Dozens of shoppers wait to enter the newly remodeled Goodwill store on South Terrace Friday as officials open the store with a ribbon cutting in East Ridge in this Jan. 1, 2015, photo. Goodwill Industries of Chattanooga has eliminated nearly a dozen jobs from its staff over the past couple of weeks due to budget cuts from both outside donors and a winter weather-related drop in some store sales.
Dennis Brice, president of the Chattanooga's Goodwill, said the nonprofit agency that employs more than 500 workers at its 16 stores, has had to trim expenses in response to a loss of funding for some programs, extra health insurance costs for employees and a shift in some store sales.
"We were running a lot of free programs that we had to take a look at cutting back," Brice said. "We've tried, where we could, to move people to other positions where we had openings."
Brice said Goodwill has had to make such staff adjustments in the past in response to changing markets and funding.
"It's like any business," he said. "There are periods of expansion and periods of contraction."