By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois will open the doors of its 12th and newest store on Thursday at the former Gander Mountain along Perryville Road.
The store at 3068 McFarland Road will open at 9 a.m. after the nonprofit spent months renovating the space. Goodwill purchased the building for $2.15 million in October.
The store offers more than 16,000 square feet of shopping space, a location to donate, a used bookstore and media center, and it will be home to mission programs that help people find meaningful employment.
“We can’t wait to open our doors for customers to enjoy our new concept store, see our mission programs in action and provide the community a convenient place to donate,” Ben Bernsten, president of Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois, said in a news release. “This store went from vision to reality and we couldn’t be more proud of everyone who played a role in making this happen.”
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Goodwill said the store will deliver many benefits to the community, such as workforce training and employment, new sales tax revenue for Rockford, a free community room space for nonprofits and other organizations to use and recycling opportunities.
The Perryville Goodwill also has a drive-thru donation center, which workers were putting the finishing touches on Wednesday afternoon.
All of Goodwill’s existing retail stores will remain open.
Grand opening giveaways and specials will span the entire weekend, including gift card giveaways from area businesses, free tote bags to the first 250 customers at checkout, live radio remotes, a scavenger hunt for giveaways, balloons for kids, book readings from Rockford area authors, a coloring event and a grand prize giveaway of an an Oculus Quest 2 All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset.
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Perryville Goodwill | At a glance
Where: 3069 McFarland Road, Rockford
Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Sunday
Donation center hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
More info: goodwillni.org/grandopening
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.