A little more than a year after opening, the Impact Thrift Store in Bristol Borough will be closing its doors.
At the end of the day Saturday, the Bristol store – located in the Commerce Circle shopping center – will close as the nonprofit chain consolidates from five locations to three larger locations. The store along Street Road in Lower Southampton will remain open. In addition, the Hatboro, Montgomery County store will close, according to CEO Gary Wirth.
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The organization said the Bristol and Hatboro stores are under an agreement of sale with an unnamed private company. However, the new owner and a reopening date was not released.
The 15 people employed between the Bristol and Hatboro store have been offered positions with the new retailer taking over the spaces.
The Bristol Impact Thrift Store was billed a “fashion outlet” when the 10,000-square-foot space opened in late 2015.
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In a statement, the organization, which donates proceeds to local charity groups, said it will keep open the larger stores that sell items including furniture. The larger items were hard to fit into the Bristol location.
Impact Thrift Stores is also focusing their efforts on e-commerce and has redesigned their website.
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“With an increasingly competitive retail environment, compounded by the surge of online sellers, Impact Thrift has been experiencing lower than projected sales trends. In response to these trends, we have made many adjustments to improve sales and reduce costs. However, despite our best efforts, it was evident that more significant actions were needed in order to preserve our mission and continue to serve our community,” a letter to customers reads.
