Flathead Industries expands in Kalispell

Dozens lined up in front of Flathead Industries Thrift in Kalispell on a recent Thursday morning, patiently waiting to scope out the best deals from the half-off everything sale. As 10 a.m. approached, the parking lot in front of the East Idaho Street building swiftly filled up, which Marketing Manager Alex Sheneman said is a regular occurrence.  

When goods don’t make the cut to be sold there, they end up in another of the nonprofit’s locations just six blocks away on Fourth Avenue West where no item is more than a dollar a pop. But with donations pouring in, the nonprofit needed to expand. 

That expansion is coming in the form of a larger clearance store under construction on the corner of Fifth Avenue West North and East Montana Street, which will replace the nonprofit’s small facility next door.  

The new building will feature a conveyor system in the backend of the store to aid with transporting and sorting goods. Customers can sift through heaps of clothes and shoes to buy by the pound. Hard items — think appliances, electronics or tools — will be brought out on rolling shelves for customers to sift through.  

“It doesn’t matter what brand it is, what it is, if it ended up in that store, you just pay by the pound,” Vice President of Operations Mitchell McKinley said. “It’s kind of like the last chance to live for a lot of items because then they’ll end up in the landfill if they don’t sell in store.” 

McKinley said the store currently operating on Fourth Avenue West was intended as a proof of concept, meant to test its feasibility before the nonprofit committed to investing in a larger store. 

The new shop will be adorned with the same green mountainscape as its East Idaho Street counterpart.  

McKinley declined to comment on the construction cost, saying that the entire project involves renovating the current clearance store into an administration building and the creation of a parking lot. 

Currently, donations that don’t meet the quality standards to be sold in the East Idaho Street location end up in clearance, where customers sift through heaps of goods in large bins.  

Clothes that don’t make the cut for either store, because they have rips or mold, for example, get compacted into 1,000-pound bales to be recycled at a plant in Washington. Appliances and other hard goods are more difficult to recycle, said McKinley, and often go to the landfill.  

The new facility will provide more space to sell goods and minimize the number of items that get shipped away. McKinley hopes that by selling ripped and torn clothing he will attract people who will repurpose textiles.  

“I think that with the clearance stores we’re trying to bring in an opportunity for people in the community who can’t necessarily afford new stuff,” Sheneman said. 

ASIDE FROM the deals and steals Flathead Industries offers, the nonprofit serves over 200 disabled people in the valley.  

Life skills programs, career planning aid, recreational activities and a group home designed to help those with developmental disabilities are just some of the services offered.  

Inside the large sorting warehouse connected to the main facility, disabled people help with various tasks like sorting items and clothes hanging.  

“It’s a job experience site where they’re learning how to work in the workplace, building the skills they need if they choose to pursue a job in the community,” said McKinley. “Not only is it great for the community, but it’s also an opportunity for us to continue to serve more individuals with disabilities here locally.” 

“We like to call it an iceberg,” Sheneman said. “The thrift store is the tip of the iceberg and everything underneath the surface is what’s really going on, and that’s the hard work that we’re really putting into the community.” 

The nonprofit launched in the 1970s, started by a group of parents whose children were released from mental health institutions after the separation between mental health and disabilities became written into law, said McKinley.  

The nonprofit started by serving six people with disabilities and now serves over 240 people every year. 

Flathead Industries also partners with agencies that aid high school students experiencing homelessness and women suffering from domestic abuse, providing the organizations with store gift cards.  

Rather than the agencies deciding what they need, McKinley said gift cards allow people to shop for themselves. 

“And the great thing about the clearance store is it’ll help that go even farther,” McKinley said.   

While supported primarily through state and federally funded programs, revenue from the four thrift stores provides a cushion when government money falls short. 

McKinley said that the nonprofit’s savings were particularly helpful when roughly $120 million got scraped from the state’s general fund in 2017 and cut millions from the Department of Public Health and Human Services. 

“The economy sucks,” Sheneman said. “Everyone’s struggling. So we want to make sure that people can come in and enjoy their experience and find really good stuff.”  

Flathead Industries partnered with construction contractor Hammerquist Casalegno LLC and Jackola Architecture and Engineering for the building design.  

Work began in April and the project is expected to wrap up shortly after Thanksgiving. A ribbon cutting is scheduled with the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce for Dec. 13 at 2:15 p.m. 

This story has been updated for print. 

Jack Underhill can be reached at junderhill@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4407. 

    A crew with Exocrete floats concrete at the site of Flathead Industries' clearance store along East Montana Street on Friday, Aug. 9. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Soutwest aspect rendering. Courtesy of Flathead Industries.
  

    Drone footage of construction. Courtesy of Flathead Industries.