For two decades, Boomerangs was a popular thrift store that generated revenue for causes related to HIV/AIDS, until its three greater-Boston locations closed this spring.

On Friday, the Central Square store reopened with a new mission and a new name – Boomerangs by More Than Words.

More Than Words is a Boston based program that provides job skills and business training to vulnerable youth aged 16-24. The program participants have often been through the judicial system, the foster care system or faced housing instability.

Shaun Newell of More Than Words says part of the reason for opening the store is to give youth a place to practice and grow their skills they learned through training. This new endeavor will open up 5-10 jobs for program graduates.

“We wanted a soft place for our young people to learn that they can have what we call pathways to a living wage, which is those $20, $30 an hour jobs.”

He hopes that the Boomerangs jobs help create a solid foundation for the youth while they pursue higher education or discover what careers they might want to explore.

Toby Demelo got their start at More Than Words and graduated the program in 2020. Now, they’re running the store. At 20 years old, they feel like not many people in the same line of work have been able to reach the store manager title.

Demelo says the Boomerangs store came together in just over two months. “We’ve done what we can to carry on their legacy and we’d like to keep doing what they were doing with our own spin on it,” they said. “And I think that we’ve achieved that pretty well.”

Hours after the store opened its doors, shoppers were lined up ready to pay with their hands full of articles of clothing, accessories and books. Veronica Wang waited in line with a tower of books. She said she was pleasantly surprised when she was walking by and realized they had reopened.

“Nowadays, most of my money, I feel like I just get sucked up by these big corporations,” Wang said. “But it’s really good that they have a nonprofit that’s doing something very sustainable and the money is going to a good place.”

Although the mission has changed, the Boomerangs storefront still carries the same kind of second-hand merchandise including books, home goods, clothes, shoes and music.

More Than Words said it is in talks to potentially reopen the Jamaica Plain Boomerangs location as well.