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As David Toone walked out on the brand new unloading dock of the recently opened Deseret Industries store in Sugar House, each of the workers came over, looked him in the eye and shook his hand.

That type of social interaction is part of the training that the "associates" get at the shiny new facility at the site of the former Circuit City store, on 2100 South between 700 East and 800 East. And the ability to do that type of training is one of the things that Toone sees as an advantage of the new facility that replaced the old battered one on Highland Drive.

"It gives us more opportunity to provide training," said Toone, the manager of nine Deseret Industries facilities in Salt Lake County, Tooele and Centerville. "This is more in-line with what a standard retail store would be set up like."

Jeff Simpson is the LDS Church stake president for the area of the DI, which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is his job to ensure there's a good interaction between the facility and local leaders, including coordination of volunteers and clients.

"It's a great facility," he said. "It's more than a DI. It's more than a thrift store."

He said there's much better parking and the donation drop-off lanes are greatly improved over the Highland Drive facility.

The new facility is not just a thrift store that provides donated items at low cost, but also a training facility where workers are taught various skills that will help them find steady jobs.

The LDS Church bought the building after Circuit City went bankrupt and closed the store in February 2009. Since then, the church has done extensive construction, adding a lot of new space and totally remodeling what was there.

Now, the facility holds not only the DI store, but also offices of the LDS Employment Resource Center and LDS Family Services Agency, allowing them to better coordinate services.

The expanded facilities opened for regular hours after a grand opening in early June.

Customers, some of whom show up every day to be there when the doors open, find a spacious, well-lit store that looks largely like any other retail store for clothing and other goods.

But a closer look at the racks show that all those red kids' T-shirts are not all the same kind or brand, but rather are just similar items that came in the door and were grouped together.

Toone said DI wants to mimic as much as possible the conditions at a store selling new goods. That's because DI is training its associates in ways that help them move on to other jobs

The people who come to DI for training are recommended by LDS bishops, the men in charge of local church wards. But they do not have to be members of the church, said Toone.

Those who are hired are assigned an adviser who helps them form an Individual Self-Reliance Plan that guides their experience at DI.

The associates receive training in social skills, such as shaking hands when greeting someone, that are needed to prosper in a business.

"Those customer-service skills are so important," said Toone. "We have people who, when they come in, can't look you in the eye. They can't have an interaction with you, especially those who are from a different culture."

But it's not just customer service, stocking and decision-making, but other specific skills that will allow workers to fit into a particular industry.

"We also send people outside our facility to receive training," Toone said. "We work with local community resources, and we'll … do welding or professional truck-driving training."

Part-time missionaries teach about résumé-writing and conduct mock job interviews.

DI also pairs with businesses, supplying them with employees whose wages are paid by DI during a training period.

One other area in which the new store is vastly improved is the dock, where people donating can pull up six at a time under a roof to unload goods. The old area store at 2234 Highland Drive had a single lane and cramped loading dock where a truck and trailer being unloaded could tie up traffic. The parking lot was small and usually full.

The new facility has entries into a large parking lot from four directions, making for easy entrance and exit.

The church has not decided what to do with the old DI store on Highland.

tharvey@sltrib.com twitter: @tomharveysltrib —

If you go

The Deseret Industries Sugar House store:

Location • 724 E. 2100 South

Hours • 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.