Thrift Shop Renovation Project

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This project has ended

MIYFS Thrift Shop Building

The City of Mercer Island is seeking input from the community on the Thrift Shop Renovation Project and specifically on alternative locations for donations processing. The potential Thrift Shop Renovation Project includes expanding retail floor space at the current Thrift Shop (7710 SE 34th Street) and proposes to relocate donation processing to a secondary site.

Background

Since 1970, proceeds from the Mercer Island Thrift Shop have been used to support services provided by the City of Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (YFS) Department.

The Thrift Shop temporarily closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and has recently

The City of Mercer Island is seeking input from the community on the Thrift Shop Renovation Project and specifically on alternative locations for donations processing. The potential Thrift Shop Renovation Project includes expanding retail floor space at the current Thrift Shop (7710 SE 34th Street) and proposes to relocate donation processing to a secondary site.

Background

Since 1970, proceeds from the Mercer Island Thrift Shop have been used to support services provided by the City of Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (YFS) Department.

The Thrift Shop temporarily closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and has recently re-opened for sales on Sundays only. Donation receiving and processing resumed in the fall of 2020 on Saturdays only and was relocated to the Mercer Island Community and Event Center (MICEC) to accommodate Pandemic-related operating restrictions.

The existing Thrift Shop does not have the capacity to "hold" donations for a minimum of 48-hours before the items are sanitized and moved to the sales floor. MICEC will continue to host Thrift Shop donation processing until recreation programs and services resume, tentatively anticipated for the summer of 2020.

Expanding Retail by Moving Donations Processing to a Second Location

The ongoing operating limitations at the Thrift Shop presented a unique and timely opportunity to consider a potential capital improvement project at the facility.

In the summer of 2020 the City Council directed the staff to explore a potential remodel of the Thrift Shop to expand the retail floor space. The expansion of the retail floor space requires donation receiving and processing to move to a secondary location.

The City owned former Recycling Center (3205 77th Ave SE), currently used for storage and park restrooms, is within walking distance of the Thrift Shop and was identified as a possible site to house Thrift Shop donation receiving and processing.

Click here for more information on the initial work performed by the architect.

In November 2020 the City Council paused work on the project to request community feedback and to solicit ideas for alternative donation processing sites.

How To Provide Feedback And Location Ideas

At its meeting on Feb 2, 2021, the City Council voted to suspend this project.

Feedback is no longer being gathered.


This project has ended

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    I'm confused. I'm seeing lots of "don't touch Mercerdale Park" comments (which I wholeheartedly agree with) but I'm not seeing anywhere in the proposals that Mercerdale Park would be impacted (other than extra traffic in the area of the recycling center). Am I missing something w/ the proposals where part of Mercerdale would be co-opted for this project? P.S. I don't see a FAQ page so, if this was already answered, my apologies. Maybe link to the FAQ page where it says "Please see the FAQ page" on the Ask A Question page.

    Michelle Williams asked over 3 years ago

    Hi Michelle,

    We don't have an FAQ page up, but there should have been a note under the FAQ section that let people know we're planning on assembling it if we get recurring questions.  As you noted, we have a lot of frequent comments.

    One of the goals of the study was to limit the footprint of the processing center to the existing paved footprint of the recycling center site. As you found in the materials, this is what was presented to Council. No further physical encroachment or development in the park has been considered.

    -Gareth