Thrift stores in your area/Goodwill

[fan-of-fans]

I recently saw we are getting a Goodwill here and I am excited. If it fills the whole store that was previously in that space, it will be huge! And it is open at night, whereas all of our others here close at 4 at the latest. Here we have Salvation Army, which used to be pretty good, but since they remodeled almost 10 years ago, I rarely see much at all in the store. The store got a little bigger but it seems like there is less stuff and usually little turnover. We also have Habitat ReStore which is a little better but again little turnover, and I find some of their prices to be high. The third thrift store is smaller but has better prices and can sometimes yield better finds.

We actually did have a Goodwill many years ago but it wasn't a huge store. I don't recall it being all that exciting as far as any good finds.

 

[neptunebob]

Goodwill usually is not all that exciting...

But I read recently where in a survey, people actually though Goodwill had more clothes selection than Sears!

 

[a440]

I have found many great treasures in the many Goodwill stores in the Atlanta area.

The nice part is that most of the vintage electronics and such that I buy are always very low prices.  I guess they think no one would want the items.

We also have other thrift stores that are about the same sizes of the Goodwill stores.  They are Value Village, America's Family Thrift, Saint Vincent De Pauls.  Many of the Salvation Army stores have closed and have opened one very large thrift store per area.  Very nice stores and well organized.  Salvation Army seems to be the most expensive.

Thrift Stores Rock!  I have always thought to open one.  All you have to do in Georgia is give like 4% of your earning to a charity.  Not a bad turn around if your store is successful considering everything you sell was given to you!

 

 

[this post was last edited: 4/24/2016-00:39]

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

My go to thrift shop is Unique Thrift. When they have their 50% off, nobody can touch their prices. While they do have a lot of junk, treasures certainly show up. Restore and the the Salvation Army have gotten ridiculous with their prices.

 

[a440]

Oh....I forgot to mention "Last Chance Thrift Store".  Very large, and every Monday the entire store is 50% off.

 

 

[rp2813]

Thrift stores around here have all become pretty junky.  Goodwill was first, but now Salvation Army is probably worse.  Goodwill has improved slightly, but their prices are ridiculous.

 

Most of my finds come from Savers, but lately their merchandise consists of more junk than it used to, and prices are often laughably high.

 

Except for one large Salvation Army store, none of the thrifts around here sell major appliances anymore.

 

[vacerator]

Goodwill

is a corporation.

 

[retro-man]

Savers

Is a new "chain" I believe that has opened in our area. It is in a former Circuit City store that went out. People bring in items to be sold or donated. I think a price is established on what they will pay you for said items, you either take it or donate the item. They sell it and make the profit. Place always seems packed. Have to stop in one day and take a look around. I know someone who picked up a lot of childrens outdoor play items, house, slides etc. Got them real cheap in great condition. I do believe they carry a lot of household items. I am going to start cleaning out soon excessive kitchen inventory of pans and such. Having the place at the beach an living minimalist is not bad. So you run the dishwasher every day.

Jon

 

[rp2813]

That doesn't sound like the same Savers operation.  The ones here have 100% donated merchandise and proceeds go to Hope Services, which offers educational and employment programs for the developmentally disabled.

 

[petek]

We have Value Village, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Bibles for Missions, Habitat Restore and an old St Vincent de Paul.   Our new Goodwill is fairly new and the size of a Value Village and obviously they've copied their format along with much higher prices. The Habit Restore moved from an old furniture store downtown to a very large out of biz furniture store along the highway. The decrepit old Bibles for Missions moved from an old  restaurant in a shabby old plaza to a vacant out of biz restaurant along the highway of malls as well and did a good job refurbing the place,  you'd never know it had been a restaurant. But yeah the prices they want these days makes you think twice. 

 

[yogitunes]

what I find with most 'thrift' stores, is by demographics.....

and by that I mean the area, in areas of low income, which you would think this would be beneficial for the area, doesn't have all that great of merchandise, and mainly because these areas are where the stuff is coming from....

now if you head in other areas, for example Cherry Hill around here, its mostly doctors and lawyers, and professionals who are donating stuff......and you can find a better quality of merchandise and a huge selection....and not overkill on pricing.....

but with a lot of the pricing for some items at local thrift shops, you can find the same item at Walmart, CHEAPER and brand new!...

 

[fan-of-fans]

I forgot about St Vincent de Paul. We have one here, it's really small but I have seen some neat things there. I haven't been in a long time, because they have weird inconsistent opening times.

