Why did a downtown thrift shop suddenly close? Here’s what’s up with Goodwill in Fresno
The downtown Fresno Goodwill store is no more.
The thrift shop at 1025 Fulton St. closed Jan. 18. It was a move that took some downtown workers and residents by surprise, with a post about it on the Facebook group For the Love of Downtown Fresno attracting 35 comments. Many mourned the loss of the store.
The organization is looking to open a new location – though it says it doesn’t necessarily have to be downtown.
Goodwill also recently opened a 1,500-square foot donation-only storefront location in north Fresno at the Marketplace at El Paseo, near UPS and the Vans store. That’s the shopping center near Herndon Avenue and Highway 99.
You can’t shop there, but the location accepts donations, with a few designated parking spaces in front.
Back in downtown Fresno, the store’s lease expired after 15 years, said Denise Ost, the CEO of Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin Valley.
She knows what the organization needs for its next location: “What we need is more space,” she said.
The downtown store had about 4,500-square feet of sales floor space. It was significantly smaller than many other area Goodwill stores. The organization like to have a sales floor that’s at least 8000 square feet, Ost said.
“We were not able to accept donations sat the Fulton Mall location,” she said. “We had to ship everything in there. With the cost of doing business, it was taking money away from our mission.”
Goodwill provides low-cost merchandise to the community and work experience for people facing barriers to employment, including veterans and people with disabilities.
“Fresno is good to us and we look forward to continuing to provide services and low-cost merchandise for people in the community,” Ost said.
The organization is cleaning out the space in preparation to hand over the keys at the end of the month while it actively looks for a new spot. A “for lease” sign is on the building.
Just where the new store will be – in downtown or otherwise – depends upon on finding the right building, Ost said.
Size, demographics, ease of accepting donations, safety and lighting are factors to consider, she said.
“We’re looking for the right location with the right demographics for shoppers and donors,” she said. “The location is based on those demographics. We’ve got to have the traffic, we like to have some adjacency, other retail (nearby), a place where donors feel safe coming.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 11:25 AM.
