Goodwill Plans New Outlet Store to Handle More Donations

Goodwill Industries is expanding to better handle the steady flow of donations, including plans for a new outlet store to open next year.

At Goodwill's West Tulsa campus, donations—ranging from clothing to housewares—are sorted, with staff carefully selecting items for retail stores.

“We don’t want a worn-out sweater that someone wore a lot, or jeans with extra holes that aren’t supposed to be there,” said Lori Lyons, Goodwill’s textile supervisor.

The work focuses on providing the best donations for Goodwill retail stores, which rely on high-quality items to meet customer expectations.

“Goodwill has a reputation for having high-quality stores and high-quality merchandise, and our customers expect that,” said David Oliver, Goodwill’s longtime CEO.

Oliver said the new outlet store will give items that are less-than-perfect or slow-moving a second chance to sell, while also creating jobs for people transitioning out of the criminal justice system.

“People would be surprised to know how many goods we go through to get to what goes in the stores and sells in the stores, and when they can shop the outlet, they’ll see the volume of goods that doesn’t go to the stores,” Oliver said.

Goodwill employs 150 people in its sorting operation, with a primary focus on workforce training. The new outlet will allow more items to be sold, reduce waste, and provide job skills to more people working for the charity.

The outlet store will open on the other end of the Goodwill campus in March and will operate on weekdays.