Greater demand for services, monies to meet missions drives Goodwill to open two new stores in one month
North Fort Myers-based Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida Inc. opened two new stores in October, now bringing the total stores to 26 in the five-county area.
Goodwill serves Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties with programs and services for people with disabilities and other disadvantages. Revenue from sales and donations are critical to helping the organization fulfill an ever-growing need for services and fund its many missions, officials said.
“The reason for opening two new stores so quickly is simple,” Goodwill CEO Tom Feurig said. “We have grown 25 percent in the number of people we are serving. Our mission is to make people as independent as possible.”
By August, unduplicated aid by the organization surpassed last year’s numbers, with four more months to go in the year.
One example of key programs is assisting in finding employment, an ever-growing need, along with providing for other programs.
“One way to do that is to expand our revenue from our retail operations, and we need to grow as an organization,” Feurig said.
“What we are finding is people are looking for stores like Goodwill for their needs. That also puts great pressure on our need to find donations,” he said. “It’s important to note that greater than 85 percent of our revenue comes from retail operations.”
The first center to open last month was a bookstore and convenient drop-off site, at 15165 McGregor Blvd., near the McGregor Point Shopping Center.
It has already been successful.
“We are far ahead of our estimates and fueling that needed growth,” Feurig said.
The other location opened Thursday in the Arbor Towne Square, formerly the Arborgate shopping center, at the intersection of Treeline Avenue and Colonial Boulevard, at 10676 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers.
The location is great because so many Gateway and Lehigh Acres residents drive past every day, Goodwill’s director of public relations, Kirsten O Donnell, said. Goodwill wants to make it as convenient as possible for people east of Interstate 75 to shop and donate.
Convenience will be the key to the draws of the new centers, specifically for donations, she said. Both locations have drive-throughs.
“People like that,” O Donnell said.
The new stores also offer employment opportunities, including those for disabled individuals.
The funds stores draw assist Goodwill programs such as career training and placement services, transportation assistance, income-sensitive housing and youth programs, such as the L.I.F.E. Academy, a Lee County charter school for students with developmental disabilities.
To learn about the stores, donation centers and programs, go to: www.goodwillswfl.org.