Seven months after Granny’s Attic members voted to move the store into town, a lease has been signed and plans are in place for the thrift shop to relocate to the Vashon Market IGA building.

The move, set for January, will provide additional and improved space for the store and make it more accessible for those who do not drive or have difficulty navigating its current cramped quarters. Also important, supporters of the move say, is that it will enable Granny’s Attic to focus its funds on providing grants for community health needs instead of on capital improvements at Sunrise Ridge, where it was located for nearly 40 years. While the rent will be higher in town, Granny’s business manager Tim Johnson said he believes Granny’s will benefit financially and be able to provide more funds for health-related projects and programs on the island.

“We want to grow into the future and continue to supply grants to all the agencies that we can,” he said. “The more we raise, the more we can donate.”

Both Johnson and Susan Chun, the president of the Granny’s board, say one of the aspects they are most looking forward to is having more storage space so Granny’s can hold donations, such as winter coats and holiday-related items, until people are mostly likely to buy them — instead of throwing items away as they sometimes have.

“I think we will end up with more product,” Chun said. “That will mean more sales and more money we can give out.”

Granny’s now provides about $200,000 a year in grants, Johnson said, and members hope to increase that by a few thousand dollars each year to keep up with inflation.

Over the long-term, Johnson said he hopes that the extra storage space will help the store keep its prices down and sales up. There are no plans to raise prices at the new location, he added.

Overall, the move will give Granny’s 3,500 additional square feet of covered space. The store will move into the space Island Variety left when it closed in 2008, while the space that the Vashon Library had been in temporarily will be the new staff, sorting and dock area. An area in the back, which had housed batting cages, will serve as the new warehouse space. Some light renovation will take place before Granny’s moves in, Johnson said, including improvements to help make it accessible to those with disabilities.

Granny’s is run by a small staff and many volunteers, and Chun said she hopes more volunteers will step forward once Granny’s is in town.

“We’re all feeling being in the downtown core will attract more volunteers, which we desperately need,” she said.

Currently, Granny’s Attic is thriving, Johnson said. Last Saturday, the store surpassed all of last year’s sales, and Johnson attributed this year’s success to several factors. The economic climate overall has improved; the hot summer seemed to bring people out to the island often, and the housing market has picked up — with increased buying and selling, Granny’s sees more donations and more purchases. Granny’s also now takes debit and credit cards and is more intentional about its organization and the merchandise it puts on the floor to sell.

“It is not so much a treasure hunt now, “ Johnson said. “We try to make the basic necessities available.”

For his part, Shawn Hoffman, who owns the shopping center and now operates the Vashon Market, said he believes having Granny’s there will be good for his business.

“I think we will get more traffic in this side of town, get more people to come over this way and try us out,” he said.

He had been looking for the right anchor tenant for a while now, he said, and had turned down some offers, but believes Granny’s is the right fit.

“We want to keep them strong and keep them going so they can support more and more causes on the island,” Hoffman said.

While the move may mean a revitalization to the western edge of town, it also has implications at Sunrise Ridge, where Granny’s will vacate three buildings. The store’s long history there caused some on the Granny’s board to vote against the move, and its moving announcement came as a surprise to the Sunrise Ridge board last spring.

Now, Sunrise Ridge board president Greg Martin said his board members are looking ahead optimistically.

“I think the board feels we are going to land on our feet, and everyone is going to be better off,” he said.

Sunrise Ridge is now exploring what islanders might want and need at the property, Martin said. The board has received several suggestions, ranging from installing several solar power arrays to creating low-income housing.

“We are going to test the winds,” he said.

They are not in a rush, he added, as Granny’s Attic’s lease goes through June. While they are evaluating what comes next, the board will undertake several projects, including partially dismantling one building and bringing it up to code, making major improvements to the helicopter pad on the property and beginning work on a rain garden, which will save money in King County fees.

Looking to the near future, Chun noted that Granny’s largest sale of the year is coming up the day after Thanksgiving. In just three hours, Granny’s members hope to surpass the $11,000 they brought in during the sale last year. Special items have been set aside specifically for the sale.

“Wear comfortable shoes, and bring your elbows because you are going to need them,” Chun said.