NORTHAMPTON — After more than five years of sitting vacant, the site of the old Faces store at 175 Main St. will finally have a new occupant, one that’s already established itself as a downtown mainstay of downtown.

Shop Therapy, currently located nearby at 189 Main St., has entered into an agreement to move into the former Faces space, according to Erica Cole, who manages Shop Therapy’s Northampton location. Cole said the store has long aspired to take over the spot after Faces’ closure in 2019.

“Every year that went by, we kept thinking to ourself, what if?” Cole said. “It’s always been our dream to move to a bigger location.”

Shop Therapy was founded by Ronny Hazel in the town of Provincetown on Cape Cod in 1973 and opened its second location in Northampton in 2009. Hazel’s son, Adam, opened two additional stores downtown, Penny Lane and The Vault, with the former being eventually incorporated into the latter. The stores are known for their large collection of vintage products, such as tie-dye T-shirts, sunglasses from the 1970s and punk rock buttons.

“It’s like a scavenger hunt,” Cole said of the store.

The 175 Main St. address has remained vacant since 2019, when Faces suddenly closed after more than 30 years in business. Faces originally opened in Amherst in 1971 and opened the Northampton location 15 years later, which became the only store after the original one closed after 20 years of operation.

Faces continued to be a staple of Northampton’s Main Street, adding a second floor to expand its selection of quirky, eclectic merchandise. The store’s original owner, Steve Vogel, retired in 2009, with his son Peter taking over. The store was sold to a group of investors in 2015 before abruptly closing four years later, with the new owners citing a decrease in foot traffic. An attempt was made to reopen Faces at the Hampshire Mall, although that fizzled out.

Cole said she expects the new location to be ready by the fall. She said construction was currently being done to redesign the interior of the space, such as building a new register and countertops and installing new flooring. The Vault will continue to remain open until its current lease expires, at which point it will also be incorporated into the new space. Cole said the changes will enable the inventory for the two stores to be stored in one location.

“There’s still a lot of work to do before we open,” Cole said. “We don’t want people to mistake us for Faces. We want to have our own look.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.