Mission Mart now open to 8 p.m. Mon.-Sat.

[July 05, 2012]  BLOOMINGTON -- Home Sweet Home Ministries has extended the hours for both of its Mission Mart stores. Starting this week, the Mission Mart thrift stores in Lincoln and Bloomington are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. This is an additional two hours of operation each day.

Home Sweet Home Ministries is also expanding with a new 70-foot donation center at its warehouse, 1700 W. Washington in Bloomington. The new donation center opened its doors to welcome its first donors on Monday.

Sabrina Burkiewicz, ministry spokeswoman who also oversees the operation of the stores and warehouse, says the announcement is part of a larger plan to expand Home Sweet Home's reach into the community.

"Our business has been growing, and the purchase of our new warehouse last summer helped us capitalize on that growth," she explained. "We are able to support longer operating hours at our stores, and our customers have told us this is what they want."

Burkiewicz says the new donation center will save time and money.

"Our current donation drop-off is small and cramped with not a lot of room for traffic. On average we see 100 donors per day. Our new drop-off center, only one mile from the current one, is a huge shed with lots of parking. It's going to be much easier and convenient for our donors to use," she said.

The new, larger donation drop-off center will allow the ministry to receive more donations, which will help support growth of both Mission Mart thrift stores. Burkiewicz says there is more to come.

"As customers get used to our new hours at the store, and donors get used to our new location, we're going to be adding more technology at the store level to allow for faster checkouts, and we're also studying how to place some attended donation centers at strategic locations within the city to make it even easier for donors to drop off gently used clothing and household goods," she said.

Burkiewicz said the retail operations side of Home Sweet Home had a successful fiscal year, which has helped position them for growth. She said that in March, ministry officials visited a similar ministry in Syracuse, N.Y., that runs 10 large thrift stores. That organization provided mentoring and guidance to the Home Sweet Home team, which led to these changes.

"We definitely want to be the first and best choice for everyone in our community who wants to donate clothes and household goods. We also want people to know when they donate with us, their donation remains local by benefiting local people, helping the local homeless population and by providing jobs and training for local people," Burkiewicz said.

For more information about donating to Home Sweet Home, visit www.hshministries.org or www.missionmart.org, or visit the Mission Mart thrift store at 616 Broadway on the square in Lincoln or the store at 303 E. Oakland Ave. in Bloomington.

Mission Mart in Bloomington and Lincoln is owned and operated by Home Sweet Home Ministries, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, interdenominational Christian organization serving homeless and low-income individuals and families in Bloomington through a variety of programs. Home Sweet Home provides numerous services 24 hours daily, 365 days a year.

[Text from file received from Home Sweet Home Ministries]