LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After temporarily closing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky will reopen its 66 retail stores and donation centers Wednesday, May 20. All stores will operate under normal business hours. In addition to opening its retail stores, the nonprofit will reopen its Centers for Education & Employment, which exist to serve Kentucky job seekers who have disabilities or other barriers to entering the workforce.

“Reopening our doors allows us to jump-start our mission to help job seekers earn paychecks. Ninety cents on every dollar generated from our retail stores is used to fund employment programs for struggling Kentuckians, and this mission is more important now than ever,” said Goodwill Industries of Kentucky CEO & President Amy Luttrell. “Although we are excited to open our doors to the public, safety is our top priority; we plan to continue to follow all provisions put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and our local government.”

Below are some of the current guidelines Goodwill is taking to keep employees, customers and participants safe. Goodwill is monitoring and updating its health and safety best practices as they change:

  • Requiring all employees to wear face masks and recommending the use of latex or nitrile gloves while working
  • Requiring customers and employees to maintain a social distance of 6 feet or more
  • Establishing a ‘greeter’ position to monitor the number of customers in the store
  • Placing floor stickers to designate where customers should stand
  • Utilizing sneeze guards to protect both customers and cashiers during sales transactions
  • Giving customers the option to have donated items unloaded by an employee
  • Sanitizing donated items prior to them being placed on the sales floor
  • Conducting health surveys for all employees returning to work
  • Monitoring health and checking temperatures of all employees before each shift
  • Using CDC-recommended cleaning supplies to disinfect the store every two hours
  • Sanitizing credit card terminals after each use and routinely wiping down counters with sanitizer solution
  • Thoroughly cleaning each store every night
  • Requiring employees to wash their hands for a minimum of 20 seconds regularly throughout the day
  • Temporarily closing dressing rooms for protection of customers and employees
  • Sanitizing carts and baskets before and after each use
  • Providing hand sanitizer for all customers and employees to use while in the store
  • Encouraging customers to wear face masks and gloves while shopping

In March, the organization furloughed approximately 1,000 of their 1,700 employees across 66 stores statewide. More than 90 percent of those employees will return to work this month.