Local non-profit forms to take over local store should it close in the future

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

One of Henning’s busiest downtown retail spaces will remain open, despite the recent announcement that the Fergus Falls Salvation Army Thrift Store will be closing this spring.

According to Lt. Joshua Bowyer, the Henning Salvation Army store will remain open and the Salvation Army does not have any current plans to close the facility. The store has been in the downtown Henning area for approximately 25 years. 

Bowyer said the Henning store continues to be supported by the community and has not faced the same financial challenges of the Fergus Falls thrift store. In fact, Bowyer said once the Fergus Falls store is officially closed, representatives from the Salvation Army may even have more time to work with the local board that helps to operate the Henning Salvation Army Thrift Store. 

“We’ve heard from the community that they want it to stay that way so we are going to with that and listen to them,” said Bowyer, who reiterated there are no plans to close the Henning store at this time.

After losing money for a number of years, closing the Fergus Falls store will allow the Salvation Army to focus its resources and enhance other services in the Otter Tail County area.

“Our team has worked tirelessly to explore various avenues to sustain the store’s operations,” said Bowyer about the Fergus Falls store. “However, the economic impact of greater thrift shop competition has made it difficult to maintain viability.”

While the thrift store in Fergus Falls in closing, all of the other services that the Salvation Army operates in the region will continue into the future. Basically the only change is the closure of the Fergus Falls thrift store. 

Over the years, community support has helped to keep the Henning Salvation Army thrift store open, despite several attempts by the Salvation Army to close the store. The most recent attempt was in 2022, which was about three years after a similar attempt to close the store by the Fergus Falls-based Salvation Army also was turned back by community support.

Despite Bowyer’s assertion that the Henning store will remain open, a group of Henning residents have begun the planning process of starting a non-profit that could eventually operate a thrift store should the Salvation Army close the store in the future.

Dan Broten, who is also on an advisory board for the Salvation Army, said the closure of the Fergus Falls store had been discussed for quite some time. He said a few representatives from the Salvation Army have even discussed donating the Henning thrift store to a locally operated non-profit in Henning, after hearing from concerns about what a closure to the Henning store would mean to the community.

“There has been a lot of us pleading with them to keep it open,” said Broten. 

While Fergus Falls has several thrift stores already in the community, Broten said the Henning store is the only one of its kind in the area.

“Here it is the only one and it does serve our community,” he said. 

While there has been no official plan to close the Henning store, and Bowyer maintained the Henning store will remain open, Broten said a group of residents have begun the process of starting a non-profit that could take over the Henning store should the Salvation Army change course down the road.

Broten said the group has settled on the name Henning Community Thrift Store and would be ready to take over the facility should the need arise in the future.

“The idea is to get the area churches involved. They could maybe provide a volunteer or two per week,” he said. “We could maybe be open more and if it is a Henning store all of the money would stay in Henning.”

When the idea of turning over the Henning store to a local non-profit was first discussed with representatives from the Salvation Army, should they ever decide to close the Henning store, Broten said the Salvation Army seemed open to the idea.

“They seem to be open to a transition for something like this, just to continue the service (in Henning),” he said. “We requested them not to flat out close the place, because it really does serve our community and fills a need in our community.”

The Henning Salvation Army has been in the community for approximately 25 years. The store originally opened after Alfred “Bud” Johnson, of Henning, left more than $350,000 of his estate to the Fergus Falls Salvation Army in 1998. Johnson served in Africa and Europe during World War II and left the money to the Fergus Falls organization in appreciation of the services the Salvation Army provided for himself and his fellow troops. The money will be used to help purchase a new building for the Salvation Army at its future site on Vernon Avenue.

In addition to the Fergus Falls store, the Salvation Army opened a small thrift store located next to First National Bank in Henning and later next to the Citizen’s Advocate and Scotty’s Upholstery in downtown Henning.