Goodwill Industries of Central Texas

There’s a reason the locals call this the Gucci Goodwill. Tends to be a good selection of designer clothes at great prices. As will all thrift stores rather hit and miss.

I donated some stuff to this Goodwill location during a move from Austin to Houston, and the staff was extremely helpful and quick about accepting the donations! Definitely helped me to avoid additional stress during my move!

I’m a bargain hunter… there I’ve said it and now I have NO shame. II love coming here to this particular location because they happen to have more high end items. If I have a nickel for every dollar I’ve saved at this Goodwill I’d be a Slum Dog Millionaire (Mihir is sure to come out now).
My favorite day to shop is on Saturdays when they hold their auction.
I might want to mention the store staff is articulate and friendly too.
P. S. The Dyson vacuum I picked up for $ 24.99 works likes its brand new after cleaning it.

I have heard great hype about this place but you are better off going to a different Goodwill. The distance and the parking are a pain. Not only that it is a small store and prices are too high. I have been to many Goodwills and have found designer cloths at the all and cheaper. I will not be going back to this store, I rather save a couple bucks. If I want to pay close to full price I rather go to the store and get it new.

I feel the need to update my review, because I was maybe a little harsh last time. I’ve come to get to know the staff here and they are delightful. Also, yes the prices are up there, by GW standards but the selection is worth it. I almost never walk out empty handed and often it’s designer merch. This is my favorite GW by far.

Was looking for some furniture — couldn’t find any. But the clothes looked nice. A bit pricey — but would go back if looking for clothes.

I was looking for jeans and pants. Nothing fit! Maybe I am in-​between sizes right now, so no fault, but the prices did seem a little higher than most other GWs. I read this was called the Gucci Goodwill, and now I can see why. Staff was friendly, though.

My wife and I stopped in to look for some white linen to wear to a party and also to just look around on a lazy Saturday afternoon. After running in to some friends it was time to get serious.
Ultimately I found a pair of pants, a pastry scraper and plates and bowls for the nonprofit I run so we headed to the checkout. We purchased the personal items and I asked the cashier for a sales tax exemption form for the plates. She was not sure what I needed and asked a floor manager who was very willing to help. I asked her and she went to ask a store manager. She returned a few minutes later unable to help but that she did know several nonprofits that shop there were already on file meaning there was a step I could take to correct this in the future.
So why the five stars? They tried. They were helpful and offered a solution. Sometimes that all we can ask!

I was also very disappointed in this store. It was mediocre at best, and overpriced at worst. Um, you’re not sposed to sell things for the same price (or more) that they would cost new.
I was looking for some maps or an atlas to use the pages for crafts but the books were $ 2 and up. There was no sheet music for same, no yarn, all the dishes were high priced, and I was told a wooden spoon that I picked up with no price was $ 1.99. For a used wooden spoon? I don’t think so. I politely said, That much? I think I’ll pass. And the clerk responded very politely as well.
I left without buying anything, unusual for me, wondering how many sales they lose on things that could be turning over very quickly if they were priced reasonably. Their loss.

