Goodwill Second-hand Thrift Store Coming
The Dearborn City Plan Commission voted 5 to 4 Monday night and approved a request for a special land use from Goodwill Industries to open a second-hand thrift store in downtown West Dearborn.
The thrift store now heads to the zoning board to obtain final approval.
For earlier story, click HERE.
April 10th, 2012 at 5:48 am
I hope they actually get to open and don’t end up Hung up in the zoning system from h…
April 10th, 2012 at 6:02 am
Thanks to the membets of the commission who voted for this approval. Welcome to Dearborn Goodwil.
April 10th, 2012 at 7:23 am
What a disappointment.
April 10th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Wonderful news!! I hope this project gets off the ground.
April 10th, 2012 at 10:54 am
They beat the Commission as well as the Big Guy, as most everybody does, that puts up a fight with any City Officials. On the bright side, at least the vacant building will finally have an occupant.
April 10th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
No knock against Goodwill Industries, we actually support them via donations, but they are the last thing downtown West Dearborn needs. The space they’ll be occupying is way too valuable for a retailer that won’t even likely be used by our local community. To make matters worse they’re rumored to already have options in their lease agreement that allows them to occupy the empty space next door, so we’ll not only get a Goodwill store….we’ll get a Goodwill SuperStore!
Retail development in Dearborn is now unfortunately dead and we can thank former and current members of our City Council as well as the owner’s of the properties in question for the state we’re in. Our one big shot at anything worthwhile died when the redevelopment of the Jacobson’s site got mired down in all the delays imposed by City Council. Retailers like Barnes & Noble which were being courted for this space simply got fed-up with the all the turmoil and refocused their attention to Allen Park.
A decade ago the renewal of downtown west Dearborn offered tremendous hope and promise. The City Plan Commission’s vote last night is the nail in the coffin in my opinion. We need to put a sign at both ends of Michigan Avenue welcoming all our visitors to discount alley, home of cheap and second-hand bargains.
April 11th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
The planning commission did a smart approach this time around. They left there input and comments for the end of the people’s open floor. Some comments were made by Mr. Deep at the end of the meeting on topics of need, traffic, and want. Lets start with NEED, Dearborn needs a business in our vacant buildings, such as this one. Downtown Dearborn needs more businesses and attractions to this city besides eating and drinking. Goodwill being the respectable organization they are, surrounding communities will come in to support them as well as our community. Now TRAFFIC, in order to increase business sales and attracting people, we need to increase our traffic flow. Saying that its not safe to have traffic downtown is nonsense, we want/need more traffic downtown to increase business! We have cross lights, stop signs, etc. We also can go back to rule number one when crossing the street, “look both ways” if neccessary. More traffic in downtown Dearborn the more money being spent, which is what we want! As for the drop off conflicts people have discussed, the drop of area is not going to be like Mcdonlds at lunch time, people will not be lined up around the block to drop off. There is no safety issues here. Now for the WANT, over 70% of the surrounding residents signed in favor for the store, surrounding bussinesses except for one signed in favor, the Priest from Sacared Heart wrote a letter in support of the Goodwill store, all these people on Facebook and internet blogs support it.THE PEOPLE WANT GOODWILL IN DEARBORN AND WE NEED THEM! I’m glad a couple members wised up and stepped up in support of the store. Thats what will make the difference in the growth of Dearborn.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
This must be what they meant about SUPERBLOCK years ago. It was worth the wait, wasn’t it. Thanks for noothing.
April 13th, 2012 at 8:05 am
You are completely out of touch with who your neighbors are … they are thrifty people looking for a great deal … I know many of my Dearborn neighbors who drive to the Goodwill and Salvation Army in Canton to get great products at excellent prices … I was just out there with a friend yesterday, between the two of us, we spent $150 at thrift stores like the one coming to Dearborn! Usually, while we are there, we go out for lunch and make a day of it! I will be very happy when I get to make a day of it in Dearborn at our very own Goodwill!
April 13th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
I know my neighbors very well and I can tell you that none will be shopping at the Goodwill store. In fact, many are more concerned than I am about Dearborn’s giant leap backward.
Being known as the city to go to for second-hand and bargain shopping is nothing to be proud of. It’s rather embarrassing to a large number of us.
April 15th, 2012 at 8:43 am
This city is an embarrassment to a lot of us but not because of the Goodwill store – its because of the total lack of leadership.
April 16th, 2012 at 6:09 am
I agree, but I think you need to add the lack of cooperation by the private sector as well. Rumor has it that many years ago the space Goodwill will soon occupy was to become a Whole Foods, but stubbornness and greed made them walk. Now THAT would have been a retailer that would have made a difference in Dearborn!
April 16th, 2012 at 10:56 am
I really don’t understand the “Dearborn is too good for a Goodwill store” mentality. If there were more attractive tenants, wouldn’t they have emerged years ago? Dearborn is not Birmingham folks.
April 17th, 2012 at 4:32 am
I’m sorry but DOWNTOWN DEARBORN isn’t the location for a Goodwill store.
This may not be Birmingham but I am sure something like a Whole Foods or Trader Joes would be a tad more welcome. If people drop cash at Westborn Fruit Market, they would drop the money at those places.
Heck, bring an Apple store here or something.
Dearborn has had the chance(s) to bring better businesses to it’s downtown area. But because they play so many games and because they NEED to get onto property owners about leasing prices, Dearborn will just continue to be “Dearborn”.
