There are some people in this world just begging for envy, and the guy who managed to spot a $35,000 watch amidst of bunch of broken, dead and otherwise junky timepieces at Goodwill is definitely one of those. [More]
thrift stores
Goodwill Puts All Of The Good Stuff In Special Hipster-Focused Boutique
By 12.17.14
Attention young, hip shoppers: do you want to dress yourself in thrifted clothing, yet you don’t want to spend hours combing through the racks of actual thrift stores? Great news for thrifty shoppers who are too snobby or pressed for time to shop in thrift stores: Goodwill Industries is trying out new store formats for people who only want designer-label goods, and for hipsters. [More]
Please Do Not Donate Your Cremated Loved Ones To Goodwill
By 12.16.14
After someone dies, it’s normal to box up all of their stuff and take it to the nearest thrift store. However, it’s probably a good idea to give some of that stuff a cursory check first. Not just because you might be inadvertently giving away some serious valuables, but because the earthly remains of your relatives have a poor resale value at Goodwill. [More]
There Is A Thrift Store That Sells Ugly Christmas Sweaters, And Only Ugly Christmas Sweaters
By 12.10.14
The fun thing about trends nowadays is that they often bring something back that either used to be popular, or never was. In any case, now that thrift stores are the place to go to find that gently-used look, it only makes sense that one business owner would dedicate the store’s entire stock to just one trendy thing: Ugly Christmas sweaters, of course. [More]
Woman Notices Security Camera Pointed At Thrift Store Dressing Room, Freaks Out
By 8.4.14
Imagine that you were trying on clothes in the dressing room of a store, and you happened to glimpse a security camera pointed right at you. What would you do? When this happened to one shopper at a thrift store in Missouri, she whipped out her own camera and captured its image to show to a local TV station. [More]
Buying A Used Couch For $20 Is An Even Better Deal When There’s $40K Inside It
By 5.15.14
What’s a bunch of college roommates to do when it comes time to buy furniture? Going to school is expensive enough, so three students managed to score a $20 used couch at a thrift store. Score, right? It was worth a lot more than that, however — about $40,000, actually. [More]
Deer Doesn’t Let Bothersome Doors Keep It From Shopping In Thrift Store
By 1.10.14
There are often some great deals to be scored at your local thrift shop, but what if you didn’t possess the anatomy you need to open the door to go inside? There’s no reason to be frustrated, deer friends, just bust through the window like a buck did in Alabama this week. He needed that $0.25 soft, retro T-shirt soooo bad. [More]
Thrift Stores Can’t Resell Your Donated Marijuana, But Thanks For The Thought
By 10.21.13
It’s very kind to offer donated items to thrift stores, but the thing is, even if it’s a store in Washington, those places can’t resell your unwanted marijuana. Seattle Police Department issued a lighthearted note to its citizens that thrift stores don’t want your soiled mattresses, tires, laptops or weed after someone left a 2.5-pound bag of the stuff at a Seattle store. So just hang on to that, eh? [KOMO News] [More]
Goodwill Fires Cashier, Presses Felony Charges For Giving Discounts To Poor People
By 9.27.13 — Updated: 9.29.13
Goodwill is a charitable organization that sells donated goods in thrift stores to raise money for its job-training and employment programs. So it’s an organization that helps people. Just not the people who shop in its stores. That’s what a teeenage cashier learned recently when he gave some broke customers off-the-books discounts, and got arrested on felony charges (and fired) for his trouble. Update: The store decided not to pursue the charges. [More]
80-Year-Old Man Accidentally Donates Life Savings To Goodwill
By 12.1.11
Check your pockets before sending clothing and household goods to Goodwill, especially if you’re in the habit of storing your life savings in the pocket of a favorite suit. An 80-year-old man in Illinois with a Depression-era mistrust of banks stashed his savings around the house. That cash was in the pocket of a suit jacket that the main claims he donated to a Goodwill thrift store. He didn’t realize what had happened until a week later. [More]
Middle-Class Canadians Terrified Of Thrift Store Customer Horde
By 10.12.11
If a thrift store opened up down the street from you, what would you do? Would you say, “How convenient!” and stop by daily? Or would you lament, “There goes the neighborhood,” dreading all of the poor people sure to traipse by, looking all poor and stuff and committing crimes? That’s what the residents of an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan think is going to happen once a Value Village store opens there. But only when they get to share their thoughts anonymously. [More]
Apparently, The Salvation Army Doesn't Want My Stuff
By 7.1.10
Jing tells Consumerist that he she thought that donating some items to the Salvation Army would be satisfying and relatively simple. Unfortunately, he she hadn’t counted on the people handling pickups for his her local branch to have the sort of vague sense of time that one normally associates with cable installers or appliance repair technicians. [More]
Elderly Woman Accidentally Donates $5,365 To Goodwill Inside Sock
By 5.19.10
If you like to hide large amounts of cash around your house, make sure to remember where you put it. And if you do tend to forget, make sure to check the crevices and pockets of everything before you donate it to charity or throw it away. This goes triple when cleaning out the home of an elderly relative. A 96-year-old woman in Asheville, N.C. recently donated a blanket that contained more than $5,000 in cash–and the Goodwill store managed to locate her and return the money. [More]
Is It Ever Okay To Buy Gifts At A Thrift Store?
By 12.24.09
Tacky, incompetent regifting is one thing, but Mrs. Money over at the Ultimate Money Blog raises another question: when is it appropriate to give people gifts that you’ve purchased at a thrift or consignment store? [More]
9 Tips For A Designer Wardrobe At Secondhand Prices
By 1.21.09
ShopSmart, a shopping magazine published by the same folks who publish Consumer Reports, and now, of course, Consumerist, have collected a bunch of tips for outfitting yourself in fabulous designer clothes — from secondhand stores. Don’t scoff, it’s possible. ShopSmart says they found a trendy Prada skirt and a classic Ralph Lauren jacket and pants at Immortal Uncommon Resale in Philly, and a cute necklace at Beacon’s Closet in Brooklyn.
Don't Worry, Reselling Children's Clothing Isn't About To Become Illegal. Probably.
By 1.17.09
Reselling your kid’s used clothing could soon violate federal law. Come February 10, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will prevent retailers from selling children’s products that haven’t been certified as lead free. Old hand-me-downs, of course, haven’t been certified for anything more than running around the yard. Parents are worried, petitions are being drawn up, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission isn’t doing much to clarify the law.
Thrift Stores Running Out Of Pants
By 9.17.08
Mr. Brickson, of Minnesota, said a longtime donor to his store had recently showed up in tears. “She had given so much to the Salvation Army over the years,” he said. “She never thought she was going to be a recipient of the services.”
Do Your Thrift Store Shopping Online At ShopGoodwill.com
By 10.22.07
Ebay isn’t the only shopping site revamping its look: Goodwill’s online shopping website, which has been around since 1999, is about to launch a redesigned site that’s cleaner and easier to navigate. Because the only sellers on the site are member organizations of Goodwill Industries International, the selection may not be as big as eBay, but the fraud is minimal as well—and the member pool is large enough to have “posted more than 17,000 items from inventory that includes antiques, collectibles, clothing, electronics, books and musical instruments, which are arranged according to category. “