I think some of the local thrift stores actually auction some of their nicer items they receive.

And I agree it depends on the area. I have seen some finds on here and other websites that have me in awe, and it's not an uncommon thing for those particular thrift stores.

 

[goatfarmer]

I used to deliver to the local Goodwill. They had an assembly program that helped developmentally disabled people out.

 But the amount of usable donations that I personally saw go into the trash compactor, made me decide that they wouldn't be high on my list when it came to donations. Toys, clothing, furniture, etc. They would get a semi trailer of new toy returns from Toys R Us in the Chicago area, if a toy was not perfect, it went into the dumpster. Many toys that needed a small repair, such as a Barbie battery powered Jeep that children ride, that needed a wheel, got tossed, along with similar ones, where someone could have made 1 good one from 2 bad ones. Lots of clothing got tossed that was usable to someone.

I tend to shop and support St Vincent's, and Salvation Army.

 

[rp2813]

I think there's a lot of skimming going on at all of these operations so it's mainly junk that ends up on the sales floor.

 

Then there are the back room people who are consulting ebay for price points, which is the last place you'll find realistic prices for just about anything.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I'm afraid I plead guilty:

I send my chasarai to these places...!

Really, in the case of records: a record that's an LP no longer goes for $1, these days, although a '45' once cheaper does...

In either case, nothing but black plastic for nothing more skeet shooting or after you do play it and realize it's impossible to hear the music through the scratches, than you're stuck with a frisbee...

The cover, if it's even there, is most-likely faded, written-on, or water damaged...

Junk Shops, are what these places are...

Appliances, nowadays? Home of mostly-1990's Kenmore and Non-0lden-Days-GENERAL ELECTRIC-GE! Not to mention Admiral and WCi-Heaven--even a few first-made Electrolux that out-lived their useful life-spans, going to a land-fill, next...

-- Dave

 

[whirlcool]

The local Goodwill stores here stopped carrying anything you'd want about 10 years ago. It's mostly clothing now. And most of it is worn out clothing to top it off. As far as appliances go they have a few old toaster ovens, but they are overstocked on the 300lb CRT style television sets. Used to be you could get them there for about $25, now the average price is $100. So they aren't selling. They also have lots of single plates and broken up place settings.

The worst thing about the place is the odor! It stinks to high heaven! You'll smell like the place when you leave too. They have some kind of misting system they recently installed that is supposed to work. You'll hear it hissing now and then, but the smell is still there. I think the problem is that people do not wash their donated items before dropping them off.

 

[askolover]

I'm allergic to mold, dust mites, dust in general, and every time I go to our Goodwill I immediately have a trigger event...sometimes my throat starts itching and I start coughing, other times I'll just snort and sneeze until I leave. 

 

We have found quite a few very nice new/almost new leather jackets there and I got most of my denim summer shorts I wear working outside from there...of course washed in hot water first!  Tony collects Princess House crystal and we've found countless items at GW.  He found his mother a brand new shower chair for $9. If we go on closer to Nashville or the ritzy town of Franklin we tend to find much nicer things.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Yes, it's hard to get the smell of the place out of your nose even long-after you'd left... I don't buy stuff there I would wear unless it's spotlessly clean! --And I still wash it when I bring it home, after I pry off the staples that hold the price tags...

-- Dave

 

[chachp]

Savers..

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">We have two of them and to the best of my knowledge they are also all donations.  I'm not sure where the proceeds go but I'm not aware of the option to have them essentially buy the item from me.  I donate and I get a coupon for 20% my next purchase.  The two that we have are both OK.  The one in the more affluent area is much bigger, much cleaner and has nicer things as well.  The other, well MEH, not so much.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The nicer one that we have here is also in a former Circuit City location.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">We also have Goodwill and Salvation Army.  They are both OK but I don't see any finds there like others seem to find at their local thrift shops.  Once in a great while something might pop up but not that often.  The SA used to be in a really old building that had all kinds of issues.  A couple of years ago they moved to a nicer location and a much better building.  Ironically, I enjoyed rummaging in the old location much more than this one.  The old one felt like a thrift store with all its nooks and crannies and oddities.  The new one feels like a crappy store in a strip mall.  The newer one is in a better part of town and they expected nicer donations but I don't see it reflected in what is on the shelves.  I think the good stuff that gets donated seldom reaches the shelves.</span>