DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040660

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   56 lines

OUTREACH CENTER PACKS UP BEACH THRIFT STORE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN OUTREACH HAS TO SEEK A NEW PLACE AFTER THE LEASE WAS NOT RENEWED.

Faced with eviction and an uncertain future, employees of the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center began to pack up their thrift store Thursday.

The Shelter Thrift store, located in a Be-Lo shopping center on Virginia Beach Boulevard and Birdneck Road, is where the poor and homeless shop for used clothing, furniture and household accessories at deeply discounted prices.

In late February, center officials learned their lease would not be renewed. They were ordered to vacate the premises by March 31 to make way for an auto parts store that promises to pay more in rent than the center. The shelter pays about $2,200 a month.

The thrift store missed the March 31 deadline, prompting the real estate company that manages the property, Pavilion Realty Co., to ask the General District Court to grant a summons ordering the center to leave the building.

``Rather than go to court and fight it, we'll take everything out and put it in a warehouse on South Street in Portsmouth and start looking in earnest for a new place,'' said Richard Powell, executive director of the outreach center.

While some of the store's contents will be placed in storage, much of it will be sold either to customers or to an out-of-state used-clothing broker for reuse in Third World countries.

For five years, the Shelter Thrift has been one of the Oceanfront's best sources of used clothing. But this weekend the deals will be even better.

``Used pants that normally sell for $2 are now marked down to 50 cents, as are shirts, which normally sell for $1,'' said Bobbi Powell, Richard Powell's wife, who was once homeless herself and now helps run the store. Old magazines are a penny and books are 5 cents. A bag of toys will sell for 50 cents while dresses will cost 50 cents, down from the customary $2 to $5 range.

Apart from losing a store that helps generate income for the shelter, the store was also a place for the homeless and near-homeless to earn credits that would allow them to sit at the shelter's dinner table or take a shower.

``A lot of our customers are upset about this,'' Bobbi Powell said. ``Many of them live within walking distance. We have some kids from the neighborhood who have come in here to work for a shirt they can wear to school and some of the homeless who live in the woods around here come in to volunteer, get credit, and then take a shower and eat a meal at the shelter.''

The store has nine paid employees, all but one of whom were once homeless. There are also volunteers who work there.

Richard Powell said negotiations with other landlords have not been fruitful and it remains uncertain where a new store could be set up.

``We'll be out Monday,'' Powell said. ``We'll work all night to move if we have to.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CHARLIE MEADS/The Virginian-Pilot

The Shelter Thrift store in Virginia Beach is moving. Below,

assistant manager Bobbi Powell packs.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu