Charitable Thrift Store Adjusting to New Location

Moving is never easy, as anyone who’s ever had to transfer even an apartment's worth of furniture can attest to. 

So you can imagine how taxing it must have been to uproot an 18,000-square-foot store packed with goods and move everything to a much smaller facility miles away. 

That’s exactly the task Steven Girardi, manager of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, was faced with when the shop recently relocated from downtown Clearwater to U.S. Highway 19 North. 

“You know it’s going to be bad, but until you start doing it, you don’t realize how bad,” Girardi recalls with a wry smile.

“It was just a nightmare.” 

The store, which had been at 1015 Cleveland St. for more than 15 years, works with local churches to help provide clothes and furniture for people who need them. It also sells its donated items at a reduced price to the public. 

After realizing the old building was in desperate need of repair and the was going to severely curtail traffic in the area, Girardi and members of St. Vincent de Paul’s council decided a move was necessary. 

Following a brief bidding process, the City of Clearwater made them an offer for the property that was agreeable to all parties, and the relocation process began in February. 

“We wanted to stay closer to downtown, but the buildings in the area were in worse shape than ours,” Girardi said. 

“But we found this place, which had been closed for four years ... and realized it was within three miles of seven of the churches that make up the council.” 

Six frantic weeks later, the new store opened in the former home of ABC Liquors on U.S. 19, and Girardi and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul could get back to what they do best — helping people. 

“The store doesn’t make much money. Basically we sell stuff to give stuff away," he said.

"But the stuff we sell allows us to stay in business, so to be closed for that period of time was tough."

With a nice new home, plenty of donations coming in and new customers finding out about the place every day, Girardi is confident the store will succeed at its new location. 

And it better, because he definitely doesn’t plan on moving again any time soon. 

“We’re starting to settle in now and get a little momentum going. I feel like this is a place we can stay for a long time.”

Society of St. Vincent dePaul Thrift Store

Address: 23399 U.S. Hwy 19 N.

Phone: 727-442-5306

Hours: Mon - Fri, 10am - 5pm; Sat, 9am - 4:30pm; Sun, closed