Taking the place of Peebles in the West End Plaza, an off price retailer marked its opening in Brodheadsville with a donation to a local school Tuesday morning.

Gordmans employees presented Pleasant Valley High School Principal Matthew Triolo with a $1,000 check in celebration of the store’s launch. Located in the shopping center off Route 209, it was one of 23 Gordmans throughout Pennsylvania to open that morning.

After Triolo congratulated employees and thanked them for the donation, the school’s cheer team kicked off the opening with a routine, accompanied by the band. People had already started lining up behind the new Gordmans’ doors.

Early birds received a free Gordmans tote and shopping card.

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Mary Casnocha, manager of the Gordmans in Brodheadsville, called the store’s opening in the west end “exciting.”

“I really hope we can reach out to the community,” Casnocha said. “This is the place you want to shop. We are you’re hometown store… You’re family to us.”

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The retailer features a wide array of inventory, from clothing, to makeup, to garden decorations. The latter is where Tish Anderson, of Brodheadsville, started when she first walked into the unfamiliar shop.

Anderson, who’s never been in a Gordmans, said she was disappointed to hear Peebles was closing. That disappointment was short lived though, as the news was soon followed by Gordmans’ opening. Anderson thought the store “very nice,” and the transition from Peebles to Gordmans smooth.

“We needed something like this,” she said.

Gordmans is a branch off the Houston, Texas-based Stage Stores, a department store company which aims to have about 700 Gordmans stores throughout the county by mid-2020, according to its website.

Stage is also the parent company of Peebles.