Chattanooga Goodwill Industries will open its fourth store in Hamilton County and its 14th – and largest – store in its 23-county service area. The store is in East Brainerd at 7601 East Brainerd Road in a former Food Lion grocery store location in the Stratman Crossing Plaza. The ribbon-cutting will take place at 9 a.m. this Thursday.
The 40,000 sq. ft. retail facility also ushers in a “whole new look” for Chattanooga Goodwill stores, according to Retail Stores Director Daniel Moore. “It’s a fresh, new approach in merchandising and store layout,” he said. The store will have a staff of about 30 full-time and part-time people.
The store features large Community Room for meetings for local clubs and organizations. The room can be reserved free of charge for use by any organization by calling the East Brainerd Store manager.
“We expect the room to be busy all the time,” said Moore. Goodwill’s youth mentoring program, YouthAdvantage, will run its summer program from the East Brainerd Community Room. “This large room gives us even more opportunity to educate people about our services for people with disabilities. It’s also the only available community room in East Brainerd.”
The new retail facility will house Chattanooga Goodwill’s “e-Business” enterprise, which includes online auction site “shopgoodwill” and a new e-books program.
A unique feature is a niche retail area for pets and animals. The “Goodwill Pet Boutique” will offer a variety of donated items for pets of all kinds, including dogs, cats, hamsters, fish and more. All Pet Boutique sales proceeds will help support Goodwill Assistance Dog Academy. The Bone Appetit Bakery, a vendor partner of the Pet Boutique, will donate unsold items from its own store at 103 Frazier Avenue.
Bird houses and feeders, constructed by clients and employees of one of Goodwill’s newest employment-related mission programs, “Fly Away Homes,” will be featured, as well. The East Brainerd store will be the only Goodwill retail outlet that offers the full line of Fly Away Homes products.
“We are always excited to open a new store, but we are particularly excited about East Brainerd because of the community center at this new location,” said Dennis Brice, president and CEO of Chattanooga Goodwill Industries.
Tax-deductible donations of gently- used items will be accepted at the new Goodwill store from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. Regular store hours will be Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.