Thrift stores in your area/Goodwill

[turquoisedude]

There are a few Goodwill stores here in La Belle Province, but they run under the banner 'Renaissance' to comply with the French-language laws.   The stores are arranged oddly in my opinion - you have racks of clothing with piles of household items like kitchenware, glasses, dishes, and hardware scattered on shelves on top of the clothes racks.  But I've found some pretty neat stuff in these stores over the years, so I'm not complaining!!

 

There's nothing much in St-Liboire but in St-Hyacinthe, the nearest 'big' town, there's a store run by the Quebec United Way where I go regularly and have found some nifty stuff.  At Christmas time, I nearly fainted when I found a set of new C6 tree lights!  

 

In the Ogden area, there are a couple of Thrift stores in Stanstead that are not great.  In Magog, there are a 3 or 4 places that were ok, but recently their prices seem to have gone through the roof!  At one place, an older GE toaster oven (maybe a 70s model) is touted as being an 'antique' and is priced at $80.  I hope nobody buys it and encourages them... LOL    

 

But the crown jewel of thrift stores is on the outskirts of Sherbrooke, in Lennoxville.  The store seems to be independent, but I think they are affiliated with the United Way.   Over the years, I've found some cool vintage small appliances, lamps, a 50s sectional sofa set, and even a few vintage major appliances.  The 1963 DE700 Maytag dryer came from that store and I found a US model Frigidaire electric range for Phil there too.  

 

[tolivac]

Salvation Army-other thrift stores or swap shops as they are called out here.The Salvation Army place here now only takes donations-no store anymore.Beware of these places-if you are donating look out back-if the shop has dumpsters,compactor,and a baler-beware.Your goods could end up in those.Balers have been added to bale plastic goods-then the bales are sent to plastics recyclers.The compactor is used for often nice items.Learned this from the Classic Refuse Trucks site.Memebers there take pictures of items thrown into the compactors and dumpsters-often perfectly good clothes,furniture,toys,appliances.The balers are packed with plastic toys and other things-the recycling may pay more to them then trying to sell the goods.And if the goods are damaged when donated--remember when Salvation Army and Goodwill used to fix those things with handicapped workers-now those items go to the dump.the photographers are even chased off the site by the store staff.Secrets they don't want you to know!So you may be better off selling the goods yourself on EBay,Craiglist or giving them to freinds and relatives.

 

[tolivac]

100 bucks for older TV's go to the transfer station dump site near me and you could have all you want for FREE!!Folks don't want these anymore-so they donate the sets to Sal Army,Goodwill.Bet if those TV's continue to gather dust-they end up up at the dump!

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

At Unique Thrift, I don't think they throw ANYTHING out. Hell they sell have empty toiletries. Yep, a half bottle of shampoo you'd find at a dollar store. Broken toys, heavily damaged furniture. A lot of useless junk. It can be appalling. But you do find jewels. Vintage Pyrex for a few dollars, old 2500 phones, vintage Christmas decorations, a bag of Shiny Brights for a buck. Between 9 and 6 there is a constant stream of employees replenishing the stores shelves. You you never know what might suddenly show up. I nabbed a pair of solid brass, MCM Stiffel lamps, with original Stiffel shades for only $3.50 each. (50% off sale). And they were in beautiful condition.

 

[kimball455]

HI ..

In Cape May County we have a large number of thrift stores. The prices seem quite good and the selection is wide and quite interesting. Most have stopped taking electronics especially CRT TVs. I have found some really great items such as a Schott motorcycle jacket for $30 and two other leather bomber jackets also for $30 each. A couple of Mixmasters for $15, a classic Kitchen Aid for $35. The real winner was the oil filled fry pan for $15. Similar items retail in the hundreds. Often, summer beach wear is available with the original hang tags and price. I like Hawaiian shirts and all of the stores typically have a good selection. Our local hospital even has two locations. The most interesting one was the GoodWill outlet in Bellmawr, NJ where the items are rolled out in large bins and everything is 99cents/pound. The one thing that never seems to show up in any of the thrift shops is Carhartt work gear.

