Shopping at Goodwill offers more value than the deal you'll get on goods -- it supports people with disabilities and is good for the environment.
Head of the Lakes Goodwill has been providing employment and training in the area since 1902.
In 1979, it merged with the Duluth Sheltered Workshop -- which had operated locally since 1967 -- to form the current organization, which operates 11 retail stores in the northern half of Minnesota and four northern counties in Wisconsin. While Goodwill's Superior store, 2401 Tower Ave., has been at its current location for nearly ten years, it has been in the Superior community for many years prior, with previous locations on Belknap and on Tower Avenue.
Goodwill provides employment and employment related services, totaling over 200,000 hours annually, to people with disabilities and others with barriers to employment at its main facility and at each of its retail stores, including its store in Superior.
What looks like only a store is a training facility, a processing facility and a retail store. Donations of household goods brought to the store are processed for resale at that location. The store employs twelve people, including staff and program employees. The ready-for-sale items are stocked in the store, along with supplemental goods from the main Goodwill facility across the bridge on Garfield Avenue.
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What might look simply like a donation of reusable goods, resulting in a supply of value-priced goods, is really much more.
The donation of goods creates jobs for the majority of Goodwill's 190 program participants, from transportation and material handling to quality sorting and pricing to stocking and customer service. It provides its workers with a paycheck, pride, independence, accomplishment, self-esteem and a social network. The resulting retail and salvage sales provide financial support for Goodwill's employment programs, and along with other work-related revenues account for nearly 85 percent of its total support revenues.
Goodwill's other self-generated revenue includes commercial janitorial and lawn care services, light manufacturing and assembly, and contracted labor placements at community businesses in Duluth and Superior.
Goodwill carries a full line of family merchandise, including clothing, linens, toys, shoes, books, dishware and pictures, all at bargain process.
"We stock new merchandise all day, every day," said Carol Eisel, store supervisor. "If you don't find it today, it may be here tomorrow. You might get a great retro find or someone's recent purchase that didn't fit with the tags still attached. We have clothing to fit your needs, whether you're 8, 18 or 80".
Not everything received at Goodwill can be sold in its retail stores, but very little ends up in the garbage. Items that are too worn, damaged, soiled or otherwise unsuitable for retail sale can still be re-used and will generate support revenue.
Secondary salvage dealers are used for scrap metals, corrugation, shoes, books, textiles, purses and even backpacks, with shipments ending up in markets from Toronto to South Africa. Through its 11 retail locations and secondary markets, over 10 million pounds of donated goods find reuse each year and are kept out of landfills, making Goodwill a major area recycler. Current garbage disposal costs are only 50 percent of disposal costs 10 years ago, despite a substantial increase in the volume of goods handled, due to aggressive salvage efforts.
In addition to the Superior location, Goodwill operates local retail stores at its main Garfield facility, in Cloquet, Hermantown and Ashland.
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Goodwill provides services to both Duluth and Superior residents. Staffing of program services is currently provided through the Duluth location, however, future planning includes an increased presence in Superior with a services office along with expanded goods collection and processing at the store location -- and an anticipated purchase of a larger facility to house retail, processing and program services operations.
