ST. JOHN | With an odor of newness lingering, the Visitor's Center and Gift Shop at The Shrine of Christ's Passion opened Monday.

Since then, a steady stream of shoppers and visitors has kept volunteers at the nonprofit agency busy greeting those interested not only in making purchases, but in viewing the architecture -- faux marble pillars and arches -- and fine artwork that lines the walls.

The gift shop is built on the site many may recall as the Marian Wayside Shrine, a popular sight for drivers along U.S. 41, since the 1950s. It is the first, completed phase of The Shrine of Christ's Passion, set to open in spring, as is a nearby, newly constructed St. John Evangelist Catholic Church.

While visitors to the gift shop can find everything from Christmas ornaments, wall crosses and cards, it is the artwork -- framed prints, paintings and carvings, that set it apart.

Cast bronze sculptures of Jesus and the Pieta, by Mickey Wells, the Amarillo, Texas, artist whose life-sized bronze statues will grace the shrine's prayer trail, are the most expensive, with a bust of Jesus priced at $12,500. Some religion-themed paintings in the $600 adorning the walls have already been marked as sold.

"It will cost a lot of money to maintain the shrine," Paul Anderson, co-manager of the center and shop said, pointing to the necessity to light 40 bronze statues that will line the shrine's path, as well as general maintenance and possible security expenses.

The money made from the gift shop operation is earmarked to cover maintenance and security costs, he said, adding any proceeds beyond that would be donated to charity.

The shrine campus is only a mile away from one of the region's top religious gifts retailers, Boric Religious Supply, in St. John.

"I'm sure there will be some competition in the beginning, but we're not out to be competitive," Anderson said, explaining he expects gift shop purchases to primarily come from the bus tour visitors, not locally. The shrine's campus includes parking space for 10 tour buses, expected to deliver visitors from across the country and abroad.

Boric Helen Dorin said, "You know, I think the shrine is a wonderful undertaking ... It's awe inspiring."

As for competition, Dorin said there will be a certain level of competition with the shrine's gift shop.

"We are a destination store, one of a few religious goods stores," she said, adding, "That's free enterprise ... It will make us polish what we do."

Anderson noted merchandising designers from Louisa's Hallmark in St. John volunteered services for the gift shop's layout.

While the bulk of volunteers for the Marian Wayside Foundation operation, which includes the center and shop, as well as the multi-million-dollar shrine, are from St. John the Evangelist Church, currently located at 93rd Avenue and U.S. 41, Anderson said it is an ecumenical effort. The church and foundation technically are separate entities.

"We're here to touch people's hearts. We want to appeal to all faiths," he said.

Anderson pointed to a sign he uses when training volunteers, which: "Guests are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say, 'I was a stranger and you welcomed me.' Proper care must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith, and to pilgrims. Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received."