Goodwill Store opens in Vestal

12/6/2012 (Updated 11:06:17 PM)

(Source: Jason Weinstein)

"In the hallway and out on our front porch so it's going to be a long day of decorating," said Sarah Smith of Endicott looking at her full cart full of decorations.

Shoppers looking for another holiday option got one today in Vestal with the opening of the Goodwill Store in the Campus Plaza.

"We want to be able to provide affordable shopping experiences for people who are maybe on a limited budget," said Karen Means, Executive Vice President of Communications for Goodwill.

"This is, like, amazing. I think this is the most I've found all year," said Smith.

This follows Goodwill's opening at a Binghamton store off Glenwood Ave on September 28th.

"By having that Vestal store I think it's going to bring some more business to this Binghamton store," said Joey Blair, supervisor for the Binghamton Goodwill store.

Goodwill sells used and donated goods and often hires people who face barriers to employment - such as disabilities or limited education. Goodwill says this store will offer training and jobs to 15 people.

"Some of the individuals who work here are people who have come to us and participated at some levels in other programs. But also some of the people who work here are people in the local community who need employment," said Means.

The non-profit organization claims it keeps 60 million pounds of goods out of landfills by accepting them as donations.

"I can put things together, just like different floral arrangements and things like that. I can find neat little ideas for it. So I think the idea of reusing things is good," said Smith.

Before the Binghamton store opened the closest Goodwill store was in the Albany area.

"When you go into a big store some things can kind of get overpriced. But here I've been looking at the prices and they're really pretty reasonable," said Smith.

***In Vestal, Jason Weinstein, Fox 40 HD News***