The nonprofit is relocating its Dixie Village store to a new location on Union Road
Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont is relocating one of its Gaston County stores to a larger location in the Union Hudson Crossing Shopping Center in south Gastonia. The new store and donation center, located at 2204 Union Rd. will open at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 19.
“We are proud to be able to renovate and reinvigorate this space, which had been dormant since April 2018. This is a great location for Goodwill that creates opportunities for improved customer and donor experiences over the previous location, with a larger shopping footprint and the addition of a drive-up donation drop-off,” said Barbara Maida-Stolle, chief operations officer for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. “We appreciate the support we’ve already received from the local community, whose patronage through shopping and donating directly funds our mission to provide career training and employment services to anyone who needs them, free of charge.”
The 42,680 square-foot former grocery store will be divided into a retail store and donation center with 11,300 square feet of shopping space, with the remaining space dedicated to the organization’s growing e-commerce operation, ShopGoodwill.com. The auction site helps to fund the Goodwill mission with a handpicked selection of antiques, electronics, clothing, jewelry, and much more. 19 team members currently working at the Dixie Village store and 38 e-commerce team members will be relocating to the new space. Goodwill will hire an additional eight people to join the growing team at this location. This new location has an estimated economic impact of $7 million annually, including wages and sales.
Goodwill has long been a part of the Gastonia community. The Dixie Village store first opened its doors in April 1986, followed by another store and donation center in the Franklin Square shopping center, which opened in October 1991. The nonprofit’s retail operations aren’t its only presence in the area. Goodwill delivers training opportunities in construction, IT, customer service and other employment services like resume building, mock interview practices and more through its Goodwill Job Connection on Armstrong St. In 2019, more than 1,700 people received support through the Gastonia Job Connection. This location also houses a branch of the organization’s staffing service, GoodWork Staffing, which provides temporary, temp-to-hire, executive recruiting, outsourcing, direct hire, onsite management and payroll services. Individuals looking for employment support can visit goodwillsp.org to connect with a Goodwill career navigator to learn about the current virtual services available free of charge.
“Gastonia is a vibrant community, and we are proud to recommit to a long-term home here with this unique new Goodwill location. We look forward to continuing to serve the community here with our mission services, which we know are in need at this time as unemployment levels reach record highs,” said Chris Jackson, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. “We look forward to welcoming shoppers and donors to this improved location – and especially right now, to do so with a focus on health and safety.”
Goodwill takes the health and safety of its team members and community very seriously. The store will be operating on limited hours from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday – Saturday and 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Sunday, and will limit the number of people in the store to maintain safe distancing. The new store will also follow the same safety protocols currently in place in the 25 other stores operated by Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. This includes the wearing of masks and gloves by team members, installation of sneeze guards at all registers, regular disinfecting, and required safety trainings and check-ins for all team members prior to each shift. A full list of safety protocols and procedures can be accessed here.
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