FAIRFIELD, Calif. (KRON) -- Goodwill of the San Francisco Bay celebrated the grand opening of its newest store in Fairfield Thursday, marking the first of 10 larger-format locations slated for the Bay Area this year. This expansion comes after the non-profit closed 11 smaller thrift stores last year . The 27,000-square-foot facility, formerly a Big Lots in the Fairfield Corners shopping center, is now filled with 100,000 resale items. Goodwill plans to add 10,000 new items daily. Guy Fieri responds to viral Tate brothers photo controversy The move to larger stores is part of the company's strategy to open locations four-times bigger than the old ones, including expanded backroom space to process donations. Hundreds of people gathered outside the new store before its doors opened before nine o'clock in the morning. Henry, a shopper, secured the first spot in line around 5:15 Thursday morning. "The earlier the better, you know? Cause you go in there and get all the good stuff before everyone else does," Henry said. Another shopper, Ivan, expressed enthusiasm for thrifting. "I love, like, thrifting a lot and I can't get enough of it," Ivan said. Mike Maldonado, also a shopper, highlighted the value. "Yea, it's a good deal. You get a gap-wedge here for like $Seven. You can get another one here for $6, you know and you know, if you look online they're gonna be $35, 40-bucks," Maldonado said. Tim O'Neal, CEO of Goodwill SF Bay, outlined the organization's growth plan. "Right now, we have 10 stores that we know we're gonna open this year. This was literally one of the first one or two that we saw in the market," O'Neal said, adding that seven leases are signed with an aim to open 10 stores this year and 10 every year following. This new store is the first Goodwill location to open in the Bay Area in 2026. The shift to larger formats also means increased employment opportunities. "This store will employ about 35. The larger it gets, we'll keep adding team members until it gets to about 60 people and you'll see that in every store throughout the market," O'Neal explained. "I think it's really important for us to reuse and recycle. It saves a footprint on the earth and it's a great way to get the community together," said Pam, another shopper. This strategic expansion follows Goodwill's decision to close 11 smaller thrift stores last year. Goodwill of the San Francisco Bay plans to open 10 new larger-format stores this year, including the Fairfield location. The organization aims to continue opening 10 new stores annually in the future. All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published. ...read more read less