Goodwill Industries reopens store in LaFayette, Georgia
Goodwill Industries of the Greater Chattanooga Area is reopening its store in LaFayette, Georgia, on Thursday, nearly a year after a fire damaged the 12,000-square-foot resale outlet.
The store at 111 Mize St. was rebuilt after a March 2023 fire damaged the retail outlet. The remodeled storefront will celebrate its reopening at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
The store is reopening not only as a Goodwill retail store but also as a donation express center and a job placement facility. It will be the 17th retail store in the 23 counties served by the Chattanoogaarea Goodwill, which employs disabled and challenged workers by reselling donated clothing and other merchandise.
“We are thrilled to reopen our LaFayette store,” Gena Weldon, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Greater Chattanooga Area, said in an announcement. “We are committed to serving Walker County and the other 22 counties in our service area. When people shop or donate to Goodwill, they are changing lives by helping to provide job training and employment opportunities for our most vulnerable citizens.”
Goodwill Industries, which celebrated a century of service in Chattanooga last year, employs more than 350 people in the Chattanooga area, many of whom have barriers to employment. The LaFayette store will employ 24 workers.
The new LaFayette store will be open 9 a.m.8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-8 p.m Sunday. Goodwill accepts donations during regular store hours. Goodwill operates other North Georgia stores in Fort Oglethorpe and Chatsworth, but the LaFayette store is the only outlet in Walker County, according to Goodwill Marketing Director Michelle Turner.