St. Vincent De Paul reveals renovations

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - If you’re shopping at St. Vincent De Paul on Presque Isle Avenue in Marquette, you’ll notice some improvements.

In October, the thrift store closed for a month to renovate floors, lights, and dressing rooms. The store reopened in November.

“We’ve been open now in this format for about six months,” said St. Vincent De Paul Committee Chairperson Dan Trotochaud.

But it wasn’t just physical renovations, the store also streamlined their donation to shelf process.

“We process all of the product that comes in and, by the color of the tag, it is discounted and discounted and then it’s recycled after a certain period of time,” Trotochaud said. “So, you’re not going to find things here, on our sales floor, that have been sitting here for six, eight months, or a year.”

Trotochaud also said it had been more than 20 years since the store received any renovations.

Store manager Abbie Ferguson said customers have been pleasantly surprised by all the changes.

“They walk in, and they pause, and they go: ‘Oh gosh,’” Ferguson recalled. “Then they get excited and come and look around and come back and say, ‘I need a cart, I’m finding all these things.’”

Ferguson also said this increased traffic will allow St. Vincent De Paul to give more back to the community.

“None of the money that Vinny’s makes leaves Vinny’s,” Ferguson said. “It all stays in our community.”

But this is just the first phase of a multi-phase project.

Marquette District President Karen Reese said this project was started out of worry for the wellbeing of volunteers.

“A group of us got together and said we would like to do a revitalization of St. Vincent De Paul in the Marquette area,” Reese said. “That was driven by our concern about the old part of the building, that it wasn’t safe, or healthy, or comfortable.”

Reese also said the next step is to demolish the old part of the building.

She expects fundraising to begin early this fall.

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