Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries will open its 22nd store in Fairfield Township as part of a broader effort to reach 30 locations across the region by 2030.
The new store at 3177 Princeton Road in Fairfield Township is expected to open on April 2.
The new store is expected to create 25 to 30 jobs, according to President and CEO Mike Hiemstra.
“We are trying to open stores that are between 15,000 and 22,000 square feet,” Hiemstra said.
Money made at Goodwill stores helps fund Goodwill’s services in the Ohio valley. Roughly 85 cents of every dollar spent in its stores supports its mission, according to the organization. This is part of the company’s push to support the organization’s services for people with disabilities, provide housing assistance for veterans, collectively called “opportunity centers.”
Although the new Fairfield store will not include an opportunity center, Hiemstra said he and his team are working on a new model to help refer people in stores to nearby centers. For example, the Fairfield location has an Opportunity Center about three miles away.
“We’re opening those opportunity centers, so we need to make sure that we’re running parallel ways to generate additional revenues to pay for the additional investments that we’re making in the community,” Hiemstra said.
The decision to create these opportunity centers stems from a community needs assessment across the Cincinnati area in partnership with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“I think we, for the most part, had our beliefs affirmed, because we’ve been doing this a while,” Hiemstra said.
Following the assessment, Goodwill announced in 2025 that it would invest $254 million into the community over five years. A key component of that plan is creating new stores to support future funding.
“Ohio Valley Goodwill has been a long-standing provider of services to people with a range of disabilities, primarily focused on intellectual and physical disabilities,” said Gladys Ahovi, vice president of Good Communities, the impact and community services wing of Ohio Valley Goodwill. “We really wanted to be a part of that solution.”
The opportunity centers are publicly accessible, open each day throughout the week, Ahovi said. Community members can access computers and meet with someone to discuss their career plans.
The centers offer adult day services for individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities to come in and learn skills around independence. Individuals can form friendships and engage in some social interaction.
“So we’re reducing isolation, but also access work training in a community setting,” Ahovi said.
The centers are publicly accessible spaces open daily, except on Sundays, where visitors can use computers and meet with staff to discuss career planning, Ahovi said.
Hiemstra said it costs about $500,000 annually to operate an opportunity center.
Ohio Valley Goodwill plans to open a 23rd store in Colerain this summer, according to Hiemstra.
“We’ll open another one this year in June, and that’ll be a retail store and an outlet store in the building, and an opportunity center,” Hiemstra said. “Then we’re looking to hopefully find another lease or two this year, and then close that gap as we get into (stores) 27 and 28. I think that, quite honestly, there is a market for somewhere around 40 stores in our territory.”
Last fall, a center in Batavia was opened offering an adult day center for community interaction, job support and small-business employer support.
The organization’s 21st store, which opened in Delhi in January, includes an opportunity center.
Goodwill was founded in 1916. The company operates around 4,200 store locations in 14 countries.