Books, Electronics and More in PC

By Margaret Thomas, Manager

Goodwill team members and customers alike were excited. The day had finally come. After three months of hard work, building bookshelves, cleaning and shelving 25,000 books, setting up the computers, filling jewelry counters, and merchandizing the store, it was finally done!

On Saturday, February 27, Goodwill Industries-Big Bend held the grand opening for their Book and Electronics store at 13415 Panama City Beach Parkway. The doors were not scheduled to open until 10 am., but due to the large customer turnout, Fred Shelfer Jr., Goodwill’s CEO, decided to open at 9 am. The first of its kind in Panama City, no one could have predicted how popular this store would be.

Refreshments were served that morning by Susie Arce, Director of GoodWorks!. We had a live remote by radio station Sunny 98.5 in the afternoon. Pizza and drinks were served.

Registers were manned by bookstore employee Stewart Grieder. He was coached and trained by Tallahassee Bookstore Manager, Donna Jernigan, and her team members: Paul Bransford, Leigh Ann Porter, and Chase Porter. All helped that busy Saturday. The store did $6,600 in sales.

On one side of the store there are refurbished computers, TVs and other electronics. On the other side we have 25,000 books. All books are cleaned, priced, and categorized for our customers’ convenience.

The building also houses our new landscaping department. Through a contract with the State of Florida, DOT, crews are employed to clean and maintain the roadways. People with disabilities make up 75 percent of the crew.

A new record was set for a bookstore’s grand opening, and all of us were going home to rest!