Unique Thrift Store

I enjoy this thrift shop. They almost always have something I’m looking for due to its sheer size. It’s huge! Their prices are ok. Some things are way better prices than others. I love that things move through here very quickly and they are always restocking. The shelves are never bare. You could go every two to three days and see totally different stuff. They have a huge selection of housewares which is helpful and I picked up some nice old bridesmaid dresses to wear to a ball that were $ 5 and $ 12 each. I thought $ 12 was a little high for one of the dresses but I really liked the color and I was in a pinch.
They do have good sales when you can catch them, and I’ve used their punch cards and coupons from the val-​pak before to save some extra money. I’ve been looking for items for the tables at my wedding and I’ve found most of them here.
If you’re looking for antiques or for hunting treasures, this is not the place to go. But if you need clothes, housewares, or kids items, this is a great option simply for its size and amount to look through.

Beware. This place is a triple scam. Up until yesterday I thought that Unique/​Savers was a non-​profit due to their in store solicitations on the PA system. Well long story short they are a for-​profit company with 1 Billion + in annual revenues. Very little of the proceeds made from the sale of your donated item actually goes to charity. When you donate to Unique/​Savers you are lining the pockets of the Ellison family. See article attached.

I LOVE this place! My entire wardrobe is pretty much from Unique. I find its best to go in without an agenda, as you never know what you’re going to find! Also, they now have dressing rooms!

Excellent and strange at the same time. Like many places, you’ll probably find it a little hit or miss. Some days there are lots of wonderful items to choose from, and others I walk out with nothing.
It’s a thrift store. So stuff that you’ll find there one day won’t necessarily be there the next. And it’s big so you’ll need to search for the good stuff. Think of it as an adventure.
Your adventure will start in the parking lot. You’ll need to keep your eyes open. It’s a big lot, but good spaces are hard to come by. Watch for all those other drivers and pedestrians!
Once inside, it helps to have general knowledge of the prices of the stuff you’re looking for. Prices for certain brands of jeans, for example, vary a lot. So I’ve found some wonderful buys and some not so good. I was shopping for a crock pot a couple of years ago and found that many of the ones they had here cost as much or almost as much as new (and without knowing if they work or not, it wasn’t worth the risk).
That said, there are still some very good buys. They have discount days. That helps too. I’ve found some excellent clothing, books, and pie plates too. Definitely will go back, but may or may not buy anything depending …

This is a chain of thrift stores and no matter which one I have gone to I am pounce on the most incredible bargains from a $ 1.99 Burberry cashmere scarf to a $ 3.99 piece of American brilliant cut glass. I buy all of my holiday Decore throughout the year as it is spectacular at the stores.

I expected a bit more from this place, but I was disappointed by the selection. There were no treasures, but I did find an amazing Halloween costume. You can comb through the aisles to find what you’re looking for and fill in with Halloween accessories from their section of brand new Halloween goods.

This place is massive! I already knew that from reading previous reviews, but I was not expecting to walk in to be greeted immediately by multiple stalls filled with vendors selling clothes, toys and knickknacks behind booths. It reminded me of something in between a flea market and an Asian mini-​mall. Beyond that is a warehouse-​like setup where you’ll find clothes, musical instruments, books, housewares, sports gear, the list goes on. A Unilocaler had mentioned that there are no fitting rooms, but that seems to have changed as they have sectioned off a small area for fitting rooms.
I came in looking for a little-​kid backpack to wear to a future Unilocal event, and though the selection was small, lo and behold I found one! I was also impressed by the huge selection of Halloween attire and accessories — I even tried on a pickle costume. I plan to come back when it gets closer to Halloween. I don’t see myself shopping here regularly, but for the unique (pun intended) occasion like Halloween, this will be the first place I’ll look.

Meh :/​prices and items are not that great and lots of things seem to be incomplete, such as CD cases missing CDs or couch cover set missing pieces and price. There was a fitting room when I went so not sure if that’s changed from the past– I think someone posted that there wasn’t one. And the staff seemed nice and willing to help.

