St. Vincent de Paul aims to redefine
second-hand shopping
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 18, 2006
Westland The word "thrift store" doesn't typically conjure images of spacious aisles, clean floors, ample lighting and friendly customer service.
But that might change if the Society of St. Vincent de Paul continues to spread its concept of the "big box" thrift store that, in the last 18 months, has proven wildly popular.
The society, which has 166 active chapters in the Archdiocese of Detroit, opened its third large-scale thrift store last weekend in Westland. The store aims to give customers a broad selection of new and used merchandise while helping the society assist 30,000 households in the Detroit area.
"I love it," said Westland resident Loraine Lockhart, who was with her daughter Syndey and sister Angela at the store's grand opening Aug. 12. "Everything is nice and neat. A lot of (thrift stores) are trashed, but this is a nice one. ... I live just down the street, so we will be regular customers here."
The Westland store is on Wayne Road near Ford Road. About 120 people lined up outside for the store's grand opening. Dozens more filtered in within the first hour the store was open.
The other two large St. Vincent de Paul stores are in Waterford Township and Clinton Township.
Ray Minton, vice president of thrift store operations for St. Vincent de Paul Society, has been trying to redefine the thrift store experience over the last three years. A former executive of Kmart Corp., Minton saw no reason thrift stores couldn't move into bigger facilities from 20,000 to 38,000 square feet have better lighting, and offer ample parking to customers.
They could be just as nice as big-name retailers, he said.
"The whole idea is to take as much of the ambiance, and of the cleanliness, that is in a discount store or a department store and build it in," Minton said. "We are on the edge of a new retail, resale concept."
 Society big box stores
Clinton Township, 35603 Gratiot Ave., north of Fifteen Mile Road.(586) 792-3500.
Waterford, 2235 Elizabeth Lake Road, just west of Telegraph Road. (248) 681-6760.
Westland, 6613 Wayne Road, near intersection with Ford Road.(734) 729-3088. | Minton has put in place several cost-saving measures to make sure the concept can work. The stores that the society leases have been outgrown by larger retailers the Clinton Township store, for example, is a former Best Buy and come at low lease rates. The lighting and fixtures are often gleaned from other stores that have gone out of business.
And to keep a good selection of both new and gently-used, donated items, St. Vincent de Paul purchases clothing and furniture from factory closeouts, and even offers a wide array of dollar store merchandise.
The result is a thrift store with the feeling of major retailer.
"It's very nice," said Westland resident Betty Wood while shopping for furniture at the Westland store. "Everything is displayed very well, and you're not crawling over everything."
Joe Martoia, a parishioner at St. Theodore Parish in Westland, said he liked the selection.
"It's real nice because it's new," he said, "and it seems like it's got quite a bit of stuff."
And, of course, there are the traditional thrift store antique hunters such as Grace Janas of Garden City.
"I like buying collectible things that you cannot find in regular stores," she said, while holding a small antique jewelry box. "These are things that come from people who pass away, or who move and don't need them any more. You can only find them in charity stores or thrift stores."
Before its opening, the Westland store was blessed on Aug. 10 by Detroit Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn and Msgr. Charles Kosanke. The biggest thrift store in Wayne County, St. Vincent de Paul officials said if it is as successful as the other two big box stores will draw about 300 customers per day.
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