Harry

 

[lordkenmore]

I've shopped between two Goodwill systems. One is Seattle, and the other used to be Tacoma, but seems to be rebranding itself as Goodwill Olympics and Rainier Region. Th latter has been my primary store for a year. Mainly because a location is convenient for me when I do errands. Otherwise, I don't shop in thrift shops much these days--partly due to limited cash flow, and partly due to "I really don't need any more clutter!" That store seems expensive, and on some things insanely high given that for a bit more (in some cases LESS) one can have new.

Historically, I found the Seattle system stores better.

My favorite stores, however, are the small stores that exist in one location and are entirely local. The prices are often better, as is the selection.

 

[washabear]

We have quite a few Goodwill stores in the area. I mainly like to look at the electronics. Most of them are junk, but I found a nice BIC turntable for $20, which works fine and plays really well. I also picked up a Panasonic VCR for $10, which also works perfectly and seems like it was rarely used. These were exceptions in my experience, but I always like to see what's available at any given time.

 

[countryford]

Here in the Phoenix area we have over 30 Goodwill stores. I love going to them. For the week, they have a certain colored tag that is 50% off. Then every other Saturday is 50% off store wide. Also their CRT TVs are only $1.00. I've found some good stuff, to include tube radios and TVs.
There is also savers, salvation army, saint Vincent de Paul, and value village. They occasionally have good stuff, just depends.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

From Council Thrift, Berkley & Salv. Army, Roseville:

The last great thrift shop find:

$6 for the lamp, $14 for the shade (which came on another lamp; the one originally on this one had no screen)...

Some antique store I'd been to in Lasalle, MI had three lamps like mine here, going for $20, each, and probably in better condition, which I had neither $20, $40 or $ 60 for...

But if not for passing those up, I never would have found mine, that I have otherwise... The lamp from Council Thrift, Berkley and the shade from Salvation Army, Roseville...

-- Dave

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/council-thrift-berkley?select=qxWstO0kXNec8ViU83hO6w

 

[retro-man]

I apologize for the wrong info I posted about savers. My brain is still not up to par since my stroke 2 weeks ago. I will refrain from posting any more till I feel that all is computing well. Sorry folks.

Jon

 

[twintubdexter]

Fun stuff to read here...

About 25/30 years ago I was suffering from a terrible disease...flea market/garage/block sale and thrift-store itis (eye-tis). I hit them all. The result was a big house full of stuff, especially anything that had a cord on it. It took weeks to get rid of 99% of it before I moved and I told myself I would never let that happen again. 15 years later I look in the mirror and say "you lied!" Things aren't at the critical stage but they're close. Since garage sales and flea markets aren't that popular here (heat) I blame ebay although finding something at a reasonable price + shipping is a real challenge. 

 

There are a number of thrift stores here like the standard Goodwill as well as several independents, some very nice like "Collector's Corner" operated by Eisenhower Medical Center. There is one very unique chain here called "Revivals." They have a good variety of stuff including appliances and electronics. They will come to your house and pick up just about anything. Most of their proceeds go to support "Desert AIDS Project" which makes giving to and shopping there all the better. The people that work in the store do so on a volunteer basis. I'm trying to get myself in a "time to let it go' mode and call them more often.

 

PS...

 

Cole...You started this topic saying how excited you are about a Goodwill coming to your area. There's nothing wrong with that. Of the hundreds of Goodwill stores in operation I'm sure there's good and bad ones...so enjoy!

 

Ralph...Your comment about skimming going on in all of these stores is probably 100% accurate as is the statement of using ebay as a price guide.

 

 

Revivals has sales periodically like 50% off all donated items and they notify you via email. They also give a small senior discount.

[this post was last edited: 4/27/2016-16:58]

 

[lordkenmore]

>Of the hundreds of Goodwill stores in operation I'm sure there's good and bad ones...so enjoy!

Very true. Probably variable within different parts of a city, too...

One thing also worth noting: I'm not sure how the structure works, exactly, but each area of the US has its own "system." So...when one shops Goodwill in one state, one is shopping a different organization, with different people running it, than when one shops in another state. So that can mean different experiences as well. Years back, the Seattle system was a much better experience for me than the Tacoma-based system.

>Your comment about skimming going on in all of these stores is probably 100% accurate as is the statement of using ebay as a price guide.

Absolutely.

One thrift shop in my area (independent one location doing scholarships) even posts the eBay price on collectible items. Their prices are lower, of course.