Santa Fe Springs : Goodwill Cuts Employee Shifts, Thrift Store Hours

Goodwill Industries, hit by the recession, continued its austerity campaign this week by cutting employee work hours at its thrift stores.

At the Goodwill thrift store in Santa Fe Springs, two of seven employees had their workweek reduced from 40 to 20 hours. The store also has reduced its operating hours by six hours a week.

Slumping sales at Goodwill thrift stores are responsible for much of the financial problems of the nonprofit organization. Thrift store sales have declined by 3% over the past year, an official said.

The Santa Fe Springs thrift shop recently reduced prices on all its inventory in an effort to stimulate sales, manager Diane Khogavandi said.

In all, Goodwill reduced the working hours of more than 450 employees last Monday. The organization also has laid off more than 20 employees in the past several weeks.