Members of the Bell County Chamber of Commerce joined the Goody’s staff in a ribbon cutting ceremony at the store’s Grand Re-opening on Wednesday. The Middlesboro store is one of four opening its doors today, joined by stores in North Carolina, and Indiana.
Three hundred people lined up in the Village Square Shopping Center on Wednesday morning, eager to celebrate the return Goody’s Family Clothing. “There’s no limit on how much you can spend,” joked District Manager Jim Ewing to the crowd.
Local shoppers had lamented the loss of the establishment since it closed its doors in early 2009. Its return garnered the attention of more than three hundred customers, so excited to shop at the familiar retailer that some were waiting outside more than an hour before the opening.
Jim Ewing, the District Manager for the Middlesboro store and other near-by locations, was on hand to welcome back loyal customers.
“We’re glad to be back in the community where we’ve been for a long, long, long time!” Ewing proclaimed.
The Middlesboro Goody’s is one of several re-opening this year after the defunct merchandiser was purchased by the Texas-based Stage Stores, Inc. in June of 2009.
The renewed store took on 35 employees, including five that had worked for the Middlesboro store before its closing. Store Manager Brenda Redmon previously managed Goody’s stores at Oak Ridge and Lafollette and was happy to return to the company.
Redmon and Jim Ewing had remained in contact after the original Goody’s closed 200 locations; both had spent more than two decades with the company.
“We stayed in contact and I had always told him that if he ever had anything close enough for me to drive to that I would love to come and work for him,” said Redmon.
A resident of Powell Valley, Redmon had been managing a grocery store since the close of the Goody’s that she managed in Tennessee. She had been at the grocery store for a year and half, when she saw the sign on 25E announcing the return of the Middlesboro store. She called Jim Ewing, now working for Stage Stores, immediately.
“This wasn’t even part of his district,” she said of the Middlesboro store. “Within three days time, he managed to get this store in his district and then he hired me. He and I became a team and got this store up and running. Its been good, its been nice to be up around some familiar people.”
Former Goody’s customers were equally excited to about the return of retailer.
“I love Goodiy’s,” said returning customer Janice Lawson, of Harrogate, Tenn. “I was so sad when they left. I’m glad its back.”
Goody’s Family Clothing, in the Village Square Shopping Center in Middlesboro, is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and on Sundays from noon until 6 p.m. Join them for the Labor Day sale now through September 6th.
Lorie Settles is a staff writer for the Middlesboro Daily News. She may be contacted by e-mail at lsettles@heartlandpublications.com.
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