Goodwill training center opens to capacity crowd

      Images of secondhand stores usually include grungy old clothes and junk items people discard.
      But the new Goodwill of Southern Nevada Store and Training Center, located at 3011 N. Rainbow Blvd., inside the Cheyenne Commons shopping center, is far from the moth-eaten image.
      "We do not sell junk at our stores," said Steve Chartrand, president and CEO of Goodwill of Southern Nevada. "We like to say it is gently used and many of the items are even new that we purchased from stores at a clearance price. We're very selective and we make sure anything going out on the floor is saleable and in good condition from clothes down to video tapes."
      The 4,900-square-foot store, the fifth Goodwill store in the Las Vegas Valley, also serves as a retail training center for disabled Las Vegans looking for job training. Each person who enters the Goodwill program is trained in retail sales and merchandising. When the first training class meets, up to 10 disabled workers will learn skills that will allow them to get a retail job.
      "What we do is take tax users and make them into taxpayers," Chartrand said. "These folks can work and work hard. They just need the training required so when they get into the job market they have the skills necessary to get a job."
      The Goodwill retail training program began in March of 1997 and has trained 131 people. Of those 131, more than half have been placed in a permanent job and are currently active in the workplace.
      The Goodwill program not only trains disabled workers but places trained workers with local businesses.
      "We match each trainee with a case manager who tries to fit them into a situation that best suits their training and disability," Chartrand said. "Job development is a crucial part of the program and in just over one year it has been wildly successful."
      The grand opening of the newest Goodwill store was on Oct. 22 and more than 30 people lined up outside waiting to find the bargain of the year.
      "I've been driving by for about a week and looking in the window," said Nancy Slosscher. "There's a few ceramic sculptures I saw in the window and I want to get here early so I can grab it."
      Slosscher is a self-proclaimed "bargain biddy" that is elated with the opening of the store just miles from her Northwest home.
      "I've been shopping at thrift stores for years," Slosscher said. "This one is the nicest I've seen and I plan on coming every week."
      The Northwest Goodwill store resembles a standard strip mall storefront. The store carries everything from kids clothes to books, videos and a multitude of household items.
      "When you walk in it feels like your in Marshall's or TJ Maxx," said Gerald Kline, a Sun City resident shopping for some denim jeans. "It really is beautiful and thrift stores really have come a long way."
      Operational revenues to run Goodwill programs come from community donations and the sale of items. Chartrand said the Northwest community has led the way in helping Goodwill help disabled residents.
      "The community has been really super in helping us any way they can," Chartrand said. "It's through their efforts that all of this was possible and they are the reason we have been successful in getting these folks trained and into the working world."
      The Goodwill Store and Training Center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.