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Several thrift shops opened in Struthers this past fall
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Vanessa Malailua and Gary Wolf of Life’s Treasures in Struthers have enjoyed multiple repeat customers since opening the thrift shop a little over a month ago.
STRUTHERS
Business is a new thing for Vanessa Malailua and her family. She, her husband and her kids opened Life’s Treasures, a thrift store, in downtown Struthers a little over a month ago.
For years, Malailua has worked as a nursing assistant, but she wanted to try to be her own boss.
“I wanted to work for myself for a change — maybe open a coffee shop,” Malailua said. “And after realizing a coffee shop would be too expensive to start, I decided to try the thrift store route.”
Malailua said she and her husband found the downtown Struthers storefront with ease this fall. And by the last week of October, Life’s Treasures became a reality.
“We’ve had multiple return customers, constantly people stopping in for things,” Malailua said.
Life’s Treasures, 8 State St., is one of the more recent small businesses that have located downtown this fall. At least four businesses moved to that section of Struthers between August and November: Northeast Appliance, 178 Bridge St.; Rockstar Nail Studio, 6 State St.; Ashli’s Attic, 11 Poland Ave., and Life’s Treasures.
Mayor Terry Stocker said he’s optimistic about businesses coming to vacant spots downtown, but he said he hopes to see more than just thrift stores come downtown.
“I know a lot of people are into junking and bargain hunting, but we’re encouraging other businesses to come down as well,” he said. “We’re obviously happy, though, seeing some of those shops get filled.”
Jason Heiss of Boardman opened Northeast Appliance in August, moving his one-man gig from his garage to a storefront. He said a big reason he chose Struthers was its affordability.
Heiss said his business refurbishes old appliances, including refrigerators, washers, dryers, stoves and freezers, and sells them. He also takes orders from clients to fix items.
“It’s been a lot more busy doing business from a storefront than from my garage,” Heiss said.
Melanie Rauschenbach, owner of Kid’s Stuff thrift shop at 160 Lowellville Road, not far from downtown Struthers, said she likes the increase in businesses coming to downtown Struthers.
“I don’t look at these shops as competition at all,” Rauschenbach said. “My feeling on it is that the more businesses, the more attraction will come to the area.”
While a handful of the formerly vacant buildings in downtown Struthers have been filling up, some store owners commented they think the downfall to the area for business is a lack of parking.
“There’s a shortage on parking, a downfall to a lot of strips like you see in downtown Struthers,” said Adam Ruess, co-owner of Ashli’s Attic. “It’s a decent area, but parking’s probably critical.”
Stocker said the city has had plans to pursue parking downtown, but that it is a matter of obtaining property.
“We’re looking to provide additional parking downtown because people want to be able to come down to shop and not have to park on the side of the road,” Stocker said. He added there are some “areas of open space” and that the city is talking to those property owners to see whether these can be sold to the city. He said he did not want to reveal the locations since the city is still talking to the owners.
Meagan Albani, a language instructor at 2 Bisous Studio, 2 State Street, which opened downtown in May, said any new business to downtown Struthers is a positive thing.
“For my shop, we feel having any extra traffic downtown is a good thing,” Albani said. “I think one of the things we’ve heard from a lot of local owners is that this is encouraging people to come back to downtown Struthers.”
Albani also added that the only thing downtown needs is additional parking.
“I’ve heard parking is a reason some businesses shy away from the area,” Albani said. “Otherwise, businesses stick out along those strips in downtown Struthers. It’s also affordable enough for an average Joe to lease.”