Salvation Army Tyler Celebrates Grand Reopening of Family Thrift Store

The revamped store aims to provide a welcoming shopping experience while supporting the organization's community programs.

Apr. 18, 2026 at 10:35am

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A high-contrast silkscreen print of a vintage clothing item, such as a retro t-shirt or sweater, repeated in a grid pattern with vibrant neon colors and heavy black outlines, conceptually representing the unique and affordable finds available at the Salvation Army Tyler's thrift store.The Salvation Army Tyler's revamped Family Store aims to provide a welcoming thrift shopping experience that supports the organization's vital community programs.Tyler Today

The Salvation Army Tyler celebrated the grand reopening of its Family Store on Friday, unveiling a freshly remodeled thrift shop that will help fund the organization's various community programs and resources. The store closed for three weeks in mid-March for renovations, including new flooring, paint, and a reorganized inventory system to provide customers with a better shopping experience.

Why it matters

The Salvation Army has served the Tyler community for over 100 years, and the Family Store is a vital part of its operations, generating funds to support programs like Christmas assistance, emergency disaster relief, residential services, addiction recovery, youth initiatives, food assistance, and spiritual care. With increased need due to rising inflation, the revamped store aims to better serve local families and individuals in need.

The details

The Family Store underwent a complete facelift, with new flooring, paint, and a reorganized inventory system to improve the shopping experience. Darlene Rawlinson, the store's operations manager, said the goal was to create a welcoming environment where 'even though somebody's homeless or going through a tough time, they still deserve nice stuff and they deserve to shop in a nice place.' The store sells a variety of items, from furniture and clothing to dishware and toys, with a focus on constantly rotating new inventory to keep the shopping experience fresh.

  • The store closed in mid-March for the renovations.
  • The grand reopening took place on Friday, April 17, 2026.

The players

Darlene Rawlinson

The operations manager for the Salvation Army Tyler Family Store.

Robert Coriston

The commanding officer of the Salvation Army Tyler.

Kristin Coriston

The fellow captain of the Salvation Army Tyler, along with Robert Coriston.

Jeanette Johnson

A regular shopper at the Salvation Army Tyler Family Store for the past five years.

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What they’re saying

“Our family store represents standing out in our community. Our new captains came in and they wanted to give us a facelift, bring everything new because even though somebody's homeless or going through a tough time, they still deserve nice stuff and they deserve to shop in a nice place, so we wanted to be able to bring glory to God through everything we do and remodeling this as part of it.”

— Darlene Rawlinson, Operations manager for the family store at the Salvation Army Tyler

“When we arrived here about 10 months ago, we knew that it was either invest in the store or move on from the store. We use this store to fund everything that's going on next door, so we knew it had the potential and the loyal customers, so we wanted to make sure we give them the best experience.”

— Robert Coriston, Commanding officer of the Salvation Army Tyler

“I shop here all the time, and it has been shut down, so when they told me that it was going to reopen, I wanted to make sure and be here when it opened. I thrift all the time. It's so fun.”

— Jeanette Johnson, Grand-opening shopper

What’s next

The Salvation Army Tyler plans to continue investing in the Family Store to provide an even better shopping experience and generate more funds to support its various community programs.

The takeaway

The Salvation Army Tyler's revamped Family Store represents the organization's commitment to serving the local community, providing a welcoming shopping environment while generating crucial resources to support its wide range of charitable initiatives, from disaster relief to addiction recovery.