Go! Retail Group

So exciting!

The cat is out of the bag! We are beyond thrilled to be opening Toys"R"Us in our own backyard in San Marcos, TX! Looking for an amazing person to join our team and lead the Toys"R"Us way!

Congrats to Jennifer Schubert, our Chief Merchandising Officer, as a 2024 WiT - Women in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment Wonder Woman Nominee! #WonderWomenEverywhere #WWA2024

We are proud to support People's Community Clinic. "Healing begins when people feel like they are being listened to." -Dr. Jewel Mullen

Last week, some of our team from Go! Retail Group had a chance to visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline. We wrote a check to the organization last year and wanted to take the next step and see our dollars in action. It was a really meaningful couple of hours as we were able to attend A Side-by-Side Session, witnessing an advocate with great patience and incredible compassion talk to survivors, through both call and text. It was shocking how many calls were being taken at 10am CT on a Thursday. A total of 80 calls/texts between those interacting and those in the queue. I personally have called The Hotline before, thanks to the encouragement of family and friends and know first hand how important their work is. I wanted to share a few highlights from our tour and my own experience: -Abuse comes in many forms: sexual, physical, emotional, intellectual, gaslighting, financial, psychological, neglect, digital, control, isolation, etc. -Abuse occurs behind closed doors, with abusers being on their best behavior in public and around people they can benefit from. -Earlier this year, The Hotline answered their 7 millionth call. It was a woman fleeing a domestic violence situation in NY with children. -The Hotline was founded in Austin in 1996. It took many years to get their first million, yet going from 6 to 7 million calls just took a year and a half. These are big milestones, yet due to the nature of the calls, not celebratory. There is an extreme increase in need for domestic violence resources over the last few years due to Covid, economic reasons, etc. The shelters also cannot keep up with this need. -85% of the calls are from the survivor. 10% are concerned friends, family, etc. 3% are the actual abusers themselves who recognize their pattern and want to change. The rest of the calls are "off target" calls--someone who needs something, but doesn't know where to call.  -The Hotline is 24/7 with 160 advocates working around the clock. -They take 3K calls per day. -The org is the largest collector of data on domestic violence in the country. New resources I learned about: 1. WomensLaw.org provides plain-language explanations of each state's laws on protection orders, custody, divorce, parental kidnapping, housing, as well as immigration and gun laws, 2. DVBeds is an easy-to-use, secure web-based solution provides real-time shelter bed availability for participating domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, emergency shelters and community partners. Thank you Brett J. Barnes, CFRE, CFRM for having us and the work that you do.

Our Annual Calendars.com Donation Day is here! April 19th from 8-11am at both our Austin and New Braunfels warehouses. We welcome all nonprofits, schools, and artists to a wide array of calendars. All formats of 2024 calendars will be available: walls, minis, planners and boxed calendars. The calendars range in subjects (e.g. Animals, Art, Sports, Travel, etc.) IMPORTANT DETAILS: Not all calendars are appropriate for children- PLEASE carefully check selections. Schools love the calendars for art projects, science fairs and rewards. You are welcome to bring your own dolly or cart to use, and bags/ boxes for calendars. Please be prepared to load the donations into your own vehicle. Our warehouse staff will not be available to help. ITEMS CANNOT BE RESOLD. WAREHOUSE POLICIES: You will NOT be allowed in the distribution center unless you are wearing shoes that completely cover the foot- NO EXCEPTIONS. We suggest tennis shoes or boots. The donations will be available on a first come first serve basis. No children under age 16 will be allowed in. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Welcome to the team, Jennifer Heitmeyer! Jennifer joins Go! Retail Group as Vice President, Retail Sales. She joins us with 30 years of international retail experience spanning categories from apparel to beauty to health supplements and roles from Store Manager to CEO. Additionally, Jennifer is a volunteer for care-providing organizations including Hospice and the Humane Society and is a competitive cyclist, completing multiple cycling events including Colorado’s Triple Bypass and Arizona’s Mount Lemmon climb. Jennifer once rode 2,400 miles raising $54,000 for cancer research at The James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Center! Welcome, Jennifer!