St Vincent De Paul

St. Vinnie’s are truly the most grab-​baggy of all the thrift stores in Seattle. They have the weirdest selection of items, including things you wouldn’t think would be worth selling (e.g., half-​burned candles and empty condiment jars), and the prices range from crazy cheap to ridiculously overpriced, mostly so that they can have their «amazing» 50% markdown sales. It’s much more like a gigantic indoor garage sale… which, to me, means it has more of the treasure-​hunt excitement.
This particular store varies widely for me – sometimes I’m done after five minutes because I can see there’s nothing that day, and sometimes I can spend half an hour browsing through the awesome vintage coats and housedresses. You just never know.
On the down side, it’s kind of dirty and dingy in there and not very pleasant to browse in. Things aren’t particularly well organized, especially in the housewares section, and it just doesn’t feel very clean. The prices are artificially high because they usually have 50% off a colored tag, and sometimes as much as 75% off, which is cool if you find something with the right tag but annoying otherwise. I would buy more stuff there overall if the regular prices were more reasonable, even if that meant fewer sales.
Overall, an OK store, but I would go to the Renton Goodwill stores first.

Random! Sometimes that’s a drawback, but in this case, it’s a plus.
They have an odd selection here for sure, I have found some great deals in the bedding, housewares/​knick knacks areas and some brand new clothings — Zumiez seems to donate unsold items here for example– as well as some great costume stuff. Kids clothing is also usually a good deal here.
I realize sometimes things (antiquey furniture and such) are WAY over priced but then again, that’s an overall thriftstore trend now they also have the internet to look up (perceived) values.
I like how large the store is here, and find that there’s lots of room to roam and shop thankfully.
Check out: small housewares section, ‘High End’ clothing rack, bedding/​towels and fabric here.

This St. Vinny’s has seen better days. Like other reviewers mentioned, it is a bit dirty and definitely has a bit of a mess issue. And, for me, while there are definitely bargains, there are also items that are quite a bit overpriced. After all, this is a «thrift» store, not an «antique» store (although I do appreciate that St. Vinny’s can’t give away things that might, indeed, be worth quite a bit of money).
Despite those definite drawbacks, bargains are still to be had if you look (or if you come back on a day when the tags are half price). Yesterday, I found metal heated travel mugs (the kind you plug into the car) for $ 6. And was able to get a set of measuring cups and measuring spoons, a trivet, a casserole, and a cute bottle as well as a pretty gift bag to put them all in for an extremely reasonable price. As a plus, the check-​out lady (Alba) helped me to remove price stickers after ringing them up when I told her many of the things were a gift. Also, many of the customers, including on particular lady there, were very polite — which is usually unheard of, even at places like Nordstrom or Macy’s! The only drawback to this visit was when a beautiful item I wanted had a $ 49.99 price tag!
Like most thrift shops, though, the selection really depends on what has been brought in. For knick knacks, paintings, or books, there is a good selection. Furniture, lamps, and throw pillows also can be varied as well as their seasonal selection.
Also, staff are generally helpful and friendly. An added plus is that when you ask for assistance and then not decide to buy, they are not resentful or peevish.
[Note: I cannot comment too much on clothes as I tend to go one place for all my clothing needs. And, to be sure, most thrift shops, including this one (I did browse one day while waiting for another person) do not carry much in the way of bigger size clothing (for women or men).]

I came back here a week ago, and I had a fantastic treasure hunt! There must have been at least ten or eleven boxes of 78 records in the back. All kinds of big band, swing, etc from the ‘40s and ‘50s, that takes you a half hour to look at! I picked up three of the best conditioned ones for 99 cents a record.
Still lots of clothes and housewares. It has a large selection of coffee cups and shot glasses as well.

Trashy, smelly, messy and way over priced. I have yet to find anything that was a bargin or treasure in here. They wanted $ 79.99 for an old, not antique table. Really?! Me thinks not.
At least this one is the most organized out of any SVDP that I have been too.

I went to SV de P on a «thrift store» road trip looking for vinyl records. I think this was the most organized SV de P that I’ve seen. The store itself was neatly organized and the book section there was the neatest book section I’ve ever seen in a thrift store. If there wasn’t a problem with this store no doubt I would have given it 4 – 5 stars.
When I first got in the store I had found some really good records, like Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, ELO, Fleetwood Mac, and other goodies. Normally SV de P’s sells records .99 a piece. Not this one. When I got to the cash register, I had just found out that they had INDIVIDUALLY PRICED the records. Like the Bruce Springsteen record was 5.99 and the Eric Clapton record (which wasn’t in really good condition anyway) was 9.99! I mean, they think they’re record experts!
There were lots more records in the back, priced at $.99. So I asked the salesperson to clarify the price and she said that all records were $.99. I picked out several records that I wanted and went to the register.
When a different salesperson rang up my purchase, they told me that the records were individually priced. A manager came over and said, «Yeah, they sell that Eric Clapton record at record shops for $ 24.99!» Um, one that is in new or mint condition perhaps; not one with the record imprint showing on the outside of the cover, not one with the record in questionable condition. Give me a break.
All I have to say is that there are really good records here but don’t expect for them to be .99.
(Opinions are those of my 11 year old son. I agree with him though. :))

I was here last week looking for a sweater for the typical ugly sweater parties that come around during this time of the year. I didn’t find any sweaters and I appeared to be obvious that the sweater section was completely gone through by many others before me.
But what this place has that I didn’t see at other thrift stores that will have me coming back is the furniture, the books and the classic vhs tapes that I fondly remember from my younger days. I ended up spending more time browsing those sections than I expected, and will most likely come back to check what’s new in the future.

I love going to thrift stores. The only reason I didn’t give this one 4 or 5 stars is the prices. Too High! I know its for a good cause but some of these things had been used, I mean really used. Its like they know also what things are antiques or what they call «vintage» and they up the price to an outrageous one. $ 50 FOR A «VINTAGE» VASE! If its so special why isn’t behind the counter with the other over priced goods? Don’t get me wrong I like this place I just don’t understand why the price hikes, people don’t come here to pay $ 50 for a vase.

I’m honored to be the first to open your eyes to the wonders of the St. Vincent de Paul in Renton. It’s just like most other thrift stores, but here are exactly 2 things you’ll need to know to get through this one.
Tip #1: Make sure to notice the display that tells you what color of tag is 50% off that day. You’ll probably need it, because things are priced a bit wacky. For example, I saw several items in the dishes section that were $ 10 apiece, yet I bought small table for $ 4, and saw a desk for $ 5. Maybe they took some of the stemware on Antiques Roadshow and found out that they were one-​of-​a-​kind pieces?
Tip #2: Bring a sweater. It was air conditioned to high heaven.