Salvation Army

Only found this gem because we accidentally took a wrong turn on the way to Ecothrift from the city. I’m so glad we stumbled across this one because their deals were amazing on the day we came in. All Bric-​A-​Brac were 50% along with purses and jackets. All things I look for when I thrift lol. Now I know the deals change so I’m rating this high based on our experience that day. The actual location, size and layout is more like a 3.5.
We found 2 vintage luggages in really great shape and some heeled Hunter’s that were priced really well hence the 4 stars. I’ve only gone here once so I can’t say how consistent our finds will be at this store but I’ll be sure to report as soon as I give this store at least 3 visits. Super excited for that!

Why this store sucks: the clueless elders fresh off the boat that sort out the clothes toss aside all interesting (vintage) clothing to be sent off to South East Asia in giant bails so that Cambodians can make the biggest buck a human being can make off a single article of clothing while we bay area folks get stuck with the same run of the mill garbage any jerk off can find at the mall –Hollister, old navy, gap, Sean John, fubu, ecko and all that ugly boring garbage. Once upon a time a hip young person who knows what’s up with fashion could go into any Salvation Army in the Bay Area and hand select amazing vintage clothing but it just doesn’t happen anymore. whoever’s in control of what’s being sorted now it’s almost like they make a valiant effort to make sure that no interesting clothing items show up on the racks it’s like they are totally clueless and don’t know who’s actually shopping at thrift stores it’s not the people from the mall who demand name brand modern clothing that’s why they’re shopping at thrift store in hopes of finding something old and unique not run of the mill shit you keep putting out!!! That’s the stuff you should be sending off to Thailand and let us Americans have the 80s Harley Davidson and concert shirts! ! since you don’t a lot of folks who drive around all over the place looking for these can never find them because once its donated to a salvation army store you make sure it gets sent far far far far away. It’s a shame because there really was a time where Salvation Army would sell anything that was donated to them but now they have a very strange way of when they sort through things they are very very selective and they honest to god think that they know what the public want and its total b******* it’s like just operate like a normal thrift store and sell what the public wants and quit being so paranoid mr.phillips.
They no longer sell donated entertainment media — dvds, cds and vhs and are now buying truck loads of clearance bargin bin trash that Rasputin’s couldn’t sell starting at 1.95 to 0.95 then to 0.50 and pawned all this garbage onto salvation army to attempt at pushing this shit pile onto salvation army shoppers. So expect to find plenty of scratched titles and plenty Ricky Martin cds. It’s absurd as all hell that the public can longer shop at salvation army and stumble across someone’s amazing donated collection in pristine condition but insted the shit the local record store sells to salvation army when it should go to its proper home THE LAND FILL!!! I’m no stranger to sifting through the bargain section at Rasputin’s in hopes of finding maybe just one decent thing and it never happens so I know the full blown garbage that comes from that bargain bin and I will forever miss the quality items that I used to find through the donated CD’s and DVD’s at Salvation Army I’m talking sealed copies of Pink Floyd Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin Sly and the Family Stone excetera excetera artists that people actually listen to with no scratches it’s as if someone’s wife donated some guy’s entire collection and we the lucky Public sometimes get to stumble across those situations
Another strange thing is that salvation army for the last few years refuses to sell cassette tapes and why??? That could be one last thing I might be able to find in a store that rarely let’s the public feast there eyes on anything interesting but don’t worry they’ve got a shit ton of dusty 100 year old classical records and Glenn Miller for you. Seriously salvation army bring back the cassette tapes quit throwing what we want into the garbage! ! The idea of a thrift store is to find interesting unique things from yesteryear that you can’t just go get at a department store or the mall and the more you take it away from us the more we simply do not find it because once you get it in your hands you make sure that we never see it again but some 3^rd world country will or the bottom of a landfill and that just f****** sucks. You take all the fun out of how great of a store this used to be.

What an awful experience!!! I was so disappointed by the little punk that came to pick up my donation. He had NO desire to work. He told me that he would only take the bags… Couldn’t be bothered with the boxes. And yes, I saw how much room he had left in his truck… Plenty!!!
I called the cancer society. Fabulous people to deal with!!!

So the last time i reviewed this place i hadnt completely committed to DIGGING.
My terminology for ‘searching through the entire store to find a bargan’
And since then i have become quite the nifty digger. I have found SOO MUCH trendy shit. I literally finger through every single aisle until i find something. Maybe i dont always leave with something but when i find something oooh man i get this crazy shoppers high.
Im pretty sure im addicted to shopping.
My fav thing to «DIG» for:
Clothes
Furniture
Electronics
Accessories
Dvds
You go, Glen Coco!

