The Salvation Army

I enjoy hitting this store each week, but there have been a few changes lately that are quite frankly making me shake my head. In the last 6 months they removed the best feature in the store, the unsorted shopping carts in the back. It was nice to get to hunt through a few carts, like a real treasure hunt. No more. Gone. Those were the best bargains, and I’d spend over $ 50 – 60 easily each week.
Since the carts ended, they’ve been making the store more like a boutique, and I’m not convinced it’s a good idea. This seems to be the trend for these thrift stores, perhaps it’s to get more money from the donated goods, but they are pricing out a lot of their customers in my opinion. There are still bargains, but it’s less and less common to come across lately.
Overpriced items sit for months in the showcase, and they never apply the color tag discounts to items in that case. I’ve seen the same 4 gaudy german hiking medals at $ 10 each (they were $ 15 for a long time) relegated to the bottom of the case, in a heap, on some sort of overpriced little china plate. Overpriced items sit, until they do a large sale (like 50% off white tags) once every few months, or they get repriced and moved around the store.
I saw a $ 1.99 Star Trek game sitting by the toys, I came back 2 days later, it was in the showcase and priced at $ 19.99 — it was worth $ 10 on eBay once upon a time, and that was 4 – 5 years and 3 computer generations later. Someone needs to clue the staff in to how to price things, and not just look on eBay for the latest asking price. If you want to price donated goods at the eBay asking price, you’re asking for a lot of your customers to head to City Thrift, Red Racks, or Goodwill.
Also, it’s been a year. Please pave your parking lot. There are potholes 4 ft x 4 ft wide just inside the entrance on Lamar. It’s getting ridiculous.

Definitely what most people think of when they think of thrift store. Lots of clothes with visible wear/​stains, grungy merchandise, super crowded racks. Not very much furniture, mostly knick knacks and t-​shirts.

This a a nice medium-​sized Salvation Army. As with most donations-​based thrift shops, what is there depends on what was donated. I found a great 60s dress, a knitted blanket, and some decorative bowls.
The staff was nice.

This Salvation Army location isn’t as nice as others I’ve been to, but overall it has an okay selection, more for older women and men, rather than junior-​sized clothing. I couldn’t find any ‘trendy’ finds, but they did have a large book room where paperbacks are 5 for $ 1 and hardbacks are $ 1.
I also got a really nice plaid blanket– they did have a good selection of blankets and comforters here, especially if you just need something to get you by or something extra for when guests are over.
The staff is very friendly– they were willing to help and made small talk at the check out. When I went in the evening, there were a lot of women browsing and it wasn’t packed or busy.