
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200420
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: AMY K. KERR/ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOODWILL OPENS NEW RETAIL STORE/ FESTIVITIES MARK MERGER OF GROUPS

Lyzetta Humphrey and more than 50 other people endured cold and rain Friday morning to wait for the doors to open at the new Goodwill store in Salem.

Some waited for more than an hour before the ribbon-cutting ceremony even began.

"I'm freezing," said Humphrey. "But they won't let us in yet."

"It is appropriate that it is raining this morning," said John Wade, executive director of Goodwill Industries Tinker Mountain Inc., who started the ceremony. "We should all be used to water, because that's the way the old store was."

The old building, at 3125 Salem Turnpike, was deteriorating and had a leaky roof.

The opening of the new store - in the old Super-X store at the former Kroger shopping center on East Main Street across from Lakeside Plaza - was made possible by the merger of Goodwill Industries of Greater Virginia and Tinker Mountain Industries in July 1990. It was a move that strengthened their financial position, Wade said.

"This opening is an opportunity to celebrate the merging of these two groups," said J. Michael Stephens, administrative services director for Goodwill Industries of America.

"I'm here to welcome Goodwill to Salem. I want to thank you for coming," Salem Vice Mayor W. Mac Green said in a short speech. "I'm going to shut up, and everyone run in and buy something."

The crowd cheered.

Roanoke Goodwill store manager Mac McDaniel and regional store manager Joyce Duncan cut the "ribbon" made of old ties, and the people rushed in. By 10 a.m., more than 100 people were in the store, sorting through the neat racks of clothes.

Revenue from the store - which accepts donated clothing, furniture and other goods and sells them at discount prices - will be used to provide vocational rehabilitation services and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Goodwill Industries Tinker Mountain Inc. provides services for more than 200 handicapped people in the Roanoke area.

"The opening of this store is not only a celebration of the community's newest retail center, but it is also a celebration of the community's means to continue its support for people with disabilities and other disadvantages in the Roanoke area," Stephens said.

Grand-opening activities will continue today.

The store's hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Donations of new and used goods can be made at the back of the store.

by CNB