SW Valley Times

Goodwill has initiated a plan to open 21 of its 90 stores that operate in Central and Northern Arizona. 

According to AZCentral, Scottsdale and Phoenix will have three stores opened each, while Surprise, Goodyear, Mesa and Peoria will have two stores opened in each location. Queen Creek, Maricopa, Apache junction, Chandler, Tempe, Buckeye and Glendale will each have one store opened.

The stores will open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

All Goodwill stores were closed after the COVID-19 outbreak, and the company announced the decision through its official Twitter account on April 1.

According to the president of Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona, Tim O’Neal, the temporary closure of the stores has resulted in 2,500 people losing their jobs. The move was aimed at reducing the cost during this time, where businesses have suffered the most.

In a video that he posted on the company’s website, O’Neal mentioned the plan to rehire the employees once things normalize in the future.

As a show of good faith, O’Neal is among the executive members who are foregoing their salaries during the ongoing pandemic.

However, Goodwill was able to rehire 400 people after their business was classified by Gov. Doug Ducey as essential services on March 30.

Regarding the choices of reopening the stores, Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona’s vice president of marketing and communications, Courtney Nelson, said the decision was based on the impact that the stores would have on the entire community.

To comply with the ongoing COVID-19 regulations, all Goodwill stores have provided masks and gloves to all their employees, including all contactless payment options and required all shoppers to maintain six feet of distance from each other.