Bigger, Better Bargain Basket Opening Soon

“When you see the sign, we’re getting close,” said Samantha Kopren when asked when the Bargain Basket will reopen after a major renovation and expansion. Kopren, former Bargain Basket manager and currently director of operations for United Church of Marco Island (UCMI), says customers are extremely excited about the hugely popular thrift store’s reopening. The Bargain Basket is a mission of UCMI.

“We get messages and phone calls every single day,” Kopren said, “multiple times throughout the day. My favorite question is, ‘Is the Bargain Basket ever gonna open?’ Of course it’s gonna open!”

Kopren, Bargain Basket manager Bill Johenning, and Robert Long, who describes himself as the de facto project manager, gave the Coastal Breeze News a sneak peek at the new facility. They all agree on one thing: they’re not sure of the exact opening day.

“I’ll say it just shows how much excitement there is for the opening,” Johenning said. “They’re really passionate about the Bargain Basket. Excited about it. Can’t wait for it to open. So that’s a really good thing. And believe me, we’re doing everything we can to get it open as quickly as possible. But you know, it takes time.”

“I think we’ll be open in October,” Long said, “by the end of October for sure. Maybe sooner.”

Mid-October was the target for the reopening when retail operations were paused in July.

“That was prior to us realizing we had to replace windows and doors,” Johenning said. “Once they did the demo in the existing building and discovered the windows were leaking and that it was time to replace them, that kind of threw the schedule back a little bit. But when we originally found out about the windows, it was a six-to-eight week timeline for windows, so we could have been pushed back much further.”

Long, a 40-year veteran of project management, said it’s common to discover that additional work needs to be completed once demolition starts.

“Whenever you have construction and you renovate an older building, when you do the demolition,” Long said, “you’re going to find something that you didn’t plan for. We kind of knew there was something in here, but we didn’t know what it was. So when we demoed the walls we saw the windows were leaking. It was the right choice to make. Now we’re going to have Thermo-Pane, impact resistant windows. They’re all up to code now. The other windows were very thin and they were very old. So this is going to work very well. They will help with air conditioning and everything. It was very warm in the front of the store. And now we won’t have that issue.”

Workers are currently applying stucco to the front of the Bargain Basket. Kopren said the Bargain Basket sign will be hung soon.

“We’ve just got to get the sign up there,” Kopren said, “and it’s in stock. We’re getting the stucco done and then the sign will go up. Then you’ll know that the Bargain Basket is really coming back. Customers should follow us on social media because everything is so spur of the moment right now. We’re waiting on inspections. We’re waiting on some things to wrap up. So follow us on social media at ucmarco.org/bargainbasket.”

Johenning has nothing but praise for the construction team.

“We’re super impressed with the contractors and how quickly they’re moving,” Johenning said. “I mean, they’ve worked weekends. They are super dedicated to make sure that we’re hitting our timelines and getting things done as quick as possible. They’ve been really great.”

One concern Johenning had ended up being a complete non-factor: having enough donations in time to reopen.

“I think Bill was very concerned about that,” Kopren said with a smile. “We kind of chuckled at him. We so appreciate everybody who has donated.”

“Our donors were super generous during the time that the store was closed,” Johenning said. “Now we have the luxury of having enough product to refill the store right now in order to be 100 percent brand new product people haven’t seen before. They’re very gracious, the people on Marco. And even in Naples, they’ve been so generous with their donations. It’s amazing.”

While there were great pains taken to keep the charm of the pre-construction Bargain Basket, customers are sure to be thrilled with the improvements and additional retail space.

“It’s all new lighting, all new ceiling, all new paint,” Johenning said. “The flooring did stay the same and the overall size is about the same, but it’s much brighter, much cleaner, much more friendly, I’ll say.”

Since the original owner of the building was Kimball Floor Covering, there is a variety of tile used in the retail space.

“We took a poll with all our customers and they said, ‘ Don’t change it too much,’” Long said. “Keep that eclectic, kind of funky look. And so we tried to maintain that as much as possible. And it’s all ADA compliant in the bathrooms. And we added a fitting room; we had four and now we have five. And there’s now an ADA-compliant fitting room. And the layout of the store will be ADA compliant.”

Another nice touch is the addition of hand-painted murals in each fitting room.

Long wants to thank the City of Marco Island.

“The city has been very good to work with,” he said, “we call for an inspection and they show up the next day. Sometimes the very same day. They’ve been very responsive.”

Both Kopren and Johenning want to allay any concerns about rising costs at the Bargain Basket.

“One thing I do want to stress,” she said, “because it’s a question we get. Are you raising your prices now to pay for all the construction? The answer is no. It’s the same great store, the same great prices. We want to be here for the community in the same way that we were before.”

“The $3 clothing is the most popular item we sell,” Johenning said. “And that will remain as it always was. We have dollar kids’ clothing. That’ll be the same. The core essentials of what people need will always be very affordable. That was part of the mission of the Bargain Basket and the United Church of Marco Island, so we’ll keep it that way.”

High-end donations are treated differently. For example, Johenning wants to stress that the Bargain Basket won’t intentionally sell a $10,000 vase for $5.

“I think we’re charged by our donors to be good stewards of what they donated, good stewards of the money. Our objective is to give money back to the community. We want to make sure we’re doing the best we can to help more people. We help more people with money than with products. We’ll try to get as close to fair market value as possible. We always try to sell it in the store first, but if it sits in the store for more than a few weeks, we’ll try it on eBay with a little bit broader market. But we don’t want to diminish the cool factor, if you will, of the Bargain Basket with some of this great stuff that we get in. So I always like to display it here first and give our local customers first dibs on the stuff.

Kopren talked about the new drop-off routine. “Head north on Herb Savage Way, pull off the alleyway and drop your donations off. It’s much safer. Gets you out of the flow of traffic. It’s safer for our volunteers that are going to be out there getting the donations out for the customers. And then we have the new lift so we don’t have people breaking their backs, going up and down stairs with heavy items. We can lift them up with the lift, get them into the new processing area.”

We’ve more than tripled our parking,” said Johenning. “You have access both from the front side and the back side. So the flow should be much better. It’s really impressive. I think it was one of our biggest needs. We didn’t solve it all, but we made it much better.”

“I think the traffic flow inside the store will be a lot better,” said Long. “It’s a lot wider, more comfortable, more spacious. And I think they’ll find it far more comfortable when they come in. It’s a nice environment.”