News Release: 11/5/2026
Following the opening of its newest Punta Gorda retail locations this summer, Goodwill Southwest Florida is preparing to open two additional stores across the region, continuing an investment in the communities it has served for 60 years.
The expansion comes at a time when affordability, workforce readiness, and access to opportunity remain important issues for individuals and families throughout Southwest Florida.
For Goodwill, a new store represents more than another retail location.
It creates jobs. It provides an affordable place for families to shop. It gives donated goods a second life rather than sending them to landfills. And the revenue generated through Goodwill’s retail operations helps sustain programs that connect people with employment, education, career training, small-business development, disability services, and other resources that support greater independence and economic mobility.
What’s given to Goodwill gives back.
“People know Goodwill as a place to shop and donate, and that is an important part of who we are,” said John Nadeau, President and CEO of Goodwill Southwest Florida. “But when you look closer, you see something much bigger. Every store is part of an ecosystem that creates jobs, supports services, and helps people throughout Southwest Florida build greater independence and opportunity.”
That impact can begin with something as ordinary as walking through a Goodwill door.
One Southwest Florida employee first came to Goodwill through retail. As she worked, she also took advantage of opportunities available through Goodwill and its community partners, improving her English, completing Goodwill’s MicroEnterprise Institute, and participating in citizenship classes. She eventually became a U.S. citizen and today works within Goodwill’s Mission Services, helping others access opportunities much like the ones that helped shape her own journey.
And she isn’t the only one. Many Goodwill employees have used workplace learning, education, and career-development opportunities to build skills, earn credentials, advance professionally, and create greater economic stability for themselves and their families.
Those stories demonstrate what Goodwill calls GOOD GIVES: the idea that participation in Goodwill - whether someone shops, donates, works, learns, partners, volunteers, or invests - can become something larger.
A donated item can become an affordable purchase. That purchase helps support a job. A job can become a career pathway. Training can lead to a credential, a better position, or a new business. One person’s opportunity can strengthen a family and, ultimately, a community.
Good begins here and stays here.
Goodwill Southwest Florida serves Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry, and Glades counties, helping nearly 25,000 people each year through employment and career services, disability programs, small-business development, Community Resource Centers, housing, and other mission services.
Its retail network is a critical part of making that work possible while also contributing directly to Southwest Florida’s economy through employment, purchasing, property investment, and the reuse and recirculation of donated goods.
The recently opened Punta Gorda store at 10175 Tamiami Trail and the renovated Goodwill Outlet Express at 3415 Tamiami Trail, formerly the Punta Gorda retail store, illustrate that connection. The locations provide convenient places for Charlotte County residents to shop and donate while strengthening Goodwill’s presence in a community where the organization also provides employment and career services, disability navigation, housing, and other resources.
Two additional Goodwill retail locations are expected to open this December including the Port Charlotte Goodwill rebuild off Tamiami Trail (which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian), and in the expanding commercial corridor between Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres.
For Goodwill, the expansion is ultimately about more than square footage. It is about creating more places where people, resources, and opportunity connect, and making it easier for Southwest Floridians to understand, access, experience, engage with, and invest in Goodwill’s mission.Because behind every Goodwill storefront is a much larger story. Rediscover Good.
About Goodwill Southwest Florida
Goodwill Southwest Florida is a locally operated nonprofit organization serving Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry, and Glades counties. For 60 years, Goodwill Southwest Florida has worked to create life-changing opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment through employment and career services, disability services, small-business development, education and training, housing, and other community-based programs.
Goodwill’s retail and donation operations create jobs, provide affordable goods, extend the life of donated items, and generate revenue that is reinvested in programs and services for communities throughout Southwest Florida.
For more information, visit goodwillswfl.org.
Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, Inc.
Debra Donatto Director of Communications & Marketing