And I don’t even think I know of one person who thinks this is a good idea.
April 17th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Goodwill is a recognizable name. That it is willing to open up for business in Deaborn, which is a sad shadow of its former self, is good news.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:02 am
Donna Hay,
I’d like to say it is leadership. But who precisely is electing and re-electing that leadership?
I’m not sure what elected officials, such as the mayor, can do these days for Dearborn, Michigan.
What has happened to Dearborn is it became old. The people there are old. And it’s built up. Dearborn reached its limit of potential nearly 30 years ago.
Dearborn is not going to attract the big-box stores, the major names, unless there is the land, the zoning, and enough attraction to pull in not just Dearbonites but the neighboring cities’ residents. And they’re not going to pull them in under these demos of such oldness.
Even if there are elected officials, again such as the mayor, who can give good tax incentives (and incentives of other kinds) to do business in Dearborn, prospective tenants are not making the decision to come to Dearborn. They go to Oakland County first. They’ll go into Washtenaw County for Ann Arbror. In Wayne County, they will go to Canton first. (Oh, and the paid parking setups should be gone and out of Dearborn for good. They never should have been implemented in the first place. And that goes to show just the quality and intelligence of those who, five years ago, swore up and down that paid parking was an absolute must for Dearborn.)
Allen Park, which built their two areas of shopping in the mid- and second half of the 2000s, tapped into much of what is needed in Dearborn. (Allen Park won over Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory after it realized, a good three or four years in Dearborn, what a bust the West Village Commons turned out to be.)
For any opportunity that did exist, in the 1990s, for Dearborn to expand and/or attract well-recognized names … well, that’s gone! And 15/20 years later, there are people wondering why there is a lack of vision for the City of Dearborn.
It is humorous that Goodwill is getting dismissed by some. I think Dearborn nowadays should get down on hands and knees and recognize they are damn lucky they even can get a Goodwill.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:07 am
Chris Gaines,
I was born in Dearborn. I care about the city. But a lot of what has happened is too many people being stuck in the past. And that includes any and all foolish leaders (and the residents who believed in them) who allowed opportunities to pass by the last 20 to 30 years ago. (For example: it’s atrocious what became of the property that used to house the Jacobson’s department store.)
April 17th, 2012 at 10:50 am
I hope the Zoning Committee will stop this. The Mayor would not allow Kohl’s Department store years ago because it wasn’t good enough for Dearborn. Now he is so desperate he will allow anything and everything. This is a bad move for our City.
April 18th, 2012 at 10:44 am
As much as I’d love to see those businesses (Whole Foods, Trader Joe, etc.), it isn’t Dearborn who doesn’t want those businesses–the city would love to have them–it is those businesses who do not want Dearborn. At least Dearborn as it is right now. Perhaps that will change.
April 21st, 2012 at 11:53 am
I’ve changed my tune. Rather than being upset about what our downtown is becoming I now plan on profiting from it. I’m putting together a plan to open several We-buy-gold, plasma donor center, check cashing, pawn shop superstores right in the heart of downtown. I’ve got to hurry though as I’m betting there are many other people thinking about doing the same thing right now.
April 21st, 2012 at 10:28 pm
hey give mayor mccheese a break, with a goodwill store close he will be able to upgrade his wardrobe.
April 23rd, 2012 at 6:50 pm
I think there is a misconception about the Goodwill stores being the bottom of the barrel but I have seen them in thriving cities.
April 25th, 2012 at 8:42 am
ek- I saw one in Oxford while driving up M-24 and they have a nice little city there.
May 1st, 2012 at 8:47 pm
I guess Goodwill is a sign of the times more than anything. No, Dearborn “is no Royal Oak or Birmingham” and that’s what I liked about it (and it’s people). Before purchasing a home, I thoroughly checked out those areas as well as Dearborn. I settled on Dearborn. I don’t know how the home inspection process is these days but our “friends” in Oakland Co. didn’t even have a process for that. They have homes for sale with beer buddy roof jobs (with gaps for the sun to shine through), no garbage disposals, busted up driveways and garages ready to tumble. You see, I knew many people up there and “those people” didn’t care about that kinda stuff as long as the stainless steel appliances where already installed for them , they were content. Dearborn wasn’t trendy, no fly by night sheeple stores. It was reliable, consistent, traditional and stable. Now, it became bad enough that some of us had to start driving to Oakland County to purchase clothes. The brand of quality white dress shirts I bought at Fairlane for decades were no longer available. I didn’t really care to buy a purple suit with polka dot accessories at Mens Warehouse. A co-worker in Dearborn Hills was fed-up when she had to drive to another county to purchase a proper shirt for her son to wear to his graduation too.
We put up with above and just accepted it. The two identical grocery stores across the street was ridiculous. An extra one was needed for the Detroit/Inkster pass through traffic though (along with the 30 dry cleaners within a square mile on the west end). Marshalls knew their target market on the West end too and it was the same “pass through” traffic. For men, there was too much Roc-a-wear and Pelle’ Pelle’ for my tastes. I lived near it. You could tell when the employees got wind of a “good shipment” coming in because that parking lot was jammed with Escalades, etc. Full!
Again, the above was bad enough but I/we still loved our homes, neighborhoods and neighbors BUT, if I were still there and all Dearborn could bring in for us was Goodwill, I’d be packing my bags for sure.