Big as a supermarket. Reasonably organized. Plenty fitting rooms by the shoes section… But there was no portable CD players, which I came there for…(T^T)

You can deffinitley find a good thing if you look enough!!! I recommend going in the mornings. It’s great for a college gal like me! But the reason for the 3 stars is there kind of getting more pricey which I don’t like cause that defeats a purpose of a thrift store.

Wow I can’t believe I just found this place! This is the largest thrift shop in the DMV by far! I was in search of some gold frames to use for my wedding but didn’t want to pay $ 10 and up each at the store! I got a cart full of frames for $ 2-​$ 8 each! They have a giant selection of vases and other houseware items as well for a great price! I could have spent forever browsing around here-it’s like a giant indoor flea market really. They have everything and I will def be back-​I also highly recommend this place if you’re planning an event and need some good finds on a tight budget!

Unique was one of the first thrift stores I had ever been to. I had no clue as to how to thrift shop. Yes, there is a technique. Yes, you can develop it too. First time I went in it just looked like big ol’ jumbled mess of old stuff, yes there is still a bunch of old stuff! BUT! at least I KNOW I will find at least a few decent items if I take the time to look. Remeber: once you wear something it is now used. why buy new? Consider it fashion recycling. This is definitely not the cheapest thrift store I’ve been to, but it seems like all the thrift stores in the Nova area are more expensive than down south, but like I said support fashion recycling.
***Fast forward to years later and I love thrift stores and particularly this one, but there’s a few tips I learned along the way that made thrifting enjoyable. ***
1. Have plenty of time, thrift stores are no way worth it to pop in for 5 minutes in and out. This is not a fast food joint.
2.Look through everything, even things that aren’t in your size. I love to use oversized dressed, blazers, and sweaters and belt them.
*fashion tip* If you wear something oversized on your bottom/​top half, wear it with something fitted so you don’t look frumpy.
*example: oversized sweater, skinny jeans, and boots
3.Repeat, look through everything. Those treasures YOU WILL find are treasures for a reason, you had to search for them. Pretend you’re a pirate, get an eye patch and scream AY’ AY Thrifty if it’s going to get you in the mood.
4. Wear something tight such as leggings instead of jeans, since Unique DOES NOT having a changing room so the best thing you can do is try on clothes over your own.

I heard about this place through Reddit, where people were saying it was the biggest and best thrift store in the area. Biggest — sure. Best — ahahaha, no.
I went to get some toddler clothes, DVDs, maybe a book or two to read, and a toy for the toddler because she was with me. The toddler clothing section was pretty sad, the books were also pretty sad, I bought two DVDs and I *was* going to buy a toy for my daughter. However, when we got to the cash register the toy didn’t have a price sticker on it, so after waiting five minutes to see if someone could put a price on it, they tried to sell it to me for…10 DOLLARS! I literally could buy it new on Amazon for the same price.
I didn’t buy the toy and left without a whole lot of items and a whole lot of regret driving 45 minutes in the car to buy so little. Not going back anytime soon.

I wonder how they do the pricing here. Some stuff is very cheap and I recommend getting. Items such as belts $ 1 – 2 and accessories are plentiful and pretty good. Even better than goodwill. Other items, such as bras, are strangely expensive. $ 7 for a used bra? Why?
I feel the jewelry selection is great but a little overpriced. They get these items on donation, after all. Goodwill wins in terms of price; loses on price
Overall, it’s a mixed bag when it comes to quality and price. However, I got enough cool stuff to say, def worth a visit

Have you ever been moving out of an apartment or something, and you find yourself making a huge pile of worthless stuff that you don’t have the energy to actually pack, but you feel bad throwing it all away («these are perfectly good hair ties, SOMEONE COULD USE THESE»), so you end up guiltily shoving it all into a Goodwill box? Shopping here is like looking through the stuff everybody else didn’t feel like packing when they moved.
For instance, If you need a frying pan, sure, you’ll be excited to see the shelf with a hundred frying pans on it, but they only have a hundred of them because thousands of people have looked at them before you, and they all said to themselves «this is not worth even $ 2.00,» and then they didn’t buy a frying pan. A few aisles down from the frying pans, there is a huge decoration section that includes plaques with other people’s names on them and pictures of other people’s youth soccer teams and artwork crafted by other people’s young children. If you suddenly have to go into Witness Protection and you need some personal artifacts to shore up your new backstory, this is the place to go.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that this place is really great for clothes. Personally, I was able to find a great winter coat and some cute dresses here a few years ago, but in the last couple of years I just haven’t been able to find anything worth taking home.
This place is fun to poke around in, but if you actually want to, like, get things, I’d recommend a smaller, more selective place where you’ll be able to find good stuff without sifting through quite as much nonsense, like the Inova thrift store, which is close by and sometimes even cheaper than Unique.

