Over 100 people waited in line for the doors to open to the new Austintown Goodwill store on Thursday, April 8. The three-day grand opening celebration generated nearly $21,000 in sales and saw over 1,800 customers make purchases.  

The grand opening totals easily surpassed the previous record for sales and customer count set by the Boardman store grand opening. “The Austintown grand opening exceeded all expectations,” said David Ivko, retail sales director. “Customers seemed very pleased, and we were ecstatic by the response we got from the community.”

Customers enjoyed 30% off all new merchandise and 50% off all donated merchandise during the three-day celebration. In addition, the first 50 customers in the door for the opening received Goodwill store gift certificates. On Saturday, the Junior Group of Goodwill added some excitement to the festivities with a jewelry sale on the sidewalk of the plaza and inside at the front of the store. 

The new store is located in the Austintown Plaza (old theater location) on Mahoning Avenue. The store, which is over 12,000 square feet, features brighter lighting and updated fixtures. The store is open Monday-Saturday from 10am-8pm, and Sunday noon-5pm. A donation center is located behind the store in the back of the plaza.

The Austintown location is the eighth store for Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries joining stores in Boardman, Calcutta, Hermitage, Liberty, New Castle, Salem and Warren. Like the other eight area Goodwill stores, the Austintown store sells both donated and new merchandise and holds a 50% off donated merchandise sale the last Friday and Saturday of every month.

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, The Youngstown Foundation and The Raymond John Wean Foundation provided funding to help with the opening of the Austintown Store. Proceeds from the Junior Group of Goodwill Antique and Collectible auction were also used to help open the store.

The opening of the Austintown store allowed Goodwill to employ 15 people from the surrounding area. In addition to creating jobs in the community, all revenues generated from the local Goodwill stores stay in the Youngstown area to provide job training and employment services to people with disabilities or other barriers to employment. The generous donations made by the community at Goodwill’s donation centers allow Goodwill to operate stores and provide jobs to nearly 300 people.