A shuttered Kroger supermarket on Colerain Avenue has a new life as a $4 million nonprofit resource hub, complete with a thrift store, a discount outlet, a donation drop-off and a walk-in career center all under one roof. Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries celebrated the grand opening of the 6401 Colerain Ave. facility with a ceremony from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, marking the nonprofit’s 25th location across the region.
The building sat vacant after Kroger departed the property in 2020, according to Local 12 News, with the property listed for sale or lease that same year. Before Goodwill’s arrival, the roughly 60,645-square-foot building briefly operated as a discount closeout store run by local retailer CRdeals, which sold it to Ohio Valley Goodwill for $3.8 million on December 31, according to Hamilton County Auditor records reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Colerain center is now Ohio Valley Goodwill’s largest store location in Greater Cincinnati outside of its Woodlawn headquarters complex, according to CityBeat. The outlet has been operating since it held a soft opening for its retail store, outlet and donation center starting August 21, ahead of Tuesday’s formal celebration, per Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries.
A Four-in-One Model for Bargain Hunters and Job Seekers
What sets the Colerain location apart from a typical Goodwill is its combined format. The site functions as a four-in-one “resource hub,” pairing a traditional retail thrift store with an attended donation drop-off center, an outlet store and a walk-in Opportunity Center, according to the same CityBeat report. The Opportunity Center offers workforce and community support services alongside the retail operation, funded in part by proceeds from store sales…