Goodwill closes eight stores in three Bay Area counties.
Mounting economic losses during pandemic lockdown forces the layoffs of 61 employees
A wave of closures and layoffs at Goodwill stores in the Bay Area is the latest sign of the staggering losses suffered by retail and service-industry businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay announced it closed eight retail stores and laid off 61 employees on Friday. Mike Keenan, president and CEO, said the nonprofit organization had to make a difficult decision.
“Goodwill is all about the people,” he said Sunday. “It was a very emotional day for me.”
Keenan said the organization, which serves Contra Costa, Alameda and Solano counties, closed stores in Albany, Berkeley, Dixon, Dublin, Livermore, Oakland, Oakley and Vallejo.
A yellow sign with red letters still hung from the Dublin store: “Now Hiring.”
Keenan said the nonprofit has 36 openings and hopes it can place some of those who were let go into new posi
tions. He said some of those in the Dixon store might relocate to stores in Davis or Sacramento.
Goodwill officials in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Santa Rosa also have offered to help those who lost jobs, he said.
Goodwill of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin has struggled as well, chief executive William Rogers said Sunday. He said when the lockdown was ordered last spring, the group had to close 40 sites within four hours.
Rogers said they have closed five of the group’s 20 stores: “We’re fighting our way back,” he said. “I believe we will get there.”
Goodwill uses revenue from sales of donated goods to provide jobs for people in need. The organization says it provides no-cost training, employment placement services and support services for people with disabilities, people impacted by the criminal justice system, people who are unemployed or underemployed, veterans and military families, older workers, and young adults.
“COVID has had an effect on all kinds of businesses,” said Michael E. Fox, chief executive of Goodwill of Silicon Valley.
According to the Greater East Bay group’s announcement, laid-off workers received one week of pay, a month of health benefits and assistance in job placement and applying for unemployment benefits.
Keenan said the employees are Goodwill’s first priority, adding that the nonprofit will continue to do everything it can to support them.
“These people are just special,” he said. “They want to improve their lives.”
Keenan talked about how the group’s stores have suffered as part of the coronavirus closures throughout California.
“What’s been tough for us is the donations have been very strong,” he said. “In many cases, we can’t even hold them, we have so many. But the customers aren’t out there.”
Keenan said he hopes donations and shoppers will return once California starts to reopen at a faster pace.
According to the most recent 990 tax return available, the organization had $26.8 million in revenue in 2018. It reported spending $18.7 million on salaries.
Even as the East Bay organization ordered the closures and layoffs, Fox, the CEO of Goodwill of Silicon Valley, said his organization is not facing a similar scenario after a rough first three months of 2020.
“By the end of the year we had recovered a big proportion of the loss,” he said. Fox added that the group is in a stronger position than it has been in years because of reacting to the pandemic stresses, which “allowed us to reconfigure ourselves to create a greater impact.”
While the closures are heartbreaking, Fox said it could give the Greater East Bay group a chance to grow its business in new ways.
“Sometimes there is a need to take a look” at the way the operation is being run, he added.
Keenan said the closures have not stopped the nonprofit’s primary mission of job training at its educational centers.
“Our mission hasn’t changed,” he said. “We still have all of those things going” and “our mission is going to be even more important in the recovery of California.”