ABERDEEN — This summer, “goodwill” will be spreading to Route 35 in the heart of Cliffwood Beach.
Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization, will open its first Monmouth County retail location at 296 Route 35 in the township, inside a 10,908-square-foot building formerly occupied by Rite Aid.
“We get so many calls from Monmouth County and people want a convenient place to donate,” said Goodwill spokeswoman Juli Lundberg.
The Aberdeen site will be the 19th Goodwill store in the entire state and the first for the Jersey Shore.
“Shopping at Goodwill just makes good sense. It is a green thing to do in today’s society when so many people want to go green, what’s better than recycling and buying gently used clothing? You are also supporting a great cause,” Lundberg said.
The store and donation center will offer used clothing, accessories, household items, toys and furniture. Donations are processed for sale by store employees and are inspected for quality before making their way onto the sales floor.
The company is community-based and is governed by a volunteer board of trustees who uphold a motto of “donate to us what you would give to a friend.”
“It’s such a vast selection and every day is different,” Lundberg said. “In our other stores, we have shoppers that come in three or four times a week because we are not like regular merchants. Our selection is constantly changing. There are constantly different things on the floor. It’s like a treasure hunt for what you can find.”
The store management is welcoming donations from area residents, however, certain items such as cosmetics, skin-care products, paint and mattresses cannot be accepted because of safety and storage reasons.
“We don’t put things that are dingy or torn or stained out on the floor,” Lundberg said. “They can come to us, get high-quality merchandise, and they are paying a fraction of what they would get in big-box stores.”
Each donation also has a larger benefit outside the local community, Lundberg explained. The money that Goodwill generates in the retail stores is directly funneled into job training programs for people with disabilities.
Approximately 88 cents of every dollar Goodwill earns in sales goes toward career services training, offering educational opportunities to put people to work, she said.
At this time, a career services program is not available at the Monmouth location, but the store management is hoping to expand over time.
“Our programs are key in this economy,” she said. “For example, in our Maple Shade building, we have job club every Wednesday. People are invited and there is no fee. You can meet with our career counselors, talk about career goals, get help with your résumé and get some guidance. The better our stores do, the more we are able to widen these programs and expand the reach of them.”
Creating jobs in the region is also an objective of the company. The Aberdeen Goodwill is an equal opportunity employer and plans to hire 12 to 15 new staff members for the Route 35 location.
According to Lundberg, the company chose the Aberdeen location by matching the demographics of the area with its centralized, convenient location. Public transportation and Exit 117 on the Garden State Parkway are nearby.
Renovations inside the former pharmacy building are still under way and an official grand opening date for the store has not been scheduled yet. A late June opening is anticipated.
“We are confident that our Aberdeen locationwill please both shoppers and donors,” said Michael Shaw, Goodwill’s chief operating officer. “As a pioneer in the recycling business, Goodwill can greatly contribute to the town’s green efforts as well as provide incredible values to cost-conscious consumers.”
A letter was sent to the Township Council about Goodwill’s arrival in the neighborhood. Aberdeen recently launched a new business council to foster relationships with local merchants, as well as a township “green team” to encourage sustainable development.
“We are honored that Goodwill Industries selected Aberdeen Township as their location to expand into Monmouth County,” Mayor Fred Tagliarini said. “We look forward to their June grand opening.”
Bayshore area residents looking to make donations can drop off items they no longer need in exchange for a tax deduction. Donors can receive a receipt for all the items they contribute.
The site will also feature a certified recycling center to safely dispose of old computers, printers, scanners, fax machines and other technological hardware.
Nationwide, Goodwill operates 2,400 retail locations. According to figures from 2009, more than 1.9 million people benefited from the career services program.
Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia was established in 1948 to encourage recycling and fund career training for local residents with special needs.
For more information, visit www.goodwillnj. org.