You Ask: So, is Goodwill Coming to Town?

If you have  about a problem in Albany, send it in with "You Ask" in the subject line, and we'll do our best to dig up an answer. If your question appears in the column, you'll receive a gift from Albany Patch. Your name will not be shared without permission.

The old video store on San Pablo Avenue near Brighton sits cold and empty, wearing a few “For Lease” signs.

In July, Albany’s Planning & Zoning Commission gave a to Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay to open a store in the vacant building at 510 San Pablo Ave. (The application came pretty quickly after Goodwill backed away from its in an empty building on Solano Avenue in Berkeley.)

And so, a Patch reader asks, now more than six months later, what’s the status with Goodwill’s Albany interest?

The planning green-light is on, and the project is moving forward, said Anne Hersch, planner for the city of Albany.

The city recently issued Goodwill a building permit for renovations at the former video rental outlet, Hersch said. Construction should start soon.

“Goodwill’s contractor should be in to retrieve the permit. The “Coming Soon” banner has been posted and the person I spoke to indicated they would like to open later in the spring,” Hersch said.

Excited

The construction, which mainly involves changes to the store’s interior, should take about 10 weeks, said Kimberly Scrafano, Goodwill’s vice-president of development and community affairs in the East Bay.

“We’re really excited; we look forward to partnering with Albany,” she said.

Goodwill, which was founded in 1919, provides job training and employment to people with disabilities and other challenges, centered on retail second-hand stores, Scrafano said. Its East Bay offices are headquartered in Oakland, and include 26 stores in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties.

Opening new stores feeds the organization’s primary mission, Scrafano said. “The more stores we can open, the more jobs we can create.”

Each store employs 13 to 15 people in a mix of full- and part-time positions, she said.

There will be job openings at the Albany location, which will be posted on the organization’s website. People can also apply via the site, Scrafano said.

“In any community it [new hires] tend to be local folks,” she added.

Donations accepted

The Albany store, like many of Goodwill’s shops, will accept donations, via a special counter designated for this purpose. Donations of clothes, household goods, and small furniture will be collected in Albany, and trucked daily to a central sorting site in Oakland, then redistributed to the stores.

At the July where Goodwill was considered, a few residents expressed concern about the potential for traffic and litter, especially people dumping used junk outside the store during closed hours.

Patricia Salmon, Goodwill's senior vice president of retail operations, said at the meeting that this is rarely a problem at any of the stores. “Nuisance donation drop-off is next to nothing,” Salmon said.

Click the "Keep me posted" button below for updates about this story. 

If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email at albany@patch.com.