New store to open across from Topgolf Friday that reverses a disturbing Wichita trend

There’s a large, new Goodwill store that’s opening in Wichita on Friday that Goodwill Industries of Kansas built on more than two acres across from Topgolf at 29th and Greenwich.

It’s a bit of good — no pun intended — news in what’s become a dismal resale scene in Wichita over the last more than half year.

First, all of the Wichita DAV stores closed in September following financial issues, then the popular Economy Corner downtown closed, too.

Goodwill president and CEO Laura Ritterbush said the new store is about adding convenience for a part of Wichita that hasn’t had the benefit of one of its resale shops.

“Obviously, it’s growing rapidly,” she said of housing and businesses in the area.

Ritterbush said Goodwill had been looking for opportunities to acquire a building, but there were not any for sale. She said it makes more financial sense to buy rather than lease.

There are nine Goodwill stores in the greater Wichita area.

“For us, we wanted to be convenient for our donors,” Ritterbush said.

In addition to providing a new opportunity to shoppers, she said the expansion allows Goodwill to provide more programs and services, too.

Goodwill’s stores support the nonprofit’s mission to give people with disabilities opportunities to work. Ritterbush said 90 cents of every dollar at Goodwill goes back to mission services, which includes employment, education and training.

Last year, Goodwill offered more than 4,300 program services across the state.

“By shopping and donating at Goodwill, the community is supporting individuals with disabilities and barriers,” said Raymond Dondlinger, Goodwill’s board chair, in a statement.

“For example, Goodwill provides the adult education program, NexStep Alliance, that provides GED instruction classes for those seeking a Kansas high school diploma, and English-as-a-Second Language and Citizenship integration classes.”

Dondlinger Construction built the 24,000 square-foot store that Schaefer Architecture designed.

There’s a 9:30 a.m. ribbon cutting to open the store on Friday, and a celebration will continue through Saturday with food trucks, prizes and giveaways.

Late last year, Goodwill also purchased three former DAV properties, only one of which — the storefront near Central and Edgemoor — so far is planned to be another thrift store. Look for it to open this summer following remodeling.

Ritterbush said some shoppers love going to multiple Goodwill stores, and others want to go only to ones close to them.

“We appreciate all of them.”