ROGERS -- Yvonne Hulet noticed some major changes while she was browsing at the Samaritan Shop last week.
"It looks nice and clean," Hulet said as she looked around aisles lit by windows on two sides. "It's brighter, you can see everything better."
Samaritan Shops in Northwest Arkansas
• Rogers: 2115 W. Walnut St.
• Springdale: 2300 W. Sunset Ave.
Both are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and accept donations from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Source: Staff report
Hulet drops into the thrift store on occasion to look for home decorations whenever she makes it into town. She had to go to a different location to look for the furnishings this trip.
The shop moved from Frisco Station Mall to a storefront at 2115 W. Walnut St., within walking distance of the mall. Shop managers hope the new spot will boost business.
The Samaritan Shop was a mall anchor for about five years. It had a prominent spot close to the road. The nonprofit group's directors received a surprise when the organization was notified in September its lease was nearly up.
"We were told that we'd be on the back side of the mall" if the lease was renewed, said Debbie Rambo, executive director of Samaritan Community Center. "They wanted a national tenant in our location, and we never really were at peace with that. It was going to be a loss, people wouldn't know that we were still around."
Frisco Station Mall is a one-level, 242,535-square-foot shopping center with more than 20 stores, according to the Visit Rogers website. RG Real Estate took control of mall management when it was sold in May 2016. Reggie Greer of RG Real Estate wouldn't release any names of retailers they hope to attract in the space and said the company has no comment on the matter.
"We weren't willing to lose our storefront," said Mary Mann, director of development and communication for the center. "It was a prime location, and we tried to negotiate for it."
The Rogers shop is one of two Samaritan Shops; the other is in Springdale.
Resale is one of the fastest-growing segments of retail, according to the National Association of Resale Professionals. The group estimates there are more than 25,000 resale, consignment and not-for-profit resale shops in the United States.
Proceeds from Samaritan Shops support the Samaritan Community Center feeding programs. The shops provide nearly $1.5 million annually, or roughly one-third of the center's operating budget, Mann said.
The shops also give away more than $250,000 annually in clothing and household goods to individuals and families in need, according to a Samaritan Community Center news release.
Mall management allowed the shop to remain until Samaritan officials found another location that suited them, Rambo said. The building that once housed a Kmart and later Rogers Sports caught her eye. Its store frontage was visible from the road, its proximity to Wal-Mart could be an advantage for traffic and it had 24,000 square feet, the same amount of space as the old shop.
Bryan Hunt, the building's owner, was receptive to renovation ideas and spent the months leading up to the move preparing the place to fit the Samaritan Shop's needs.
"We told him we wanted something visually pleasing, that we didn't want anything elaborate but something clean and bright," Rambo said. The mall space didn't have many windows or much natural light, she said.
Hunt installed a new heating and air system, made the building more energy efficient to help cut shop expenses and had a new sign erected near Walnut Street, Rambo said. Hunt declined to comment on renovation.
"The store is not bigger; it's just designed differently," Mann said. "It has high ceilings and is basically brand new with new floors and was built to suit us. We had the advantage of saying what we wanted in each part and more storage in the back."
The new location has an improved donation drop-0ff location and a garden area to showcase outdoor products. It also retains the "Hog Pen," a section of the store with Razorback items that nods to the Rogers Sports location.
Mann suspects the donation drop-off already has made a difference. People who wanted to donate to the shop while it was in the mall had to compete with a trash container, a compactor and various delivery trucks, since the space was only big enough for one car at a time.
The Samaritan Community Center provides seven programs, including the Samaritan Market Food Pantry, the Samaritan Cafe free lunch program, SnackPacks for Kids, BackPacks for Kids, Samaritan Garden, as well as Samaritan Dental Clinic and the most recently added program Samaritan Kids' Little Libraries.
The West Walnut store opened April 8. More than 50 people were lined up and waiting at the door for its opening, Mann said. Somewhere between 800 and 1,000 people walked through the doors on day one.
"We felt like for the long-term health of the shop, a building faced on Walnut would be a good move for us," Rambo said.
NW News on 04/17/2017