I donate a lot to thrifts and love to find a good bargain too. The nice thing about this particular Goodwill is that despite small space and little parking, it seems to keep a large percentage of the nicer donations that probably come from the surrounding neighborhood, which is one of Austin’s better residential areas. As a result they tend to have a good selection of designer clothing and better merchandise and I suspect more of the same is being routed to this store, which brings me to the bad news.
First, the stock is no secret, so nice stuff comes and goes. However, the last time I was in I noticed the men’s dept in particular had more stuff crammed in it than I’ve ever seen before. Upon looking through it I think I understand why.
Secondly, that being said, while you will definitely find more nicer items here you can expect to pay quite a bit more for it. I’ve been in Goodwills all over Austin, some in other parts of the state and in L.A., San Francisco and New York. This is BY FAR the MOST expensive Goodwill I’ve ever seen — and not just on the nice merchandise — on everything else too. Mens shirts are now individually priced 2−3x higher any other store I’ve been in across the board. Everything else I’ve looked at tends to be higher as well. I guess they’re trying to increase profits by taking advantage of the higher-​end donations, better clientele and I suspect they are concentrating more expensive merchandise from all over town at this location to take advantage of the huge markup, as well as sending the cheaper stuff to other stores since space is limited.
So anything cheap they do have here is not necessarily accordingly priced. It’s still a good way to find nice things at a decent price; however, whatever you do find is going to be a lot more expensive than comparable merchandise at other thrifts. You’ll pay almost as much for a shirt, for example, as you would at Second Looks at it might not be in as good shape. Plus, if you find an Old Navy shirt you like, don’t expect it to be much less than the designer name.
When I originally wrote this review they were already higher than other stores but now they are SIGNIFICANTLY more across the board.
Bottom line is they DO have good stuff and you can still get good deals but don’t come expecting the same kind of bargains you find at other thrifts and don’t expect to find a lot of stuff super dirt cheap.

I could kick some Unilocalers butts for rating this place so high and sending me to this pitiful excuse for a Goodwill.
Dirty, hard to find, and nothing worth looking at. Nothing. So, thanks for nothing Unilocalers.

Probably the best goodwill in Austin. This Goodwill is small but has a lot of quality housing products. The bad thing, though, is that they have such a huge book isle and I don’t go to goodwill for books. Nothing is particularly broken here and the store is well organized — which is usually an oxymoron for Goodwill stores.
I got way nicer kitchenware here than I could have from an average store (because it is fancy) and it’s cheaper than going to a crappy wal-​something-​or-​other. Also, it’s reusing materials which is better for the earth.
Do not go here on Saturday morning during an auction, as the store was wiped out and it was pretty hard to find parking. Those auctions are a scam anyway… you can usually find the object cheaper on eBay and people tend to overbid on items just because they like the competition aspect of it. I noticed that the more «free-​loader» of society was also in attendance that day.
The parking lot is small and would probably ruin nicer cars since there is such a steep ramp.
Overall a pleasant Goodwill and it seems to be getting more popular. Of course the reason it has nice stuff is because the people in this area are doing pretty darn well for themselves. (I will be one of them pretty soon :))

This Goodwill may be small, but it definitely packs a punch in terms of housewares. The donated houseware items tend to be of good quality and the donated art when I checked in yesterday was actually decent or intriguing!
There is also a fairly large auction section that happened to carry a Pentax K-​1000. Oh! Love! However, I don’t have much patience for bidding on things so I let it slide.
Didn’t have any luck in the dress department — for that, I’d recommend the Goodwill on Burnet. But, overall, this store is cleverly crammed into the space it has, and there is plenty to see and snag!

I found this Goodwill by complete and total accident. I was back in Austin for a couple of days, and had stopped by Mozart’s to get a consolation slice of delicious Key Lime Pie after injuring myself (see: review of Bee Cave Urgent Care).
Now, I was injured and still had a LOT on my agenda for my remaining time in Austin. My activities would be better streamlined if I had crutches. Me being the complete klutz I am, I already own a pair of crutches, but they were at home in Dallas. I didn’t want to go out and buy a brand new pair of crutches to use for a day or two… so I thought about going thrifting and looking for some crutches.
So like I said, it was a complete accident that I noticed this Goodwill on my way back from Mozart’s.
Parking is tight here, and the streets/​stop signs/​traffic lights can be confusing if you’re not familiar with the area, but it’s not to bad.
Wandered/​gimped though the store looking around for crutches or general gems. No crutches to be found at this location (which I didn’t really expect, being such a neighborhood-​type location), but I did find a couple of awesome West Elm picture frames for a few bucks each. Win!
The cashier was reasonably nice and confirmed that they indeed didn’t have any crutches at their store. Ah well. Worth a try.
Anyway, the selection looked pretty good here. Some prices were a little higher than I’d see at my local Goodwill or others, but the stuff also looked really nice– so it’s a decent trade off.
Overall, it’s 3 stars because while I didn’t find what I wanted, I did find some nice frames AND they take credit cards (it wasn’t in the too distant past when Goodwill was cash only); also, service was alright. But the parking lot is tiny and cramped, the prices were a little higher than other Goodwills, and it wasn’t as organized as other ones either.

