Long Beach : Salvation Army Constructs New 2-Story Thrift Store

The Salvation Army has begun construction on a 58,025-square-foot thrift store and therapy unit in Long Beach to replace a similar building at the same site that was destroyed by fire three years ago.

“It’s been hurting us,” Bob Volanos, general supervisor, said of the 1987 fire at 1370 Alamitos Ave. “This will give us an opportunity to expand.”

The new two-story facility--to be built at a cost of about $2.5 million--will house the thrift store and a therapy unit in which Salvation Army volunteers and personnel will rehabilitate various items donated for sale.

For the past three years, Volanos said, the agency has been occupying cramped temporary quarters next door to the site of the old building, which served as area headquarters for more than 30 years.

After completion of the new building, a process expected to take eight to 10 months, Volanos said, the temporary quarters will be remodeled to accommodate beds for 115 men. The shelter’s current capacity, the supervisor said, is only 75.