CHOCOWINITY — The Salvation Army of Washington will celebrate the grand opening of a second store in the county on July 17 at 9 a.m. at a location in Chocowinity. The grand opening will commence with a ribbon cutting, in which the Washington-Beaufort Chamber of Commerce will join Salvation Army administration, said Heidi Smith, a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board.

Smith said the new store comes as an addition to the local branch’s revenue stream, as cash donations for its mission have dwindled recently. The organization was able to open a new location due to the overflow of clothing and other donated items from Wilmington and other areas throughout the region. The new store will reflect the inventory that the Salvation Army’s other stores have available. It will stock at least 20,000 clothing items per day and will also sell furniture, household items and collectibles, Smith said.

“We’re excited because it will expand our revenue stream so we can do more good in the community,” Smith said. “We’ve been blessed that some of the larger corps are routinely allowing us to transfer overflow donations to our corps, which makes it possible for enough inventory for a second store and the quality of clothing donations is much higher than we have received, traditionally. The real advantage is it will have longer operating hours than Washington.”

The Salvation Army of Washington currently has one store in operation, but due to its location, parking and access is limited, and there is also a limit as to how much inventory can be kept there, Smith said.

“That store does a good bit of business, but it’s in a residential setting,” Smith said. “We have been looking for another location for quite some time because we felt like road frontage and higher traffic counts would benefit us. We’re maxed out at our current location.”

The Salvation Army, an international church, relies on funding from the clothes and other items donated by the public and sold in its stores, as well as cash donations. It will celebrate its 150^th anniversary this year. The local office, responsible for responding in six counties — Beaufort, Hyde, Tyrrell, Bertie, Martin and Washington —has touched many lives in its service area last year, Smith said.

In 2014 alone, the local office served almost 5,000 people, served 7,400 meals, provided 48 nights of lodging, 186 people with energy assistance, 80 people with housing assistance and 1,058 grocery orders, hosted 1,470 client sessions and distributed 3,871 toys and gifts, according to statistics from the Salvation Army of Washington.

The Salvation Army’s Chocowinity location, 50 Towne Center Plaza, Chocowinity, will be open Mondays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.