Business & Tech

New Thrift Store Opens in Ballwin, Benefits Disabled American Veterans

Red Racks quietly opened on Halloween and has a preview event today with its grand opening on Friday.

A new thrift store has opened in Ballwin, joining the list with two others in the nearby vicinity. Red Racks, a store owned and operated by the Disabled American Veterans, opened on Halloween in the former location location of a Sears hardware store at 15425 Manchester Road.

The store stocks everything from shoes and clothes to furniture, kitchenware and electronics. The merchandise is all donated. Sales cover the cost of doing business, and proceeds beyond that go to the Disabled American Veterans.

Added bonus: Because the purchases are for charity, buyers pay no sales tax.

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"It's the first time they've done something of this magnitude in this demographic," said Ryan Nabard, manager of the new store with 19,000 square feet of sales floor. He said DAV has high hopes for the location because the surrounding area tends to be more affluent than the usual location for Red Racks store. "Most stores you dn't seen Audi every other car or a BMW every other car."

The store opened about three weeks behind schedule because of some regulatory issues to address with the city of Ballwin, Nabard said.

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Today, the store launches its grand opening with a preview sale starting at 6 p.m., 50 percent off selected clothing, and a grand opening event all day on Friday and Saturday, with DAV officials in town to officially open the store.

Nabard also opened a store Red Racks store in Affton on Gravois Road in the spring.

Red RacksΒ was formerly known as the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store and is operated by the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) chapter in Kansas City, where it runs several other stores. The Ballwin location will is the second in the St. Louis area.

Nabard said 90 percent of what is not sold is later recycled, which also generates revenue for the organization.

The store will arrange pick-ups for merchandise, or has drop-off locations at the Red Racks store itself, or a drop-off center in Ellisville, on Clarkson Road, just north of Manchester Road.

Red Racks is not far from a Bethesda Thrift ShopΒ on Manchester Road in Ballwin; at Clayton and Clarkson, a Savers store recently opened as well.


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