The Goodwill store that has done business in Midland Plaza since 2005 will go out of business next month. A group of officials from Goodwill’s Peoria regional office were at the Kewanee store Wednesday to inform the employees of the closing.
The last day the store will be open is March 8, according to Don Johnson, CEO of Goodwill’s Peoria district, of which the Kewanee store is a part.
Employees here will be able to work until the end of March doing cleanup work, Johnson said. Those who do will qualify for a company bonus plan, he said.
Johnson said the goal is to keep as many of the Kewanee employees as possible working for Goodwill in other stores.
“Our employees at the store are awesome,” he said. “They do a great job for us.”
Local employees will be able to interview for positions elsewhere with Goodwill. One possibility, Johnson said, is a new store that opened just before Christmas in Galesburg. That store has 15,000 square feet of floor space, compared with just 3,500 in Kewanee. And there is a need to increase the staff there, Johnson said.
Goodwill also operates several stores in the Peoria area where employees could transfer from Kewanee, he said. And the company is planning a new larger store in East Peoria that will need workers.
A couple of Kewanee employees expressed interest in working at Goodwill’s Geneseo store. Even though that store isn’t in the Peoria district, Johnson said his people will assist Kewanee employees switch to the Geneseo store.
Closing the Kewanee store was a difficult decision, Johnson said, but it was “a strategy decision and a business decision.”
The focus at Goodwill, he said, is on newer, bigger stores like the ones in Galesburg and East Peoria. He said making tough decisions isn’t easy but is necessary to maintain the vitality of Goodwill in the Peoria region.