Surprisingly good selection of furniture here at surprisingly reasonable prices. Also quite a bit of clothing and housewares, although I found the selection to be relatively spotty. Still, worth a stop if you’re in the area.

Lots of stuff here – and it’s all STUFF if you know what I mean.
I’ve been here on three separate occasions and there wasn’t one thing that caught my eye or interested me, it was all junk of the lowest form.
The prices are rock bottom, but so are the goods. I’ve seen better stuff at garage sales or even left out curbside.

I feel sorry for the employees working there. You have this Adolph Hitler tyrant manager hollering at the employees. She has this mean demeanor. Everything is overpriced except for the shoe section.

This review is about the picking up of our furniture, dining set, clothes in Castro Valley. Have no experience with the retail store. I called about 1 month ahead to schedule a pick up of some of my mother’s furniture, 8 – 10 bags of clean clothes in good condition (threw away the very worn). Was scheduled for today 2−5pm. Ok, I drive 30 miles to my mother’s house for the pick up, a little after 5pm I call the #800 see if they are still coming, was told truck running late, might be about 7:20pm. Wow, ok so I invested most of my afternoon now, figured I’d wait. At 6:50pm I call again and was told truck was still coming, so I wait a bit longer, since I made the trip my plan was to give it to 8pm. At 8pm the driver calls me, as he is PULLING INTO THE S.A. PARKING LOT, to tell me he is not coming, its too late. Yes, I am upset. Could not scream at the driver, something tells me its just poor organization/​management. So disappointed. So sad the organizations to help the needy are poorly run, the organizations for the rich are well run. Is the problem obvious to anybody else? I would rather throw away, waste products than try to «donate» to this organization again.
They make it seem like its so ok to just «reschedule» for next week. Right.

A bit smaller than I thought, but still got a lot of good stuffs. Lots of nice and like new furnitures. I felt like buying that leather couch even though I don’t need a couch. It was practically brand new!!! A some dudes even walked out with beautiful patio furnitures! I wished I had gotten there earlier! darn!!!
There weren’t toys for kids though. ONly some board games and bikes and helmets. They’ve got lots of like new skates for the kids. They didn’t have a lot of kids’ clothes either. But I found some good brands at really good prices.
THey didn’t carry too much women’s clothes either, but it was good enough for me to browse around for a little while. But I wished their clothes were sorted by size though. That would have made it easier to search for stuffs.
workers are loud but they’re just having fun. They’re super nice! They’re just talkative and chit-​chatty, they’re cool!
Not sure if i’m coming back though.

Merging my stuff, my kid’s, and the leftovers of my former tenant to the new casa, I had the making of a most excellent yard sale.
But no. HOA said not to be.
I remembered a guy I met back in the day who was a career Salvation Army officer. He was passionate and dedicated his life to support those that could not support themselves. How humbling is that… So I thought to donate my stuff to the Salvation Army.
Scheduled a pick-​up online, the two person crew showed up on the appointed day, and someone is gonna enjoy my Birani suits! Bless you Salvation Army.

Great prices and clean merchandise! I went here for my first time about two weeks ago. Luckily I came on half off day without even knowing it! I bought a baby crib bumper that was super cute and a few binders for 99 cents. The only thing I didn’t like was the cashier that rang me up. He told me the amount I owed, I told him to hold on because I had change, but he totally ignored me.
I will be going back again on their half off day though.

Stopped by here today on the way to Eco thrift in hayward. Had never been here before but a good selection of womens clothing, nicely organized with a good choice of brand name clothing in good condition. Prices were very reasonable. About $ 5.99 for most sweaters and tops. And womens jeans were on sale for $ 2 each so can’t beat that! There’s a small amount of children’s clothing but all priced under $ 5 and in good condition as well! Found a lot of great gems and will definitely be back for more another time! I actually liked this store much better than Eco thrift. Better prices and not so picked over!

great store! I came there not expecting to buy anything… I bought a big of jewelry which was priced $ 45 and the manager gave me half off… thats a great deal. one tip i can give them is to have there selection more organized. staff was very friendly. A happy place to come during your lunch hour…

Salvation in the Hay! Alright nowwww!
I came away with a pair of red eel skin vintage heels (date night, baby!) and a brand new denim skirt for $ 6. All shoes and accessories were priced at $ 3 on the date I visited.
The store is relatively small and it’s got that old thrift store smell and look. When I came here last year I thought it was a tad bit more disorganized. It looks like they’ve stepped their game up.
Clothing and shoes are not organized by size, but you’ll find most items in the correct sections (skirts, tops, pants, etc.)
There is a dressing room, so if you need to try on clothing be sure to ask to be let in to the dressing room.
The books are located in a separate room near the front of the store and there are some good deals inside that lil’ side room.
I was greeted by several employees and the manager even acknowledged me. I had a good experience here and I plan to come back often.

