Goodwill of Orange County has a 10-year plan to double its footprint locally and shoppers filling their carts this weekend in an underserved section of Anaheim and Buena Park is the launch.
A new 23,942-square-foot Goodwill OC store opened Friday morning, filling a void where there hadn’t been one of the thrift stores in easy reach. And local residents got one of the largest locations in Goodwill OC’s inventory.
Now Goodwill OC leaders plan to plug stores into other regions of the county where they have little existing presence and bolster their mission in the community.
“When most people think of our name, they think donation centers and retail stores,” Goodwill OC CEO Nicole Suydam said. “What we are really most proud of is what we are doing to change lives and help people develop careers.”
Shopping in the stores and donating goods support job training and creation for the variety of people the organization services, such as veterans transitioning from military life, people with disabilities and other facing various barriers or challenges, Suydam said.
With the support of donations and retail sales, she said, “we are able to create job opportunities for people in our community.”
Goodwill OC unveiled earlier this year an expansion plan that includes doubling its retail footprint over the next decade. The new store at 790 N. Brookhurst St., in Anaheim, is the first in that campaign and will be followed in a few months with a second Orange store, this one in the city’s northern corner, closer to Villa Park.
“We don’t have very much presence in south Orange County” beyond a store in Lake Forest and one in San Juan Capistrano, Suydam said. That will be an area of focus for the expansion.
“Our donors and shoppers are very generous at those stores,” she said.
By the next decade, Goodwill OC has the “bold goal” of having grown to about 50 stores, she said, and its market research supports that goal.
Thrift shopping is one of the fastest growing segments of retail, Suydam said, supported in part by a younger generation that values “a more ethical approach to shopping” by reusing and repurposing items.
“Thrift shopping,” Suydam said, “is definitely here to stay.”
