New Salvation Army thrift store opens in Eagle River

EAGLE RIVER — The doors have already opened at the new Salvation Army Thrift Store located at 12001 Business Blvd. Unit No. 3, near the Alaska Club in Eagle River. The grand opening will be May 12. There will be door prizes and special deals, such as pants and sweaters going for a dollar each. After years of absence, the return of the Salvation Army seems to be welcome in the community. According to Major Paul Chouinard of the Salvation Army, the locals are excited to welcome the new store.

“We’re very hopeful that the store will do good,” Chouinard said. “We’ve got a lot of phone calls and people have been supportive of us re-opening.”

After two years of construction, the signature red shield has made its reappearance in Eagle River to a ready welcoming committee. Double the size of the old store at 24,000 square feet, the new Salvation Army store is among the biggest in the state. Chouinard said the selection is large and is overall a nice looking store, adding it will be one of the nicest thrift stores in Alaska.

“It is a nice store, we’ve invested a lot of time and effort to make it a nice store,” Chouinard said.

As with all thrift stores, what is brought in is what shoppers will see on the shelf. The selection and circulation is driven by community donations, which, according to Chouinard, are crucial to supporting their treatment programs. Proceeds from the Anchorage area Salvation Army stores go toward the Adult Rehabilitation Center, (ARC) a 60-bed, residential drug and alcohol treatment program. Meals are provided along with support services like individual counseling, group therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous integration.

Chouinard reminded everyone to donate their unused items, as it funds their support for those seeking help for addiction. If you need to have furniture, large items or even boxes and so on picked up, you can call and have a Salvation Army truck pick up donations for you. Spanning an area from Girdwood to Wasilla, residents can call and find out if trucks will travel to their area. The circulation of goods and purchases fund the efforts of the Salvation Army thrift stores. The supply feeds the ever-growing demand for those in need.

“I need people to donate to us and we make house calls and we need people to shop in our stores,” Chouinard said.

For information on the home pick-up service , call 1-800-728-7825. Anyone seeking more information about the ARC program can call 907-562-5408.