BRATTLEBORO — Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires and Southern Vermont will hold a grand opening of its new store and donation center in Brattleboro on Saturday, Dec. 17, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Royal Square Shopping Center, 768 Putney Road (Route 5), next to Staples.
A ribbon-cutting celebration with opening remarks and special guests will be held at 11 a.m. Door prizes will be given out all day.
The 23,000-square-foot store and donation center, located in the space formerly occupied first by JCPenney and later by Peebles, features a 10,000-square-foot sales floor. The back room, where donated merchandise is sorted, processed, and priced, and the dock area comprise the remaining 13,000 square feet at the location.
According to a news release, Goodwill “will offer customers a welcoming, department store type of experience. Shopper-friendly features include four cash registers, six fitting rooms, piped-in music, and easily accessible shopping throughout the sales floor” with store merchandise that has been “specially selected by Goodwill employees through donations of top quality, gently-used and new items, including clothing, housewares, furniture, electrical items, and other unique, one-of-a-kind items.”
Donations will be accepted at the Brattleboro store beginning on Dec. 17. Goodwill accepts gently used clothing, household goods, books, records, CDs, furniture, computer equipment, electronics, and monetary donations. For a complete list of items that are accepted for donation, visit goodwill-berkshires.org/donate.
According to Senior Project Manager and Vice President of Territory Expansion Maryam Kamangar, it took “more than four years of searching to find this great location that has plenty of parking and ample sales floor and backroom production spaces. Another bonus is that the shopping center can be easily reached by public transportation.”
Brattleboro is the third town in southern Vermont that will be home to a Goodwill store and donation center operated by the Pittsfield, Massachusetts-based nonprofit. Its other Vermont locations are in Bennington and Rutland, and in Pittsfield, North Adams, Great Barrington, and Lee in Massachusetts.
Founded in 1956, Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires and Southern Vermont is a 501(c)3 nonprofit community enterprise that says it “helps all people in our communities enhance their dignity and the quality of life, gaining confidence, pride, independence, and self-sufficiency through employment training and other support services, in collaboration with local resources.”
Kamangar said the organization plans to open a mission services career center within the Brattleboro store in 2023 that will provide job seekers with assistance in writing resumes, employability workshops, and job skills training programs.