This is one of my go-​to thrift stores. (I often go here, the Goodwill and Clocktower Thrift on the same day)
There are racks and racks and racks and racks! Make sure to bring your walking shoes, game face, and hand sanitizer!
Sign up for the customer loyalty program so you get a discount on Thursdays. Everyone gets a discount on Monday’s. If you are lucky enough to be free on a holiday, they often have a 50% sale.
Weekends are very busy. I am fortunate to be able to go mid-​week mid-​day. I never have to fight on the racks, which is nice.
There are many people working at this thrift store which means new stock is constantly being added and the racks are well maintained.
There is a fitting area that you typically don’t have to wait too long to get into.
Parking is easy, the lot is big.
I have found a great selection of sweaters for winter. Occasionally I find some shoes I like, but they are priced a bit high.
Also, don’t forget the counters in the front of the store. They hold what they think are the best shoes, purses, and coats by the registers. Also, the jewelry counter is in the corner too.
Happy thrifting!

Wow! I was mind blown when I first walked in. They have everything here. I started off in the neatly organized shoes section. When I say everything is organized I mean they keep it all so neat and tidy for how sloppy the customers I saw were. Although the customers were rude, the checkout service was fabulous. I am happy with the huge kids department. I got great deals on Abercrombie Kids clothing then found an Eileen Fisher tee shirt I couldn’t pass up! I can’t wait to come back when I can spend hours here! Shop on Monday for 25% savings!
Cons– the shoes were ugly! If you want ugly, dirty, shoes this is the best place to go! And the screaming children will get you out of there fast. I have been to classier thrift shops where it is not as hectic and you don’t have to think about washing the clothing before wearing it because who knows where it’s been.

Love it! The kids section is massive but really nothing for babies under a year.

NOPE. I have been wanting to stop here for the past 3 years, and since a few Elites gave it pretty good reviews, I dove in. … And then hit my head on the cement pool floor.
Parking here is terrible. Not only are there too few spots for the amount of people/​cars, the spots themselves are suuuper tight. I waited 4 minutes for one car to back out, only to find the mini-​van they were parked next to was sitting on the line and I had to find another spot in order to assure no one’s door (including mine) got scratched.
There was a sign about no public trespassing when I walked up to the door. I saw some people dropping donations off right next to the main door, and then this sign made me wonder if this was the right entrance or if this was actually a store instead of a donation center. The fact that what you see through the door is just concrete stairs and a landing didn’t help that. And then once I walked up those and a few feet in, I saw some bodega/​flea market style shops selling knock-​off purses and accessories BLASTING music. Seven minutes after I pulled in to the parking lot, I’m still not sure what exactly I’m entering.
Finally, when I bypass those, I realize it is more like a typical thrift store. It smelled bad and was super crowded. I did like the way they hung the pants so you could see what they looked like without having to thumb through them. But, I was here for home décor and furniture so I continued to the back of the store. Some really cheap chairs ($ 6.99) but really terrible quality, and kids playing and running on everything EVERYWHERE. Nothing at all worth buying around the back or far side of the store.
This store is a hot mess and stresssses me out. No thanks.

Unique is an interesting thrift store to say the least. I arrived this morning about 15 minutes before opening because I know how insanely crowded this place gets on the weekend. There were already people waiting outside.
I needed to find some comfy yet stylish, and most importantly, affordable clothing for my new job. It took a long time searching but I managed to find some good stuff.
As others have mentioned, there are no fitting rooms. It’s a shame… but at least you can come back and exchange your purchase if it doesn’t fit.
I’ll definitely come back here but most likely on a Thursday. If you become a VIP member (it’s free to join) you get 25% off your purchase every Thursday.