A new 26,000-square-foot Goodwill superstore will open by early March behind the Buffalo Ridge Wal-Mart near County Road 466 and U.S. 301.
The store at 11954 County Road 105 in Oxford will have 45 employees and has a similar art deco design to the Goodwill store in Spring Hill, said Chris Ward, director of marketing and public relations for Goodwill Industries-Suncoast.
She said construction is nearly complete and the actual opening date will depend on when the store receives a certificate of occupancy.
“The population and demographics in the surrounding area are at a high enough income level to support donations for a store this size,” she said.
Besides offering donated items for sale including nearly new clothing, furniture and household items, the store will serve as a hub for BookWorks, Goodwill’s childhood literacy program in which volunteers read to children from low-income families and then give them a book.
Existing Goodwill stores closest to The Villages are in Ocala and on the east side of Leesburg.
The company already has an attended donation center near The Villages site, but the new store will have a drive-through donation lane, Ward said.
She said the store will be the ninth that Goodwill has opened in West Central Florida since 2001 and that more stores are on the drawing board.
“We plan to open a new store every year,” Ward said. “More stores provide increased support for Goodwill’s services. There is plenty of room for growth in our 10-county service area.”
Store proceeds help support Goodwill’s employment services, training centers for people with disabilities, affordable apartment communities and community corrections programs.