Impact Thrift's Grand Opening Attracts Large Crowd

When opened their Saturday morning, the line was over 600 deep and stretched the length of six stores in the Bucks Crossing Shopping Center.

“The most exciting part of this is the size,” said Jo Greenwalt, director of business development for Impact Thrift Stores, as customer after customer streamed passed her. “This really is a community endeavor.”

With the township’s unemployment rate hovering at just over seven percent, the new Impact location has added about 50 full- and part-time positions, Greenwalt said.

An additional number of the store’s employees transferred from other Impact locations in order to be able to work closer to their homes, according to Greenwalt.

Impact’s new Feasterville store, which is in the old Value City building next to the recently opened , features over 42,000-square-feet of retail space.

“We picked this location for a store because the area had great shoppers, great donors and great visibility,” Greenwalt said.

Before the new store, Impact had 44,000-square-feet of retail space split between its locations in , and .

Even though the Feasterville store is a larger size, Impact’s Feasterville store will still feature many the same items - even the “unique”  ones - that are featured at the three other retail locations, Greenwalt assured Patch.

Impact, which donates all of its profits - about $350,000 a year -  has been wanted to expand its footprint to Bucks County for several years and is now looking at other possible locations in the county for an additional store, Greenwalt said.

Greenwalt encouraged the community to come out and donate unused items by dropping them off at the store. For large items, the store will even come pick them up from your home.

“If the customers don’t donate, we don’t make sales,” said Greenwalt. And if Impact doesn't make sales, charities like nonprofit children’s service group don’t get the funding they need to maintain and further its services.

Bethanna’s new Pediatric Developmental Evaluation Service, which helps children affected by autism, may not have been possible, according to the group's director of development, Bill Maguire.

“Our partnership with Impact has been very successful,” he said. “In this day and age, every dollar counts.”

Impact donates its profits to over 16 local charities and hopes to keep growing in the coming years, Greenwalt said.

The Feasterville store is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.