NILES — A Howland thrift store that benefits animals soon will have a new home.

The Menagerie, which benefits the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County, has been in operation for the last 27 years. It announced via Facebook earlier this week that it will relocate to the Village Center Shopping Center on the corner of state Route 46 and U.S. Route 422 in Niles. They expect to reopen at the end of February.

Mandy Heatherly, who has managed the thrift store for the past several years after heading several Goodwills in the area, explained the move was partially inspired by the old location’s lack of parking, but also the growth they’ve experienced.

“So when I started there, their highest month of sales was $18,000. We’re now reaching anywhere between $45,000 and $55,000,” Heatherly said. “So number one, it’s the parking. There wasn’t enough parking at all, so that was a major issue because we had customers telling us they were just driving by because there’s no place to park.”

“Number two was space. We’d get so many donations, our back room wasn’t big enough; our store floor wasn’t big enough for everything.”

Heatherly said they purchased land near the store 2.5 years ago with intentions of expanding the parking, as well as the building, but they realized it wouldn’t be the right course to take because the cost for both would be “insane.”

She said they nearly moved the store to a location on Robbins Avenue, but the Village Center Shopping Center building came up just as they were to sign the lease.

Heatherly said they closed down several days before Christmas because someone had purchased their building within a week of it being put up for sale, but they could have stayed open for a while more despite that.

“We planned on being out of there by the end of January. We could have stayed and paid rent, but to me that wasn’t feasible,” Heatherly said. “I would rather the money go toward the new store and what we need there, rather than paying for rent for where we already were.”

She said they’re still operating out of the old storefront to collect donations, sorting, processing and putting them in 12-foot-long storage PODS. As of now, she said they have six or seven pods full of merchandise and are continuing to collect to help compensate for the space they’ll have to operate at their new location.

“We’re going roughly (from) 6,000-square feet for the whole building where we are now, to at least 10,000 or 11,000 of retail space,” Heatherly said. “So you have to have the product.”

Heatherly said they’ve received numerous Facebook comments and messages from community members excited about the store and that before they announced the new location, people would swing by to ask where they were going.

If people want to help, Heatherly said they need volunteers with all of the challenges ahead of them.

“We need volunteers to help with the move, we need volunteers for when we open. We have five or six volunteers, they’re older women who have been with The Menagerie for years,” she said, “We couldn’t do it without them; we’re going to need more volunteers because the less we have to pay for payroll, the more we can send over to the animals.”

“Everything we make goes straight to the animals, and that’s what I’m most proud of, because it’s just such a good thing,” Heatherly added. “Animals can’t help themselves, and that’s what we do; we’re here to protect them.”

Heatherly said they have a class from a Howland school that helps them. Once they get situated though, they plan to contact schools and other groups in Niles to see if they want to help.

Niles Mayor Steve Mientkiewcz said the Animal Welfare League is a “phenomenal” organization, and he and city council are pleased to have them in the city.

“We’re happy to have them in the city of Niles and their space is going to occupy a vacant space that we’re happy is going to be occupied,” Mientkiewcz said.