The Salvation Army is closer to the purchase of new site for its Austin thrift store.

The Salvation Army has been planning to move the store to a larger location for about three years, said Lori Espe, volunteer and program coordinator.

"It's really a dream, a thought process right now," she said. "Nothing is final yet."

The Austin office met with divisional Salvation Army representatives Wednesday, but still needs approval from the regional office out of Chicago, said Doug Leslie, an assistant. Because of regional's pending approval, Leslie could not disclose the proposed location for the new store.

The Salvation Army still has some steps to complete before the purchase, one of which will start next week. Espe is putting together survey for customers so that they can let the Salvation Army know what is important for them at the store.

"We need to know what customers are going to want," Espe said.

The surveys will be passed out at the store starting Monday and customers will receive a coupon for 50 percent off a purchase for filling out the survey, Espe said. The survey will run for three to four weeks.

Ideally, the Salvation Army would like a store twice the size of its current location, but the new site will probably be around 10,000 square feet. The current store is 6,000 square feet.

The store needs more selling space, Espe said.

"If we get a new site, sales will increase and we'll get more money for the services the Salvation Army does," Espe said.

Clothing and furniture are the most common items the store sells, said Tammy Whalen, assistant manager. She said they need more room for racks and shelves for the clothing and other products they sell.

"We're running out of space," Whalen said.

The Salvation may need more volunteers or need to hire more employees if the stores moves to a different location. The store now has six employees, 28 volunteers and five court-appointed community service workers. Espe does not know how many more workers they would need in a new store.

Espe does not know when the purchase of a local property would be completed, if the Salvation Army is given permission to do so.

"There's some things we have to do before approval is given," Espe said.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at cari.quam@austindailyherald.com