This is the best Goodwill I’ve found in town.
I didn’t browse the clothing, but I got a sweet electric lawn-​mower for $ 35, a circa 1965 console radio for $ 10, and a slew of postcards depicting classic jazz artists for shallow pocket-​full of change.
Maybe it’s true that thrift stores in tony ‘hoods yeild the greatest spoils?

Give to Goodwill. You’ve got too much crap anyhow.

I walked in today after a quick jaunt into CVS. On a thrift-​venture that also included Savers. They definitely spend a lot of time on the display. It was fun, inviting.
The store itself is somewhat small. The shoes aren’t as organized as they should be… or at all. The clothes aren’t even organized by size, so that can frustrate… BUT there are some great finds. I walked out with a 13 dollar blue/​purple velvet Gap blazer (That would have retailed for 90).
The prices are more expensive because the merchandise donated seems to cost more; this is, like others have mentioned, probably due to the location and affluence of those who donate. Biggest selection of size 2s I’ve seen so far in a thrift store. So happy. And I’d recommend going on an off hour, even at 1, the parking situation was a little iffy (probably due to Maudies).
Definitely putting this one on my weekly rotation. It would be silly not to since it’s only 3 minutes away compared to all of the other thrifts (which are either north central, or south central… thanks Clarksville).

Secret’s out. This place is the bomb!
I walked in one random Wednesday on my lunch break recently and within less than an hour walked out with:
— an adorable pair of patent yellow Mary Jane shoes;
— a smashing Nanette Lepore dress that I’m planning on wearing to high holiday services in the future;
— a black quilted Chanel style chain-​strap evening bag from Express;
— a dreamy, ruffled duster;
— a black and white Zara peasant blouse;
— two pairs of hoop earrings (yellow and hot pink)
— a JCrew seersucker pleated skirt
and a few other items I can’t remember right now, all for less than $ 100. The prices were so dirt cheap for the products. I couldn’t believe that everything actually *fit* me too, because size wise I’m at the fat part of the bell curve — my size of shoes, jeans etc. are the first to sell out at the stores. It’s crazy that you can just walk into this place and easily find so many beautiful items that fit, but hey, I’ll take it. The only way I can make sense of it is by imagining that the young, wealthy Tarrytown milfs dump their old stuff off here. I dunno. While I was waiting in line for the dressing rooms I chatted with a woman who told me she visits that location of Goodwill every week because it has the best merch.
Anyway, check it out. Great place.

Ah.
Why are the prices so high at this Goodwill?
We always shop at Goodwill and my friend brought me to this one today claiming it was worthwhile.
There was hardly a selection, especially when compared to other Goodwills I’ve been to. Everything was overpriced, at least by 10%.
For example I found a pair of shorts (Wal-​mart brand) today that I know cost the same if not more than new ones. These were worn too.
Next time I will pass and go to one in another part of town.

This location has been my last minute go-​to spot for Halloween costumes for at least four years now. It has never failed me. For my own costume, I usually walk in clueless as to what I need but something will end up sparking my imagination and in the end, I always walk out pleased as punch.
I think at least 4 different people have now worn the Nun costume made from a $ 5 black choir robe, a headband and some black fabric.
We’ve also conjured up the Geek Squad, Little Orphan Annie, a Dead Prom Queen and a Disco Diva, (blonde fro and all) just to name a few. Other times we’ve found just the right accessory to finish out kid costumes and whatever our imagination had started.
Forget the big costume stores full of packaged, synthetic crap. Come here, get creative and save some cash in the process.