Red Racks Thrift Stores

This store location is no longer in business (closed in April 2016). It had gotten too pricey, which cut down on their daily traffic, and the Michaels next door moving out didn’t help.

Possibly the worst thrift store in St. Louis — Years ago I enjoyed shopping here but at some point things drastically changed. The prices are sky high, management is terrible, employees could care less, it’s dirty and the inventory is real poor. I’ll just stick to Goodwill for now on…

This store did a bit of changing this year but they have widened the aisles and adjusted the prices to better suit thrift store pricing. The employees are amazing there. Worth the drive

This used to be my favorite thrift store in St. Louis — it had a wide variety of items, with lots of new things being brought out every day, and their items were priced well, comparable to rummage sales. But something changed several months ago. The prices went up, some dramatically. Possibly the pricing increased in order to compensate for their half-​price days, which are now given about once a month. These half-​price days are no longer big bargains for most of their items, since they just bring the prices down to what they should have been initially.
To make matters worse, they just increased the backroom receiving and storage areas and reduced the sales floor area quite a bit. Maybe the steep increase in the prices has made it harder for them to move the merchandise so they needed a larger stockroom. Although the store is much neater now, the end result is fewer items out on the floor for sale. I am baffled by these changes — since when does fewer items, at higher prices, lead to increased revenue? Especially when the sources of your inventory are your potential buyers? The prices just chase them away.

Red Racks is a thrift store owned and operated in Missouri by Disabled American Veterans. According to their website, «the proceeds from the sales of donated goods help our country’s Disabled American Veterans, providing assistance for transportation, medical needs, counselling, and much more.»
Although the Creve Coeur location is more convenient for me, I prefer the one in Ballwin because it is larger. A bigger store holds more stuff, thereby increasing the probability of finding something I want.
Inside, the store is very similar to a Goodwill. You’ll find clothing and shoes for all ages, household goods, books, and much more.
I love to look at the clothing here. The quality and selection is very similar to what you’d find at Goodwill. You might find something great, or you might find a bunch of old vacation t-​shirts. However, Red Racks is superior to most Goodwill locations I’ve visited in terms of organization. Instead of organizing their clothing simply by type, Red Racks takes it a step further and organizes their selection by type AND size. The one exception seems to be their dresses. At both Red Racks and Goodwill, dresses are hung along a wall with complete disregard to size.
Red Racks often has sales, which allow you to get your cheap stuff even cheaper. For example, they might have a half-​off day in honor of a certain holiday. Or, they might offer a discount on a certain tag color. I love a good deal as much as the next cheapskate, but their sales result in cognitive dissonance for me:
«This $ 5 dress is now $ 2.50? Awesome!
«Wait, that means the DAV is only getting half of what they could potentially get for this dress.»
«But I do love a good deal. What if no one ever wants this dress? Wouldn’t I be doing them a favor by getting it off their hands now? Isn’t $ 2.50 better than $ 0? Besides, these low prices encourage me to buy even more stuff. Everyone wins here.»
:p
I hate to end on a negative point, but the one thing I dislike about Red Racks is that they staple their price tags to the garments. They’re typically stapled to the sizing tags, but you occasionally will find a price stapled to the garment itself. Whyyyyy?! It can be very tricky to remove a staple from certain fabrics.

I love this store I wish it was closer to my house. it’s the perfect thrift store because even my kids who12 15 & 19 love it too!
Red rack rocks! And you’re helping disabled veterans !