Store fills niche in hard times

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Store fills niche in hard times

County News

Friday, 08 April 2011 15:02

By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer
The Goodwill store may conjure up memories of donating outgrown clothes or rummaging for a unique item. For Bill Oakley, the new president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Florida, the organization is taking on new meaning, specifically in Osceola County.
Oakley is excited about the remodeling of the Kissimmee Goodwill retail store designed to make donating goods easier and shopping more fun and appealing to the masses.
The 20-year-old store’s facelift – which included painting and new shelving and fixtures – came amid a 10 percent increase in shoppers last year, Oakley said.
“We sell snowflakes. Everything we sell at Goodwill is unique,” Oakley said during a tour of the remodeled store at 1363 E. Vine St. “More than half of our customers are back in our stores within two weeks looking for that one-of-a-kind item.”
The store also sees as many as 60 donors each day, he said.
“We do as well as we do because Central Floridians are so generous,” Oakley said.
Part of Oakley’s overall plan is to improve internal donor services and visibility of the brand as well as improve the quality of the merchandise sold in Goodwill stores.
“We think we can make more friends if we can make people more aware of what we do,” he said.
The Kissimmee Self Sufficiency Job Center, also run by Goodwill, is aimed at helping Osceola County residents find local jobs and hone skills, such as interviewing.
The center, at 101 Cypress St., offers the unemployed and underemployed support while job searching. Since the facility opened in 2004, more than 9,800 people have sought assistance there and more than 2,200 people found jobs through that assistance, Oakley said.
Job seekers can receive help with their résumés, practice interviewing, search for jobs online and seek other governmental assistance, for free. Assistance is available in both English and Spanish.
“We open the door to anybody,” Lourdes Vazquez, center coordinator, said.
Unique options include the Hello-line, available for job seekers without a phone number to leave for prospective employers, and Job Club, a three-day, full day workshop aimed at building interviewing skills and confidence. Graduates receive a free haircut, courtesy of a local salon, and a voucher for a free interview outfit at a Goodwill store.
“Then there’s no excuse,” Vazquez said about not having suitable interview attire.
Inmates at the Osceola County Jail also benefit from the center with periodic mini-sessions of the Job Club, a feature Oakley is especially proud of.
“Finding a job is a horse race,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the small things: a firm handshake, looking people in the eye. We just provide the support.”
The Kissimmee center is one of the more successful and busiest facilities, according to Oakley.
“This county has struggled more than other counties we have served,” he said. “There is a need and that makes an enormous difference in utilization.”
Oakley said he wants the public to equate Goodwill with asset building, looking toward a self-sufficient life void of living paycheck-to-paycheck and finding a job stable enough where an illness or car trouble does not “derail” employment.
“I don’t think, in the 109-year history of Goodwill, when there was a time when we were needed more,” Oakley said. “I don’t think there’s a place that needs us more than Central Florida.”