Austintown Plaza Goodwill store to open in April


By Elise Franco

Photo

CLEAR VIEW: David Michael, left, and James Wolfe are both employees of Tri-State Glass in East Liverpool. They carried a large window into the soon-to-be Goodwill store in the Austintown Plaza. The store opening will mark the eighth Goodwill store for Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries.

AUSTINTOWN — A new Goodwill store will bring at least 20 new jobs into the township by spring.

Michael McBride, executive director of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, said the store will open in early- to mid-April in the space previously occupied by Austintown Movies in the Austintown Plaza.

McBride said the location should prove successful because the plaza already has many established businesses such as Optiview Vision Center, Buffalo Wild Wings, AT&T and JCPenney.

“They have good anchors in that plaza,” he said. “We think it’s a viable location for retail.”

Township Trustee Lisa Oles said she’s glad to see business move into empty spaces in the township.

“Any time an organization or business occupies any vacant space in Austintown, it’s always a good thing,” she said.

Retail-sales director Dave Ivko said the company will hire 15 retail employees, two managers, five donation attendants and a janitor.

He said they haven’t hired anyone yet but will begin the application process soon. McBride said the managers likely will come from other area Goodwill stores.

This won’t be the first time Austintown has been home to the Goodwill name, however, McBride said. A drop-off-only site was closed in October 2008 because it was too costly to operate, he said.

This will be the eighth Goodwill store operated by Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries Inc.

When the store in Struthers was closed in August 2009, McBride said he knew it was time to take another look at bringing a store to the township.

“We felt we needed to have another store,” he said. “We looked at the Austintown market when we opened the store in Boardman but couldn’t do both at the same time.”

Ivko said the renovation and start-up will cost about $125,000. B&B Construction of Youngstown was contracted for the work.

McBride said the new store will be modeled after the Boardman store, which opened in 2007. He said the space is between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet and will be stocked with clothing, home goods and furniture for sale.

“It’s a way for us to generate income so we can provide services to people,” he said. “The Austintown market has shown some growth in population, so we think it will be successful.”

Oles said a discounted place to shop could be important to many residents living in the township.

“I think there are a lot of people in our community who are on fixed incomes,” she said. “They might find a shopping experience like this to be beneficial.”

efranco@vindy.com

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