Dubbo's savvy shoppers may be in for a treat when St Vincent de Paul moves lock, stock and barrel into a store on the corner of Macquarie and Wingewarra streets, previously occupied by Harris Scarfe.
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Talks are underway on a proposal to turn Vinnies at Dubbo into a retail "hub" of high-quality donations from which surrounding and smaller "spoke" stores could get what they need.
The Dubbo hub might also receive bulk deliveries from Sydney "distribution centres" supported by affluent donors.
The size of the store will permit a return to the accumulation and sale of furniture.
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Vinnies' regional retail manager for north-western NSW, David Powter, has confirmed the charity is the new tenant at 151 Macquarie Street.
He says gradually all arms of the Vinnies' Dubbo operation including retail and welfare will come together under the one "really, really big" roof.
The manager told the Daily Liberal of Vinnies at Dubbo needing more space than was available at its current and long-time premises in Brisbane Street.
"We wanted something bigger," he said. "I think the site we have now is 240 square metres. We though let's go get 500 maybe 600 square metres."
Despite measuring about 1500 square metres, the empty store in a prime position in the central business district became a contender because of its visibility to the public and nearby parking.
Mr Powter said it offered scope for Vinnies to run a store in Dubbo akin to its Wagga Wagga outlet.
"Wagga is quite a large store and for the community there, there's a lot of opportunity going there seeing what they have," he said.
"That's something we want to replicate in Dubbo."
The Dubbo owner of the property, vacant since Harris Scarfe departed the city early last year, is providing the charity with three months free rent to September.
Vinnies is currently in the process of organising renovations.
"We've got a couple of people willing to do the work which is good," Mr Powter said.
"Obviously, we only have a certain amount of money to spend so we are looking at what can we do with and what can we do without."
The manager is asking the community to get behind the charity which will have to pay "quite high" rent in the future.
"It's going to be quite a big site so we are going to need quality donations to fill it," he said.
Vinnies is also planning a recruitment drive to boost its volunteer numbers at Dubbo.
An official opening of the new store will be held at a date to be announced.
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