Coupeville thrift store New Beginnings will celebrate just that at a “grand re-opening” today.

The store features everything from furniture to clothing, toys and books, even household goods and holiday decor.

Originally located on Coveland Street, the thrift store’s new location on North Main Street is much more visible and boasts three times the space of the old store.

“The landlords have been very generous in letting us use the space,” said volunteer store manager Amy McShane. She said Gloria Christensen and Ted Christensen, Jr., are leasing the 2,500 square-foot space to New Beginnings for about 50 cents per square foot. The average lease price runs about $1 per square foot, McShane said.

The extra space and visibility are definitely helping the store’s income. Since it opened in October, it has brought in nearly $5,000 for Harbor Haven Child Care, the Whidbey Island-based nonprofit crisis and respite nursery it supports.

Since it opened in late 2003, New Beginnings has been the sole source of revenue for Harbor Haven.

Pam Bishop, Harbor Haven director, hopes the new location and increased revenue will allow the non-profit to re-open a temporary childcare center in Coupeville.

“We’re hoping to get at least a year in the bank before we get into a new space,” Bishop said.

Her goal is to accrue around $60,000 to support the nonprofit’s operations costs, as well as rent for a new location.

When it began in 2001, supported by the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, Harbor Haven was housed at Oak Harbor’s Church of the Nazarene. There it provided free, temporary child care for parents in crisis.

“There is no temporary childcare for the parents that have a crisis come up in the family, from just needing a break to having a death in the family,” Bishop said. “A lot of what we saw was Navy.”

If one family member was deployed, the other might have a court date, or doctor’s appointment that necessitated convenient child care. She said the center didn’t limit the reasons for parents to drop off children. And better yet, the services were free.

“It’s become my baby,” Bishop said. “I’m determined to get it back open again. I still actually get calls from families and agencies looking for respite care and we’ve been closed for over a year now.”

The Child Abuse Prevention Foundation closed its doors at the end of 2004, forcing Harbor Haven to become its own non-profit entity, Bishop said. It formed a board and decided that the New Beginnings store could operate under Harbor Haven’s non-profit status and be its sole source of revenue.

At nearly the same time, Harbor Haven was forced to move out of the Church of the Nazarene. The church had been growing, and needed the space that Harbor Haven had occupied for three years.

Since then, Bishop said, Harbor Haven has been looking for a more permanent space to rent, “something the children can feel comfortable and safe in.” One challenge has been finding an appropriate space that can be licensed as a childcare facility.

“We’re thinking Coupeville right now,” Bishop said of Harbor Haven’s plans for a new location. “We’d like to be close to the thrift store for that tie-in at first. But our ultimate goal is to have one in each community, from Camano Island to Clinton.”