Hanks’ Market has ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, Goodwill moving

 

The new Hank’s Market grocery store in east Oak Ridge has a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, August 25.

Hank’s Market #45 will be in the space formerly used by the Food Lion grocery store at 691 Emory Valley Road.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony is from 10-11 a.m. Tuesday, with the ribbon-cutting at 10:15.

Food Lion confirmed its plans to close its Oak Ridge store in June 2014. The company said it was not renewing its lease on the property.

The spaces where Curves and Briarcliff Realty used to be next to Food Lion have been under renovation also, and in July, Goodwill confirmed that it is moving to Emory Valley Road.

At the time, Erin Rosolina, public relations and marketing coordinator for Goodwill Industries Knoxville, said the company didn’t have a grand opening date scheduled, but they hope to open at the new location this fall.

“It’s a bigger, brighter space, and we’re going to have a larger spot for our employment training program,” Rosolina said.

Goodwill is now located at a shopping center on the northwest side of the intersection of South Tulane and South Illinois avenues.

Curves has moved to Ridgeway Center behind Security Square, and The Real Estate Office, which was formerly Briarcliff Realty, has moved to a new location inside the Citizens First Bank building on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Rosolina said the new Emory Valley Road space will be smaller overall than Goodwill’s current location in Oak Ridge, but its employment, training, and rehabilitation area will increase drastically.

“We are moving from a 600-square-foot training area to over 1,500 square feet,” she said. “This will allow us to serve more clients through our vocational training programs.”

Rosolina said the current location provides lots of programming for clients, and the store has computer labs and meeting space. She said the new larger job training space will allow expanded programming to serve even more people in the community.

Goodwill’s mission is to provide vocational services and opportunities to people with employment barriers. Those can be physical, mental, or educational, and sometimes it’s finding the right child care, Rosolina said.

It’s not clear how long Goodwill has been at the current location, but the company said it’s been in Oak Ridge since 1988.

Rosolina said Goodwill Industries Knoxville serves 15 counties in East Tennessee, and last year, the company served more than 4,000 people through job training programs, which are primarily funded through retail stores, which are funded through donations.

 

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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