For more than five years, Vinnies as they are affectionately known, operated from a small store at the northern end of Dowling Street.

It open in October 2010 after the Maxwells Creek timber mill closed down.

Vice president of the Dungog centre Val Preece said times were tough and there was no work for a lot of people.

“The shop was opened then and it served a real need in town,” she said.

“Sue and Phil French opened it and it went really well, but the lack of room and storage space was always going to be a problem.

“St Vincent de Paul has been looking around for over two years for somewhere else to go and this shop came up for sale.

“It has been totally renovated and fitted out to match the other Vinnies stores.

“There was a blank canvass to work from . . . it was all planned out.”

Centre president Maria Shaw said they can now stock at least three times more than the old shop.

“And we have all downstairs as well to store things,” she said.

“We packed up the old shop in two days, but it has taken us a lot longer to have all this set up.

“The shop was going to open on Monday, but it’s not quite finished, so the official opening will be on May 9.

“We have 22 volunteers here who will work on a roster system. The shop will be open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm and 9am to 12.30pm on Saturday.”