Burlington opens store at Berkeley Mall

Burlington, a national discount retailer, is the second store in the span of two weeks to open at the mall on North Berkeley Boulevard in Goldsboro. The store is located at 703 N. Berkeley Blvd.

The store openings come after months of construction at the former big-box Sears department store, which was subdivided to make room for Burlington and Five Below, which opened right next door on March 15.

Burlington opened its doors two weeks later, on March 29.

Burlington employees were busy helping customers on opening day, as dozens of people of all ages filled the rows looking for fashionable items for men and women, including shirts, jeans and shoes from different brands like Puma, Bali, Maidenform and Calvin Klein.

Others came to get home décor, flowers and candles in light of the store’s “Spring for Savings” sale.

Customers were given Burlington-branded shopping carts, which are equipped with a locking mechanism on their wheels that activate when someone potentially tries to steal something from the store or accidentally walks out with the cart, said Brad Tucker, Burlington store manager.

Several customers filled up all eight checkout registers at the front of the store, with some of them coming from Goldsboro, Wilson and Kinston.

Yolonda Holmes, of Kinston, said she went to the grand opening to not just get clothes for her daughter who is in college, but also to get artistic portraits for her son to decorate his apartment.

Holmes said she was happy about the store’s prices and that it was faster for her to get to Goldsboro’s Burlington store rather than the one in Winterville.

“It’s much easier and much faster,” Holmes said. “It took 20 minutes to get here in Goldsboro, while it takes 35 minutes in Winterville.”

James Sutton, of Grantham, said he went to Burlington to shop for dress shirts to wear when he goes to his local church, Thunder Swamp Pentecostal Holiness Church, in Mount Olive.

Beatriz Velez, of Wilson, said she came into town to the Burlington store to shop for shoes to give as a gift for her soon-to-be 3-year-old granddaughter.

Burlington offers a variety of low-cost items on brand name merchandise including ladies apparel and accessories; menswear; big and tall items; children’s merchandise; footwear; infant merchandise; home décor; and pet care and toys.

Tucker said the Goldsboro opening is exciting, but he never anticipated having 50 to 60 shoppers already lined up at the door waiting to get in Friday morning.

The Burlington store has an entrance from the mall parking lot and also another inside the Berkeley Mall.

Tucker, who used to be the Burlington store manager in Durham, said he jumped at the chance to work in Goldsboro to be closer to home in Wilson.

Burlington hired close to 90 people, but some left after two weeks of orientation. Tucker said the store still needs 10 to 15 workers to help with customers and to manage the store.

“You can never have too many people,” Tucker said.

The new Burlington store in Goldsboro increases the number of stores in North Carolina to 30, said Julia DePillis, Burlington spokesperson. The company operates more than 1,000 stores in the United States.