A late January 38th street store ribbon cutting officially launched a new look for Goodwill thrift stores in southwest Washington
The re-opening of the 32,800 square foot Goodwill 38th Street Store (3121 South 38th Street, Tacoma) provides a first glimpse at a new store design that will expand across 15 counties in southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula over the next four years.
The new store design appeals to a broader customer base, including a younger audience. It will also help people shop for more treasures, creating more revenue for our job training programs in a variety of career fields. And finally it will provide for a better overall customer experience. Similar renovations are nearly completed at the Federal Way and Auburn Goodwill stores. In all, seven locations are planned for renovation this year.
Goodwill’s new retail venue will improve the customer shopping experience by making difficult to display merchandise – one of a kind and unique donations – easier to shop for. Layout features more organization and visible non-stacked merchandise. An electronic testing station, easy to read signage, an airy lit atmosphere, and central, spacious fitting rooms complement the effort. Converting cashier locations from multi-line supermarket style checkout to a single serpentine line ensures you don’t end up in the slow lane and entices shoppers to consider additional merchandise. And store pricing will not go up to accommodate store design.
Store revenue funds free job training and job placement in a variety of career fields through our four regional Work Opportunity Centers and two satellite offices. In the past year 9,841 unemployed residents were provided job training and other education in a variety of career fields and 3,046 were placed with area jobs with the help of our 1,332 business partners. Goodwill’s business model of turning donations into thrift store operations to fund the mission of putting the unemployed back to work also keeps household goods out of area landfills.