By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois has purchased the former Gander Mountain building along Perryville Road, where it plans to open its 12th store in spring.
Goodwill purchased the building at 3068 McFarland Road for $2,150,000 on Oct. 25, according to records from the Winnebago County Clerk & Recorder’s Office.
All of Goodwill’s current retail stores will remain open, including the Rockford East State Street and Machesney Park locations. Its newest store, which has 31,000-square-feet of retail space, is located in front of Woodman’s Food Market along Perryville.
The family friendly concept store will offer a larger, more convenient location to donate and shop, the nonprofit organization said. It will feature new customer experiences intended to appeal to a wide range of shoppers, and it will be home to programs that help people find meaningful employment.
“We are excited that this new concept store will allow us to provide our community a chance to see our mission programs in action while providing a more convenient location for our donors and shoppers in northeast Rockford and the surrounding communities,” Ben Bernsten, president of Goodwill Northern Illinois, said in a statement. “As we get closer to opening, more details of the store concept will be revealed.”
Goodwill of Northern Illinois, which serves an 18-county territory in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, serves more than 18,000 people annually with programs that help individuals find meaningful employment such as GoodGRADS, LifeLaunch and Supported Employment Programs.
Gander Mountain went out of business in 2017, closing all of its locations. The company was acquired from bankruptcy by Camping World, which reopened several locations including the one in Rockford as Gander Outdoors. However, after reopening the Rockford store in June 2018, the company announced in September 2019 that it would close for good.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas