BINGO!! I do hope that they are monitored well, since they have a tax exempt status!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I took my mom to the Goodwill Thrift store before going to a birthday party. I had my camera with me so I took some pictures. So here they are. It actually reminds me of AJ Wright. It seems to be set up the same.
Jo ann, something I noticed, they seem to have many of the same item. Doesn't this store rely on donations, i.e, a second hand store? I can't imagine for example that it would be merely coincidence that there are five people who choose to donate, say, a skirt, and each happens to have the same identical skirt
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Oh, about the tax exempt. OK, they pay sales taxes. Surely they have to pay all applicable employer taxes on behalf of their employes. But I don't think the tax exempt status affects them. Nigro Properties owns the property and I would think Nigro pays proepty and school taxes on the property still. I mean Goodwill doesn't own the property.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Yes, here are a lot of the same things there. I'm sort of wondering where they got the stuff to start out, considering it didn't seem like there were people running to make donations. Maybe over time, it will be more to the end of donations, but they do have a bit of new things there right now. I don't know, do they usually mix new stuff and donations? Are the new things donations from somewhere?
JoAnn, They gave you no problem with taking the pictures? Probably good advertising. Get any good deals? We picked up some good jeans for the little ones for a good price, think they were $2.99 each for kids jeans.
Like most low price stores or dollar stores I think that they buy selected items from other stores who are going out of business or are going bankrupt so that they can but the items for practically nothing.
First, no one really noticed or seemed to care that I was taking picures. I took quite a few more, but there were customers in them and didn't think that they would appreciate me putting them on the internet. And yes they do have a few of the same item. I also thought that it was possibly articles that were attained through another store buyout. There were clothes there that still had tags on them. For example,some from Old Navy. And the shoes, if you looked at the souls, you could tell were never worn. Even the used clothes were in excellent condition. They even have a book section in the back of the store. I really wanted to get a picture of that, since I thought it was neat, but there were too many customers around it. They have everything from mens suits, baby clothes, womens clothes, shoes, sheets, dishes and jewelry. They even had a section for Holloween.
All in all, the store was immaculate, but it has only been opened for 2 days. And the employees were very nice. There were 2 young boys with dust mops cleaning the floors as well. We will check it out again in about 6 months.
Sorry to get back to you so late. Basically, from what I understand, the proceeds from the store get lumped to the non-profit, which then purses it out among several organizations it runs.
Here's a small list: -Continuing Day Treatment: assests persons with mental illness in learning social and daily living skills.
-Vocational Evaluation and Training: helps people with disabilities determine a line of work.
-Community employement: finds jobs for people with disablities and supplies a job coach to train them and settle them in.
-Clubhouses: gives people with psychiatric disabilities a place to build social, learning and job skills.
-Extended Rehabilition Services: provides contract work for disabled people, including packaging, assembly, janitorial and messenger services.
- Good Temps: places disabled people in long term temporary jobs, such as office work.
From what I can tell, many of these services are located closer to New York City. However, a brochure given to me by Goodwill states that the company strives "to be supportive of the community where they live." I hope that answers some questions. I'll try to call Mauricio later this week if I get a chance to see exactly where these services are located in upstate and how many people they serve.
It could be an interesting story if they do indeed invest a lot of the profit back into their respective communities. However, I'd be more lending to the belief that the city eats the lion's share of these funds.
Regards, Justin
And I did invite Justin to the website. If you are reading this, Justin, thanks so much.
By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer First published: Wednesday, September 5, 2007
ROTTERDAM -- Goodwill has opened its first store in Schenectady County, giving bargain hunters a new place to find inexpensive items.
Since its Aug. 30 opening, patrons have had the chance to select from shelves of donated goods and some new merchandise, ranging from housewares and clothes inside the store and donation center at the Altamont Avenue Hannaford supermarket plaza, according to Mauricio Hernandez, senior vice president of retail sales for Goodwill Industries of Greater New York & Northern New Jersey.
While most of the 24,000-square-foot building will be dedicated to retail space, the remainder will be used for processing and storage of donated items, he added.
Though Goodwill mostly depends on its other stores for initial merchandise, donations had already started to trickle in early last week, said Rick Ressler, area manager for the retail division. So far, he said, the region has been extremely supportive.
Eventually, Goodwill plans to team up with a local company and the facility will double as a job training center, Hernandez added.
"We believe that we're one more store in the mix that offers very unique merchandise," Hernandez said, noting the store carries a lot of vintage clothing and some brand name items.
"We're not exclusively for low-income customers because today's consumers are more sophisticated and people who are looking for bargains, regardless of income bracket, find our stores appealing." The store will employ 15 part-time and about five full-time workers, Ressler said.
Proceeds will be used to fund other Goodwill programs. The nonprofit organization serves hundreds of thousands of people each year.
There are already Goodwill stores in Troy, Colonie and Amsterdam, Hernandez said.
In all, there are 34 of them in the greater New York and northern New Jersey region.
Nelson can be reached at 454-5347 or by e-mail at pnelson@timesunion.com.
Thanks Justin for the information! And I have to agree, that most of the services they provide funding to is probably more downstate. Although, with the city of Schenectady having a population of approx. 60% of the residents on government assistance, perhaps they could use some of these services. No to mention their products.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler