Out Of The Closet

As a charitable organization, Out Of The Closet is awesome. The location is unbeatable. The building is new, attractive, and fits the character of the neighborhood. Even with the dense Short North location, they manage to have abundant free parking. As a thrift store, Out Of The Closet leaves a lot to be desired. They seem to have the crappiest of crap and it is not well displayed or organized. Considering their location and market, I would expect them to be more upscale. But buy stuff anyway. They do good work!

I love that there is a thrift store supporting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Take note: this isn’t just a thrift store — they have a fully functioning pharmacy as well as HIV and STI testing (though more HIV testing than STI testing — check for which days they have STI testing).
They are also a great place to donate old clothes or home-​goods to. They are very grateful, and it feels good to support a neighborhood spot.

I will never be back to this place. I’m 9 months pregnant and was shopping with my toddler and they refused to give me the key to the bathroom. I was told that they don’t have a public bathroom and we had to go down the street to Kroger. For all the compassion they appear to have from the outside (free HIV testing, etc), there customer service is nonexistent.

This place is great. Terrific deals on furniture. Found records, tees, mugs, you name it there. And the cash goes to a good cause.

Awesome, cheap, hipster clothing in one of my favorite parts of town. Also, they give away free condoms in here lol. When my friend I were there, there were some girls who went to OSU, clearly just turned 18 and obviously excited to have sex grabbing a bunch of them :/​Not so sure I’d use those, but hey… they’re there.
Anyway, the clothes are cool and it’s a pretty big store. Not your typical thrift store.

I visited on a Sunday morning after grabbing some juice from Native with my son. We were the only people in the store so I had a chance to talk to the manager who was working that day. He gave me the lowdown on what the organization stood to provide for people, and I must say, what a wonderful concept for a second hand store. It’s refreshing considering the majority are for profit.
I snagged a few jackets, a dress, and some books for my son all for $ 1 or less and headed out.
Long story short, I will be back

Out of the Closet is an excellent organization to support; who doesn’t like to shop for a great cause?! The selection is mostly clothes, with a little furniture that turns over fairly quickly. The clothes are nice quality over-​all, and you can make some great name-​brand finds. I was able to find an Express brand black pencil skirt for $ 4.00 the other day!
Fun and quality items for a thrift store, and a great cause. They also have bowls of free condoms everywhere, which could be a pro or con depending on the person ;)

I would say out of the closet’s organization/​selection is better than your average thrift store but not as great as your average consignment store. Which makes sense except the prices are more consignment-​shop like than thrift store like. But that’s okay since proceeds go to a good cause so I feel warm and fuzzy when I buy something here (instead of guilty when I shop elsewhere…). This is a great addition to the area, and even though I’m usually not in the mood to sift through clothes racks here, the books and doodads are pretty cool to poke through.

WHY DID THIS OPEN SO CLOSE TO MY APARTMENT?
I’ve been watching this building being constructed for the past few months — mostly because it makes it tricky to cross 5^th Ave to get to Brothers Drake — but also because I’m addicted to thrifting and having a store so close to where I live could be a very very good thing.
The store is a very open, bright sort of building with lots of natural light. The clothing racks are uncrowded and roughly sorted by type — tops, slacks, skirts, dresses, coats, hats, and so on. The types of clothing are obviously geared to a particularly hippie/​hipster/​green/​socioconscious clientele, with prices ranging from $ 2.50 to $ 25. Prices aren’t particularly «thrifty» especially compared to an Ohio Thrift or VoA, but more along the lines of a TJ Maxx. There are many items that are NWT and look like they were overstock or last season’s run. Brands like Free People, BCBG, 7 for all Mankind, London Fog, and what looked like other small boutique-​type designers as well as a smattering of Merona, Ann Taylor, Forever 21. There was a fairly decent range of sizes, though I didn’t see too many XS items that I would actually wear, except there were a lot of really cute dresses which made me with that my job were more conducive to the wearing of dresses in the workplace. The housewares, furniture, and books were not particularly noteworthy — clothes are the main focus here. There are a couple of small dressing rooms near the registers.
The styles here are a bit too hipster twee for me, though there were certainly clothes that I could work with, and having this store within walking distance definitely makes it a regular stop on thrifting days (and non-​thrifting days too…).
EDIT: The quality of the items does tend to vary since it seems like they get shipments from their HQ every couple of weeks, and the rest is just run-​of-​the-​mill donations. I don’t think they’ve ever quite gotten back up to the stock levels that I wrote about when they first opened, but there’s still some good deals. They usually have a 30% off, 50% off, and $ 1 sale tag.
Favourite finds so far:
— Limited sweater vest, $ 1
— Bisou cardigan, $ 1

I paid a visit this morning to the just-​opened Out Of The Closet, a California-​based thrift store. According to the company’s website, 95 percent of all sales benefit global advocacy and medical care efforts of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
The newly constructed building, still awaiting mostly cosmetic changes on the outside, was alive and bustling inside an airy space full of shoppers browsing racks of clothing and a smaller selection of furniture and home décor. On this grand opening day, corporate heads were present, free hot dogs and popcorn were being served just outside, and a (presumably guest) DJ navigated the loud and booming beats heard overhead.
I was impressed with what appeared to be a higher-​end selection of clothing with brand names including Hugo Boss, Barney’s, and Jos. A. Banks, for example, among others. The prices definitely were reasonable; the clothes clean and in good shape. Stock was arranged according to style and color, although, sizing was not clearly identifiable. (This seems to fit with the kind of scavenger-​like experience a thrift store brings. In this, OOTC brings nothing new to the table.)
Free HIV testing was available and an on-​site pharmacy occupies a corner of the space opposite the store room.
OOTC is a solid addition to the burgeoning northern end of the Short North. The store’s name, certainly a play on words, feels dated. OOTC purpose to bridge the needs of yet too many requiring support, quality of life, and medical care is a great reason to shop and conquer some bargains.