Salvation Army consolidates Springfield thrift stores

Photo provided by Salvation Army-Springfield

The Chestnut Expressway shop will be used for storage and likely sold in the future.

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The Springfield chapter of The Salvation Army consolidated its thrift shop operations into one store.

The nonprofit’s 5,095-square-foot store at 2944 W. Chestnut Expressway closed Sept. 30, consolidating with the 18,606-square-foot center at 1737 S. Campbell Ave., said Salvation Army-Springfield Development Director Mandy Long.

Maj. Butch Frost, who recently took the helm of the local chapter, said the Chestnut store wasn’t feasible.

“We accept donations at the Chestnut store but we have to pick them up, take them to the Campbell store, sort them, price them and then take them back,” he said. “We don’t have the space at Chestnut to do those things.”

Frost said the Chestnut building will be used for storage purposes, and the nonprofit is considering selling it in three to five years.

Long said two employees who staffed the Chestnut store relocated to the Campbell shop, where 21 full- and part-time workers cover shifts.

“No employees are being affected by the change,” she said.

With a 2017 operating budget of roughly $3 million, Salvation Army-Springfield ranked ninth on Springfield Business Journal’s list this year of the area’s largest nonprofits.