St Johns County thrift store could be forced to close down due to rent hike

ST. JOHNS, Fla. — A St Johns County thrift store, that employs autistic teens and adults could be pushed out of their building after they tell Action News Jax, the owner of that building has now gone up on their rent.

Mark Tillman is the director of Spectrum Thrift Store in St. Johns County.

“Although it’s legal, they want to go up almost 35 percent and to us, that is kind of tough as a thrift store,” says Tillman.

Tillman says he was notified about this rent increase in late April.

The company that owns their building said they would have to start paying the new rent on July 1st.

“When you go from 12,000 or so a month to almost 17 grand that’s a lot. It’s too much for us to overcome without some help,” says Tillman

We reached out to a representative associated with this building to see if we could get more answers, but we are still waiting to hear back.

Golf Clubs, clothes, and even lamps are just some of the things that are donated to this store.

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Tillman even says a portion of the store’s proceeds goes back to helping autistic school programs in the area.

“Goes into an EOC jar and we take that a find different programs that need it,” says Tillman

For now, Tillman is doing everything he can, to make sure his doors remain open

“We’re looking to do different ways like grants, fundraisers, donations, and anything we are able to do to survive that lease,” says Tillman.

A GoFundMe has been created to support this thrift store. You can access it HERE.

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