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Vice President of Marketing Cindy Graham inside the new Fishers/Geist retail store, Olio and 116th.
A new Goodwill store opened it’s doors in Geist/Fishers on Valentine’s Day to a group of eager shoppers and a burst of new snow! “I was a little worried the snow would scare away shoppers for our grand opening!” says Cindy Graham, Vice President of Marketing. “But, that wasn’t the case. We had more than 30 people in line and several more waiting in their cars.”
The new 15,000 square foot store is located at 11501 Geist Pavilion Drive, near 116th Street and Olio Road, in the former home of Party Tree. It is the 47th Goodwill retail store in central Indiana, 8th in Hamilton County and brand new to the Geist/Fishers area.
Why Geist? Graham says Goodwill looks for a couple of things when scouting out a new area for a retail store. “We want to see residential growth like we still see throughout the Geist/Fishers area and we need people with stuff that they want to donate!” laughs Graham.
But, that is how Goodwill works, donations are accepted daily at Goodwill stores and the items are then sorted and put up for sale. Employees are hired to work the retail stores and revenue generated from the sale of the goods helps fund education and services in central Indiana for adults and youth. At the Geist/Fishers Goodwill store, as in other Goodwill retail stores, several employees were hired from the area. “We have 50 employees here at the new Geist/Fishers store,” says Graham, “26 of them are from the area.”
Along with putting some local residents to work, the new Goodwill store offers around 90,000 pieces of modern and vintage designer clothing, household items, furniture, books and toys. There’s even a full rack of swimwear in the front of the store — it’s never too early to think Spring! Graham says their shoppers know they’ll find quality, brand name merchandise at a fraction of the price. “That’s what makes it so great shopping at Goodwill,” says Graham, “not to mention the thrill of the hunt!”
Goodwill uses a color coding system that shows shoppers the original price and then the discounted price after a period of time. “Items are discounted until they sell,” explains Graham. “We don’t throw items away.”
Reward cards are also offered at the new store, donations can win you prizes! Store and Drive-thru Donation Center hours are 9am to 9pm Monday – Saturday and 11am to 7pm on Sunday. Welcome Goodwill!
{{Goodwill uses a color coding system that shows shoppers the original price and then the discounted price after a period of time. “Items are discounted until they sell,” explains Graham. “We don’t throw items away.”}}
What is this referring to? There are a variety of colored barbs and sticker tags, and one color is chosen each week to be 50% off. Other than that, I've never seen anything that shows the price reduced over time.
I adore Goodwill and am a frequent shopper, but based on my recent visit to the new store at 116th & Olio, many of the kid's clothing items SHOULD have been thrown away, or never put out on the floor in the first place. Designer? At least half of the children's shirts were the kind you receive free with participation in summer camp or sports leagues, or promotional shirts with company logos. Is there really a market for these things? Many of the remainder of the shirts had old/worn/pilling/stiff/faded fabric, stains or holes. I love the thrill of the hunt and will patiently sift through racks of items to snag one or two great finds. However, I can't justify spending time hunting through clothing that isn't even garage-sale worthy, when I could run to the Kohl's clearance rack and get something brand new, organized by size and easier to find, and up-to-date for almost the same price (which I did, the very next day).
(cont'd) The clothing racks at Goodwill are usually packed so full that it's hard to shop anyway, so my strong advice would be to weed out the junk and not even put it out on the floor. Or, throw those old summer camp T-shirts into a bin and sell them cheaper, or for rags. You're wasting valuable retail space with items that surely no one is buying. People have come to expect more from Goodwill, and I personally expect a little more from the Geist location. I was excited about a Goodwill opening up very near where I live, but so far I'm disappointed. Please think twice about what you're putting out on the floor and whether it's actually worth the price. I wouldn't pay 15 cents for someone else's old day camp T-shirt, but you're blindly, and boldly, charging $1.99 for anything you can overstuff onto those racks. Keep the shopping experience fun and lucrative, or customers will think twice about stopping in. This sincere advice is coming from someone who donates and spends hundreds of dollars at your stores each year.
This Goodwill will be so bad for the area. The houses up here aren't cheap. Most people are well off enough to the point that they don't need or want to shop at Goodwill. It's just a convenient location for them to drop off their junk and get a tax write-off.
The bad part is that all the people from down in Lawrence/Indianapolis who aren't well off will all come to the Fishers location to try to get name brand stuff for cheap. Soon, we'll see Olio looking like 38th Street.
WOW…are you forreal ….LOL
To anti-urban:
Just a few words to consider next time you decide to leave a blog before doing you homework:
1 – Remember, when Goodwill restocks their merchandise, Goodwill will pull inventory from a main distribution facility, not from the local neighborhood donations. What, did you think they actually waited to open the store once the ever-pouring generosity of the Geist area residents decided to donate there so called gently used crap? NO!
2 – Yes, paying for $1.99 for a 1989 DO-RUN-RUN Indy marathon T-shirt does seem a little expensive. But once again if one "anti-urban" blogger would do their homework, then they would see that the proceeds of the purchase go to a good cause i.e. job programs for the needy ECT. But I guess when you are so well "to do" one would tend to forget some people need a helping hand from an agency that is NOT government sponsored.
3 – If you are looking for name brand, stay at Kohl's, American Eagle, and Abercrombie and Fitch!
4 – Finally, what does it matter where a person lives and where the decide to shop? Just because a person is from Lawrence or Indianapolis area makes this person lower than you? This person is spending money in YOUR community! Sounds like we have a little case of bigotry on our hands here. All over a Goodwill Store?
So in conclusion, You must have more money than brains, because the way I see it, you obviously have no respect for anybody other than yourself! In fact, I bet you will be the first person to claim that tax write-off next year because you decided to huck off your crappy broken down something or other! Maybe next time before you leave a nasty comment about other peoples communities, remember one thing: No matter where you buy you clothes, we all have to put them on the same way!
Good grief! Don't you know we have a fence planned to keep them from straying the parking lot? ((rolling eyes))