After just a year, Salvation Army will leave Eagle River once again

After only a year back in town, the Salvation Army is again retreating from Eagle River.

On Monday, the nonprofit announced it will be closing the Eagle River Family Store location it opened in April 2017.

"After extensive analysis, The Salvation Army has determined that our Eagle River store will have to be closed," the group's communications manager Robert Deberry wrote in a press release. "This decision was hard for The Salvation Army, but our priority is strengthening our social services throughout the state."

The decision wasn't an easy one, Deberry wrote.

"With more people relying on our services and fewer dollars to work with, we decided that moving out of our Eagle River store would be the most effective way to direct more resources toward those services."

The closure is the second time the Salvation Army has shut down a thrift store operation in Eagle River; the group previously closed its downtown store in 2012.

The Salvation Army's Family Stores are operated by the group's Adult Recovery Program.

The move is part of a reorganization within the group's substance abuse rehabilitation services, according to the release. The group will move its Adult Rehabilitation Center and Clitheroe program "under one umbrella of rehabiliation services."

"By doing this we will be able to expand our very successful Clitheroe Center, offer continued care for those coming out of the Clitheroe Program within the Department of Corrections and open a 12 bed women's facility."

The Salvation Army's remaining 13 family store locations in Alaska will be unaffected by the reorganization. According to the release, the Christian-based social services group serves more than 7,400 Alaskans each month.

Deberry said the Eagle River location is scheduled to close June 16.

This story was originally published in the Alaska Star and is republished here with permission.