This store has definitely gotten cleaner and better organized in the last year or so. Service is fine most of the time, and the merchandise is hit or miss. Don’t believe that you can’t find the «trendy» stuff here, or cool things. Thrifting is 90% creativity and selectivity: How you can adapt the item into your life and home. I’ve found many dresses and tops here over the years and taken them in or added a button, and have received nothing but compliments. They normally carry a large stock of furniture here, and lately, lots of art!
Their half days off are amazing. I happened to catch one today.
Buys for the day~
Boggle game: $ 2.50 (Normally runs at least $ 30)
Flats: $ 3
Beautiful long silky robe: $ 2.50
White full length mirror: $ 1.50
2 new wooden folding patio chairs: $ 15/​pair
They also taken donations out back during business hours.

Review for donation furniture pickup only.
After reading several reviews for donation furniture pickups I was worried the 7 – 8 pieces of large (heavy) twenty year old wood furniture wouldn’t be taken, but luckily the two men loaded and took everything. We had already put all the furniture outside so maybe that’s the reason they are more likely to take it. Definitely happy and relieved we didn’t have to pay several hundred dollars for junk trucks to come. Well as they say, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure lol.

Saturday sales, ya’ll? Usually 40% off everything, furniture 30% off. We happened to buy our couch during a 40% furniture day, so for just over $ 100, we got an incredibly comfy couch in a nice [50 shades of] dark green. Yes, it does blow every $ 500 and now-​I-​have-​back-​pain-​from-​sitting-​in-​it-​at-​the-​store Ikea couch out of the water.
I generally only buy things from thrift stores if they are either name brands or look like name brands. (Okay, occasionally I buy total crap, but how can I possibly pass up that lamp base that looks like a baseball? Win.)
A few of my treasures I’ve found here:
–Large side table that looks exactly like something you could buy from pottery barn for 30x the price ($ 12). Few leg scratches, but great condition otherwise.
–Large Ikea lamp ($ 8). Bonus: I’ve never seen anything like it, so I would call it vintage Ikea = you probably wont go over to a friend’s place and they have your lamp.
–Calvin Klein worky/​out to dinner over a black dress jacket ($ 5)
–Ann Taylor tweed jacket ($ 5)
–Zara tweed jacket ($ 5)
–My boyfriend occasionally finds work shirts, like VanHeusen ($ 3)
So yeah, it’s one of our go-​to Saturday excursions. The store isnt exactly huge, which I love, so I can spend 2 hours or less and pretty much look at everything without wasting my whole Saturday.

I love thrift stores and my hometown used to be host to several good ones. This site of a former bank is the last man standing on A St. I NEVER walk out without some great books or cool finds. Today’s quest: more books for my classroom and some better quality sweaters.
The vault where the books are kept is definitely full of gems. Today’s finds: a nearly new Armistead Maupin novel, several paperback versions of my now defunct book club faves, and a basketful of children’s picture books.
I did find one LL Bean cardigan. Everything for under $ 10 because it was a 50% off everything sale.
Highlight: the staff! Sassy and smiley. And playing classic R&B. What’s not to like?

Salvation Army’s definitely got the price thing down, there’s no denying that. With 50% sales happening almost every day, you can get pretty much anything you want.
But what if you don’t want anything? I’ve been into this Salvation Army a good five times, and not a single thing appealed to me.
Maybe these two things are connected?

This Salvation Army is enomous like a warehouse. looks like an whole roomful of different kinds of women, men’s and children’s clothes. saw sizes for almost everyone except for sumo wrestlers and pandas.
there’s some furniture, some glassware and a small book section in the front corner. some nice shoes here.
hardbooks (2.50), paperbooks (.50) books about clinton and by woodward were very evident here.
finds:
— nien chung, «life and death in shanghai» (.50)
–ron suskind: «the price of loyalty» (.50)
booknotes:
–large parking lot, no meters.
–not busy on weekdays.
–for sale sign on building,
–women screaming for service when whe was only one in line.
(maybe the cashier did other chores since there are few patrons).