UCP Thrift Store to Close Downtown Location

A downtown area staple will shut its doors by the end of the month.

The UCP Thrift Store must move out of its digs at 7875 Broadway. Goodwill will be taking its place.

“It’s a bummer,” said Matthew Porter, a supervisor at the store.

The building where the store is located got sold and the new ownership plans to lease out the space to Goodwill, Porter said.

UCP is looking to relocate to another store and has been looking at a space in neighboring La Mesa, he said.

The store has been having a massive sale and is looking to close around Christmas Eve.

Around 85 percent of the profits generated from sales at United Cerebral Palsy thrift stores goes to benefit people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, according to the organization’s website.

UCP has served San Diego County for more than 50 years.

City Manager Graham Mitchell said that second-hand stores have not been a permitted use in the Downtown Village since 2004, but UCP was allowed to remain in the area slated for redevelopment because the property where it was located was grandfathered in. That same grandfather clause will apply to Goodwill, he said.

While no additional thrift stores can be opened in the Downtown Village, UCP would be an allowed use in other parts of Lemon Grove, he said.