First Oakland County Goodwill Store Opens on West Bloomfield Border

Get the images of a dingy, dark second-hand store out of your mind before you walk into the new Goodwill on Crumb Road in Commerce Township Saturday. 

The non-profit's first Oakland County store, at the border of West Bloomfield and Commerce townships, looks bright, clean and fresh. Jeff Ukrainec, director of donated goods for Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit, said this is also the first store built from the ground up.

"It's worked out well, and this will be our footprint going forward," he said. 

Goodwill closed all its metro Detroit stores more than a decade ago, Ukrainec said, to focus on its work as an auto industry supplier. As the economy lagged, the nonprofit turned again to retail. A year after opening its flagship store in Canton Township, Goodwill earned recognition as Crain's Best Managed Nonprofit in 2011. 

"We wanted to come back into the market with something that would wow the customer," Ukrainec said. And the new Commerce Township store appears to fit the bill. 

Donated items are labeled and sorted by type of clothing and size, with racks lined up around a front checkout area. The back of the store is devoted to household goods and the one-of-a-kind items treasure hunters will enjoy. 

"We put out over a thousand items every single day," Ukrainec said. "We cater to all demographics."

Shoppers can expect to find items that are in good shape; anything torn or stained won't be put on display. Among the store's 25 employees are crews that will sort through donations as customers drop them off, under a sheltered drive-through lane. 

Ukrainec said the donation process is computerized. Every item is logged in, and customers can request a summary of their donations, if they lose receipts needed for tax filing. 

The store's walls are covered with photos of people helped by Goodwill donations, along with bits of stencilled information to relay the non-profit's mission. Customers can literally see where their dollars are going.

"Everything is about job creation," Ukrainec said. "All the revenues will help generate opportunities for more people." 

Opening day festivities on Saturday will include raffles, and Goodwill is running an Ipad giveaway promotion with clickondetroit.com that closes July 31. The store is at 3281 Crumb Rd., next door to Meijer on the west side of Haggerty. 

Hours will be 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 12 p.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday, with donations taken 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday. 

For more information, visit the organization’s website, goodwilldetroit.org, or follow Goodwill on Facebook at facebook.com/GoodwillDetroit or facebook.com/GoodwillStores or on Twitter, twitter.com/GoodwillDet.