of the new mattresses, is donated,” Winslow said.
Local contractors performed considerable construction and refurbishment on the 17,000-square-foot interior. Tall display windows at the front let in a great deal of light to the newly painted space, and the store is filled with donated items.
All profits from the store will go to support local SVDP charities, Winslow said.
“This store is built to support St. Vincent DePaul’s downtown kitchen and also our downtown pantry,” he said. The SVDP kitchen sits in the basem*nt of St. Cyril and Methodius Church on East Wood Street and provides up to 1,500 hot meals a week to those in need, according to SVDP online.
The all-volunteer food pantry is found in the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Via Mount Carmel Avenue and distributes donated food to the hungry, also free of charge.
The new thrift store fulfills the same mission for the other necessities of life, Winslow said.
“It gives us the opportunity to offer all the other needs that people have,” he said, “in the way of furniture and clothing and those kinds of things that are available at a very inexpensive price.” The store also offers vouchers for those who do not have money, Winslow said.
“Mostly Catholic but other good Christian people, and I imagine all denominations and faiths, have been involved,” Winslow said. “They know the good work that we do and a lot of good people from a lot of walks of life have donated to us.”
There is also the other side of thrift store shopping that brings patrons in.
Daccine Benson of Youngstown, who calls herself an “original north-sider, converted west-sider,” comes for the fun of discovery.
“We love ‘thrifting,'” Benson said.
What does she look for?
“Anything that catches our eye, anything that’s fun, that’s different,” she said.
Her children accompany her on these missions which are a family tradition. Her daughter loves to shop for hidden gems among the dresses and her son hunts vintage toys.
“My mother always thrifted and we always went with her as little kids,” Benson said, “and it was always a fun thing.”
While finding a great deal or a new treasure is exciting for the family, supporting the SVDP is the real thrill.
“The cause it great,” she said. “That’s the important thing.”
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