Salvation Army Family Store

FYI — Important. Unilocal says they’re open until 7 on Saturday. That’s not right. Closed at 6:00.
And please note that they stop taking donations at 5:00.
Employees are very courteous.

So this review is not about the shopping experience but about the donating experience. We are moving and getting rid of a lot of furniture, so I thought «why not give it to the salvation army»? I called and scheduled a pickup time, and then did everything they told me to do (disassembled a bunk bed so it could be taken out of the apartment, put mattresses in bags, etc.). They told me I would have to stay home the entire day of my pickup (8:30−3:30), but OK, whatever. I thought I was doing something nice.
Then pickup day came. The guys came around 1. First, they told me they didn’t want sofabed pillows/​coverings in the same bag as the mattress. OK, I put them in different bags. Then they told me they couldn’t take the bunkbed because it was disassembled – even though they had TOLD me to disassemble it and there was no way to get it out of the apartment in one piece. Then, after that, they told me they couldn’t do the pickup at all, because the elevator was going to be out of service for 10 minutes. 10 minutes. I’ll add that we live on the second floor of our building, right next to the stairwell, and the big stuff wouldn’t even fit in the elevator anyway.
When I called dispatch about what was going on, they said they could come back in July, well after we will have left the city.
Thanks guys. Now I have an apartment full of furniture and am having to scramble to get rid of it before we move in a couple days. Never again!

This place always seems to go through periods of being mysteriously closed. Check before you go. When it does exist it has pretty good women’s clothes.

I’ve been thrifting at the store for over a year now and i’ve never left disappointed. The key to thrifting is to be open minded– don’t come in with certain expectations of what you want/​not want, have an open mind and be pleasantly surprised at the gems you are able to find here.
The staff is diligent and supply is never low, come on wednesdays and get half off on clothes and shoes. The prices here are reasonable for used items, it’s a lot more budget friendly than HousingWorks and St. Francis Thrift Store down the street.

I know I’m a bad gay for shopping at Salvation Army but this is only three blocks from my house, and I’m really broke, so I can’t help it. I bought a pair of AMAZING Dr. Martens here, the only issue with them was a broken lace. They’re my favorite shoes, and they were nine dollars instead of the hundred and fifty i’d have spent buying them new. The people who work here are friendly, and the prices are amazing. It smells a bit weird, but all in all, can’t complain.

This place is a womp fest at times. Great for a nice browse, and you can find a couple good things, but at the rate I frequent living so close by, I should have GOLD by now, and I just have a bunch of random stuff that I don’t really need, in semi ok condition.
I guess that is the case with most SA’s but I have been to better ones in Harlem and in the east village. The staff is touch and go, there are som really nice folks that work here and some that are just grumpy.
I watched this place go through its renovation and it has definitely risen with price, but the quality of the junk is still about the same. I have found some gems hidden among the piles of stuff, but it does tend to get crazy busy so watch out!
BTW– Some one with baby sized feet has excellent taste and donates their barely worn shoes here and they take ccs with no minimum!

Clean for thrifting standards but its not HUGE, so size wise I was disappointed. The women’s section had some good stuff but the racks were so high up I was having trouble going through everything. I did find an unused trench coat and got it for a fairly good price, and the pink tags were 50% off. Wednesday is family day where most things are half off as well. No dressing room and only 1 mirror to share with everybody else in the store.

So, the SA «Home Center» recently had its Grand Opening. I did not know what it was like before but I liked what I saw today. The interior was clean and fairly organized. My only qualm was that the racks are rather high for a shorty like me.
The prices are reasonable and if you have time on your hands you will likely find something! Surprisingly, they have a pretty decent collection of low budget designer items. I even found a couple European labels for children.
Wednesdays are 50% for Families
Be sure to bring your own reusable bag for your purchases!

Great stuff! I love buying thrift mugs so this salvation gives me plenty to choose from, I got myself an Ally McBeal mug, pretty awesome. Also other knick knacks. I didn’t get to check out the clothes but it seemed very plenty with huge discounts on specific color tags depending on the time of month.

small, but pretty good. the clothing is on the upstairs level. i’ve found some cool things here. nothing jaw dropping amazing, but worth a look.
they have better stuff here for men than they do for women. i’ve found some great t-​shirts here.
the staff is nice and i’ve also met nice fellow customers while shopping.
no dressing rooms, so people just try stuff on in the aisle in front of a mirror. prices are always super reasonable at this location.

I might be biased toward this particular Salvo because somebody who frequently donates business casual clothes here is EXACTLY my size (pretty unusual because I wear petite sizes). Therefore, I have a whole collection of perfect Ann Taylor blazers for which I paid about $ 7 each. I’ve had a lot of other great finds, too. A few things to know:
— No real dressing room, so wear something that will allow you to try on clothes over/​under/​around your street clothes without exposing yourself to bargain-​hunting senior citizens.
— Every day there’s one tag color marked 50% off. As far as I can tell, there’s no real logic to which clothes get which color tag, so it’s pretty much luck of the draw. However, Wednesday is «Family Day» and almost everything is 50% off, so that’s definitely the optimal time to go.
— They take credit cards! I was surprised because this place looks so ramshackle, but yeah, swipe away.
— The staff are a bit gruff, but generally pretty nice. If you butter them up a little, they’ll give you good tips, like when a certain item is going to be half off, or when they’re putting new stock out.
Happy thrifting!

This one’s got two levels and is a little cramped, but it’s got great finds. I found a cute pair of cherry red stilettos, an orange zip jacket and tall, brown, barely-​worn Enzo Angiolini boots.
And this is down the street from the St. Francis Thrift Store if you want to continue your thrifting in the area.