The Salvation Army

I know it’s easy to drop your stuff at a donation bin that goes to Value Village (a for-​profit), but donating /​shopping at a Salvation Army is a great way to ensure all the profits gained from your donation go to support your local community. If you’re short on time or money, but want to do something to help those who are struggling, bringing your unused stuff here goes a long way.

I love this thrift store! Have gotten great tea pots, vintage china, etc. It’s a bit expensive but has good stuff

This place has gone down hill in a massive way over the past year and a bit. I have been going here for about 6 years and I donated often. Last year they closed their basement section, that always had amazing deals. And each time I go the selection just gets worse and the prices get higher.
The final straw came 2 weeks ago for me, when I was for no reason treated like an absolute criminal while shopping by one of the very rude woman working. So much for being a loyal customer and someone who used to donate to them at least once per month. I can say with absolute certainty that I’ll never ever be stepping foot in, or donating to them every again.
So just a warning to anybody go shopping there that has either interesting different colored hair tattoos or body piercings. High probability that you may get accused of shoplifting and treated like a criminal simply because of the way that you look.

Is it wrong that I came here for an ugly holiday sweater. There were no snowmen on it (got that somewhere else), however, found a really cool treasure for this year’s ugly sweater party… the Cosby sweater. Price was reasonable. I did have to wash the sweater before hand ’cause the store has an odd smell attached to it that lingered on the clothes. Lady at the til was very sweet and friendly. She loved my 2014 ugly sweater and we were joking about the Cosby sweater. I paid under $ 10 for it. Now all I need is a glass of jello pudding and I am all set to go.

While on the hunt for additions to my cookbook collection on a recent trip to Vancouver, I found this Salvation Army store on Google Maps and was eager to check it out. Parking was a bit of a hassle ($ 2 at the lot next to the store — refundable at checkout if you make a purchase), but most of the store was well-​stocked and well-​organized. Prices were a little high, and the book section was very disorganized — there was no rhyme or reason to it. The prices were good, though. I would have bought more books if they’d been easier to hunt for. Their furniture section contained the usual Salvation Army junk; I’m not sure where they find this stuff, and the prices in that area seemed high for the low quality of items they were offering. There are better thrift stores in the area.

This is one of the few thrift stores in the Mt. Pleasant area that isn’t located directly beside a «vintage store,» so it’s one of the few whose inventory hasn’t been obsessively combed over by store owners wanting to turn a $ 6 plaid shirt from the 90s into a «rare, one-​of-​a-​kind real wool Pendelton-​esque find» and charge $ 150 for it.
I stumbled upon this store while looking for a plaid shirt for a plaid-​themed party I was attending, after having spent a couple shopping days baffled by the dearth of plaid in the Main Street thrift stores, and then shocked by the incredible price tags of the vintage stores. It’s large, got a great selection, and is fairly well organized by style, if not by size. Hipsters will delight into the cornucopia of plaid and ironically ugly sweaters. The rest of us can appreciate the large selection of household goods, clothing and shoes.
The reason I can’t whole-​heartedly support it, however, is the Salvation Army’s appalling stance on gays and lesbians. I’ve really gone back and forth on whether to continue patronizing the Salvation Army since finding this out. Consumer ethics is such a tricky business: do you support the environment by buying second hand while also supporting programs for at-​risk people in your neighbourhood, even if it means potentially contributing to a cause you find deplorable? The personal compromise I’ve reached is that for every $ 1 I spend at the Salvation Army, I’ll donate $ 2 to an LGBT charity.

The Mt Pleasant Salvation army is a huge, busy, and well stocked thrift store. They always have some good quality high brand clothing, along with books, cds, terrible records. Also, where there once was an as-​is section of insanity (RIP) is now an entire floor of matching furniture sets. Matchingg, very unusual for a thrift store, but then I find they have a much better selection than most thrift stores.
Just like every salvation army they have flat pricing on sweaters, jeans, t shirts, etc. The womans clothing absorbs most of the store, but then why should that be a surprise in an unisex retailer? The mens clothing is there too, in many sizes and many styles. I almost never leave without trying a few things and finding something to walk out with.
I have found members only jackets, work pants, designer jeans, wigs, and (ew) swimsuits on the racks for ridiculously cheap. They have so many boots, bags, etc. And their cloth bags are actually nice looking.
A note, I find it difficult to support them because of their homophobic policies, but the service they do for the community is outstanding. They are a true charity, unlike more popular Value Village, even if their ethics are rooted in selective hatred. So that’s a mix bag of uneasy consumer ethics, personally.

