CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Six Goodwill stores in northern West Virginia are among the first to reopen in the Mountain State since being closed weeks ago as part of the larger response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Customers were welcomed back to stores in Bridgeport, Buckhannon and Elkins on Thursday after Tuesday reopenings at stores for Goodwill of North Central West Virginia in Westover, Morgantown and Fairmont.
“What we saw were sales were pretty strong (to start), but our customer counts were down,” said Andrew Marano, vice president of donated goods retail for Goodwill of North Central West Virginia which also includes counties in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Marano said about 1,000 retail employees were furloughed when the 32 stores in that region were closed on March 19.
For the planned phased-in reopenings, hours at the stores have been reduced to between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily with the first hour dedicated to senior citizens and other customers considered at high risk for COVID-19.
The safety protocols for Goodwill have been updated to reflect guidance for physical distancing and crowd limits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Governor Jim Justice’s office with greeters at store doors to monitor shopper capacity.
Goodwill workers were required to wear masks. They were recommended for customers.
Next Thursday, May 21, will bring reopenings for the 12 retail locations for Goodwill Industries of Kanawha Valley. Those sites include stores in Charleston, Beckley, Oak Hill, Summersville, Ripley, Fairlea and Vienna among others.
Hours at all of those stores were scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays with donation dropoff hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
“Our customers there in our communities, they’re our family and we miss them and we want to see them again. We want to see them healthy,” said Kathy McKinley, director of community relations for Goodwill Industries of Kanawha Valley.
The core mission of Goodwill is to provide employment education and training to people who face various employment barriers.
Retail operations support that mission.
“Goodwill’s not just a retail store and it’s not just a place to drop off your donations,” McKinley said. “We foresee that there will be a lot of folks looking for that kind of support moving ahead (in the pandemic).”
As of Thursday, stores remained closed but donations were being accepted from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Horizon Goodwill locations in Martinsburg, Charles Town, Romney and Keyser.
Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA Area was accepting donations daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at its Barboursville and Huntington locations.
Hours and operations varied at other Goodwill sites in West Virginia.
The Goodwill donation process now requires no contact.
Donated items are put through a sanitation process that includes a multi-day hold as a type of quarantine.
In the stores run through Goodwill Industries of Kanawha Valley, masks were also going to be required for employees and recommended for customers starting with next week’s reopenings.
The approximately 325 employees of Goodwill Industries of Kanawha Valley continued to be paid during the pandemic store closures even though they weren’t working, McKinley reported.
In north central West Virginia, all furloughed workers were not immediately being called to return.
Eventually, Marano said that could become the case depending on future customer numbers.
“If the public becomes more comfortable operating in this kind of new world, I would anticipate we could potentially see an uptick in customer counts with people looking to stretch their dollars and coming to Goodwill,” he said.
“I think we’ve got a good plan in place with the safety of our team members and shoppers and donors as the first priority.”