The lease for the nonprofit retail store, which sells "high quality" used and donated items such as clothes, toys and furniture, expired in September. According to store manager Lucy Derkach, negotiations to renew the lease fell through. The store was scheduled to reopen Jan. 31.

Phone calls to property owner Biagio Passaro were not returned.

Derkach said that the shopping center's management is having the Discovery Shop move out so it can rearrange the store to accommodate other businesses. Bobby Chopra, who manages the AIM Mail Center from the shopping center's corner space, said his business is moving into the Discovery Shop's old location so a Starbucks can move into the corner space.

"I can understand why business owners would want to bring in a Starbucks," Derkach said, "but they are losing a good business. It doesn't look smart and it doesn't look nice."

The Discovery Shop spent its first few years on Lincoln Avenue, on the first floor of Adobe Hall, where Vin Santo currently operates. Back then the store was called the Apple Barrel.

"They all had different cutesy names," 25-year volunteer Shirley Keller said of the American Cancer Society's various thrift stores. Eventually the organization decided to call all the stores "Discovery Shops" to make them a more recognizable extension of the society's nonprofit operations, Keller said.

Derkach, who has been the Willow Glen Discovery Shop's manager for three years, said the rent on Lincoln Avenue became too high for the popular thrift store, so it moved to its Foxworthy Avenue location in 1992.

As far as the store's patrons were concerned, the only major changes were the store's location. Loyal customers supported the shop and developed friendships with the volunteer staff.

"This store became more like a club," Derkach said. "When people heard the news that we were leaving they felt very upset. They had tears in their eyes."

She had hoped to renew the store's lease for three more years but negotiations were unsuccessful.

Even though the Branham Lane location is only four minutes away, Derkach said she and the staff are going to sorely miss the Foxworthy Avenue store's 2,600 square feet, which included a back entrance that was used for donation deliveries. The new location is only 2,400 square feet and has no back entrance.

"We were spoiled because we had all this room for so many items," Derkach said.

Even before the store could complete its move, construction workers were noisily bisecting the store with a wall, preparing it for the new tenants.

Joey Cobley, Discovery Shop field manager for Northern California, said she and Derkach looked at 30 other locations before settling on the Branham Lane space.

"At first we were worried and nervous trying to find something where the rent was reasonable," Cobley said, "because, obviously, we want most of our money to go to the American Cancer Society. The new location is a little bit smaller, but I think it's going to be a great location and now we're really excited."

The first Discovery Shop was opened in 1965 when, according to Cobley, a volunteer named Denise Noel came up with a fundraising idea involving thrift stores that sold only high-quality, gently used items. Over time the number of stores grew and now there are 43 stores in California.

Larry Meisner, California division vice president for the Discovery Shops, said the Willow Glen store is 20th in generating revenue.

"We've been blessed with a strong and consistent donation base," Meisner said. "Our biggest challenge is the economy. So it's our duty to provide quality merchandise in a pleasant atmosphere at reasonable prices."

Ninety-two-year-old Beth Randone has volunteered at the shop for 25 years and was saddened when she learned that the store would have to relocate.

"The shop is wonderful because in the old days people walked more to their stores; there wasn't all this traffic," Randone said. "So all the time I'd be walking from home and stopping at these funky little stores and meeting people like myself."

Eventually, the shop became more than a place to just donate or buy clothes and household itemsæit became a meeting place for friends, she said.

"You develop unique relationships here," Randone said. "Everyone knows someone who's had cancer."

Randone's husband died of cancer at age 39. She never remarried.

"That's when I went to work at O'Connor Hospital, because I owed them such a big bill," Randone said. "So I worked in administration for 37 years."

After paying off that debt, Randone volunteered her Saturdays working the register for the Discovery Shop. In May 2000, the store threw her a 90th birthday party and crowned her the First Lady of the Discovery Shop.

"I'm never tired here," she said. "The day flies."

For more information about the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop, 1103 Branham Lane, call 408.265.5535 or visit www.cancer.org.