One star? For a charity?!
I used to think Salvation Army was great. Helping the homeless is a fantastic cause. Not when Salvation Army however decides to discriminate against the LBGTQ community. Don’t believe me? It’s on their own website. Read it and be disgusted by the way they try to run around how they aren’t unfair by not recognizing same sex couples AS couples.
There are cases of gays being fired, gay couples being refused helped and so much more from this charity here and in the states. Google, can find many of these cases. I thought Christianity was about love and acceptance? And helping those in need?!
The thought of any of my LBGTQ friends ever being on the streets and being denied help for who they are just because the bible says «man and women» makes me feel ill inside. Jesus would feel ashamed. His message of love has been lost by this charity. Help you fellows whatever happened to that?
There a tons of charities in Vancouver. Tons of worthier thrifts stores who won’t discriminate where their charitable funds go to. And won’t say that gay marriage is wrong. Those tins you have at Christmas time. Yea my donations will be going else where, and to a REAL CHARITY that helps their fellow man. Even Value Village is probably a worthier cause at this point at least they don’t pretend to be a charity, or bash entire communities with their mission statement.

I have yet to find anything *really* great here, but this is a typical Salvation Army in all respects. Slightly dirty, with an overpowering musky smell (how the employees work in there without face masks is beyond me) I always feel the need to wash my hands directly after leaving. Furniture, clothes, dishes, household miscellany — it’s all here; and it’s all bordering on ugly, depending on your taste level.
But, there are positives: negotiation on price is acceptable (a rarity in our world) and the money spent here actually goes to a good cause (unlike some other thrift stores who make such claims). And even though I’ve witnessed more than one recovering addict in the back alley with their pants down, doing things they really shouldn’t (so much that it has warranted me flagging the nearest police car), I don’t mind. Like I said, at least they’re trying?

We use this well Known Charity to donate our resealable household goods and items we no longer want but others may value. They also have electronics recycling on site. The loading dock is open on Sunday for donation drop-​offs which is behind the store.
Positive Note: This Location has hosts a Recovery Club on site and since we all know that addiction & dependency create hardships in our community. In some small way I feel my donations are helping address this important social issue.
Tip: People dropping things here can be in kinda of rush so leave plenty of room between you and the other persons cars or trucks when drooping items off.

Upstairs: Average, reasonably well-​organized thrift store.
Downstairs: Total chaos. Downstairs plays by its own rules, kid. It looks like a tornado hit a neighbourhood rummage sale near the end of the day and dumped all the mostly-​unwanted goods here. There are treasures to be found, but you’ve got do do some digging.
You negotiate the price when you get to the counter, which is kind of cool. Also, the staff down there are tough but fair. I picked up a mid-​century Zenith clock radio and cool old picture frame for five bucks. I’ll be back to see if the crazy hand-​drawn Chinese paper umbrella is still there…

I love that I live across the street from this Salvation Army… I don;t know why but there is just something great about the fact that I can be at home and cleaning up crap I don’t need and I can simply run it across the street and donate it… and have a gander while I’m there and bring new crap into my home I don’t need… it’s the circle of home décor life in full effect…
A few years back before this neighborhood started it’s rebirth. I used to frequent the Salvation Army a lot… it was dirty. messy…and full of hidden gems that the untrained eye wouldn’t know about… flash forward 5 years and now it’s clean. organized and the secret seems to be out about the hidden gems ’cause there are no gems to be found anymore *sigh.still …it’s worth a gander now and then. someones crap is always bound to be someone else’s treasure…

Thrift stores thrived in the 90s with the grunge phenomena. As is the nature of fashion, though, we have seen the resurgence of many a trend. Oft times, as of late, people gravitate towards more high-​end lines, choosing to spend thousands on designer handbags and shoes. Those unwilling to let go of that amount of cash for a bag that is nowhere near its weight in rent often find solace here, where a pair of pants rarely exceeds the cost of a burger.
Compared to the helter-​skelter organization skills Salvation Army showed in its earlier years, things are now divided into proper sections thus making everything easier to locate. Shirts generally run for a dollar, belts. maybe two? There are generally some good finds here provided you make up for what you lack in funds with patience.
It’s also a good place to unload unwanted goods that are still in good wearable condition.

So how do you know your neighbourhood has been gentrified? go to your local thrift store to see how.
I used to frequent this location as far back as I could remember. The smell of dirty clothing, old books, used furniture combined with the scent of some mysterious body odor… ahh the stuff dreams are made of. Not to mention the price of everything was reasonable for a salvation army. I used to like coming here and digging through the piles of stuff, climbing over tables to get to that «potentially excellent» lamp, or fighting someone for the last mercury glass on the shelf… ahh the memories.
now flash forward to now and I went in for old time sake, and man times have changed. Every thing is clean, orderly, and defined by departments. The patrons are now young urban hipsters looking for that 80’s throw back sweater or a leather coat. The housewares are organized and I even noticed something that resembled an electronics department… huh? anyways Sufic it to say there are no many good finds here anymore, the prices have skyrocketed, and this shopper misses that down and dirty feeling… the victory of discovering that amazing find.