Goodwill Industries bookstore writes success story in recession

Business news feature for The Commercial Appeal

November 14, 2009

The Great Recession has hurt many businesses in the past two years, but one benefactor appears to be GoodBooks, the used bookstore operated by Goodwill Industries.

The store at 6063 Park in Park Place Centre was launched in February 2008 and has experienced such strong success that it was expanded earlier this year.

The bookstore recorded $78,000 in sales by the end of September. By comparison, the area’s only other Goodwill bookstore, on Goodman Road in Southaven and open since 2006, had sales of $101,000 in the same time frame.

“The economy has helped the bookstore business where people who may not have shopped here before have tried it out and those who had shopped here may shop here more,” said Goodwill vice president of operations Dave Leutwyler. “It’s all about being in the right place with the right product.” … (read more)