VENTURA : Salvation Army to Close Thrift Store

The Salvation Army will close its downtown Ventura thrift store Saturday after 16 years of business because of increased competition from other thrift stores and the limited amount of space, administrator Daniel Starrett said.

The store at 64 S. Oak St. has 2,600 square feet of space, and the organization no longer opens stores under 8,000 square feet, Starrett said. “We don’t think that in a 2,600-foot store we can offer the variety of supplies to our customer,” he said.

Competition from about 30 other thrift stores in Ventura is another reason for the closure, Starrett said. “It just isn’t worth it to compete when we are so small,” he said.

Clothing, books, dishes and other household items will be marked down for clearance Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Antiques and collector’s items will not be marked down, and the remaining merchandise will be sent to the Salvation Army’s other Ventura store, at 4100 Telegraph Road, Starrett said.

The Telegraph Road store, which has 12,000 square feet of space, opened three years ago and has been much more successful than the Oak Street store, Starrett said.

The Oak Street store has one part-time and two full-time employees. One of the full-time employees will be transferred to the Telegraph Road location, Starrett said. The other two, who have worked at the store for less than 90 days, will lose their jobs, he said.

The owner of the building, the Smith-Hobson Co., has received several calls from organizations interested in renting the space, Manager Greg Smith said.