Salvation Army

I just love all the branches of salvation army. I went on a wednesday and it was half off everything but pink tags. With the discount, I got a pair of baggy tribal pants, a floral top, a J Crew skirt, a Betsy Johnson dress, and a striped sweater for $ 14.

5 star selection of clothing, house goods, furniture, everything, but they literally never answer the phone (I mean literally), the staff isn’t thaaat great, and it’s one of the priciest Salvation’s in the city («pricey» being relative. keep in mind I’m a poor college student). It’s a warehouse basically, and is humongous, but don’t be deterred by the sort of sketchy entrance and dusty floors because the quality of their selection is really amazing and I LOVE going here. Their coat selection is unreal, just FYI. As is their random shit for your house selection. I can — and have — spend hours here. I always walk out with something. I’d say it’s tied with the Hell’s Kitchen location for my favorite SA in the city. Just for reference, I basically only shop at thrift stores (like cheap ones, not NYC ~vintage~ stores) because REEENNNTT

I honestly loved it. Got a really nice piece of heavy, vintage wood furniture for like $ 30. They could probably hire a few more people – started to feel bad for the lady who was answering the phone and ringing people up and having to meet people on the other side of the expansive store with their little questions, but even the guys in the receiving area downstairs were so sweet, respectful and helpful.

Sketchy entrance with a dark hallway and stairwell, but more importantly way overpriced and mediocre selection compared with Goodwill. $ 8 for sweater that would be $ 5 at Goodwill, which is nicer and has fitting rooms.

Was literately asked for compensation by an employee for the favor of taking my furniture donation. Decided to take my furniture elsewhere. GoodWill is up the road and they are a pleasure to work with.
If you are going to ask for a bribe don’t have distinguishing characteristics, like a star tattoo on your face.

This place was huge… Very well-​organized and pretty clean as far as «Sally’s» go… I found a couple pairs of Paige jeans for about $ 7 each and some funky sweaters for about $ 3-​$ 4 each. The knick knack area had a bunch of super fun items (and if I had the room in my apartment, there was an AMAZING painting).
There is no dressing room, only 1 full-​length mirror in the women’s section– I’m a semi-​pro thrifter so I wore a skirt and tank and was able to try everything on before purchasing– There were some GREAT finds– but as I’ve read in some other reviews, you really have to look at the condition of the items– there were many pieces with stains and tears, etc and they were going for full price– so obviously, buyer beware!
All in all, I really enjoyed myself for about 2.5 hours at this store! Any true thrifters won’t be disappointed!

So I LOVE to thrift! I was alittle worried because of the entrance but as thrifter, you got to go where the deal is. The staircase leading up to the second floor is alittle creepy but the savings that are at the top, worth it! I just dont see how people could not like to spend less and get more! GO HERE!

I love a good thrifting experience, and this was not it. Little variety, few things of interest, and a lower quality of products than most Salvation Army locations — even in NYC. Additionally, when I’ve gone to donate there, I’ve felt like I was a hassle to them and in their way by asking basic questions.

I have not gone thrifting in a while but decided to visit this place for old time’s sake.
The staircase leading to the shop is dark, smelly, and suspect which I don’t like at all. On my way up I thought I would pass out from the stench. However, it is an old warehouse building so that’s pretty understandable. This Salvation Army is convenient due to local buses nearby and it is very organized unlike many other thrift shops I’ve been to. I found a barely-​worn Miami heat jersey tee for 2.99 in the Men’s section to feed my sporty trend fixation, and the cashier gave it to me for $ 1.50 (since It had a small stain). This is def a dope place to dig for clothing :)

The stock is pretty standard for a salvation army– a bit over priced I must say for the fact that they must sift through the clothing and price it quickly. I noticed stains were very very over looked.
SO story for the day! I came and dropped of a small donation of clothing downstairs and the man working was completely hitting on me. I’m 23 and often told I look younger– he was a bit out of my generation to be behaving this way. Nothing pressing, just inappropriate.
Second half of my visit here, when I looked up the store hours I found a listing that said 6pm and this is my fault for not paying attention for walking in. They gave us a five minute closing notice– i get it we’re in Brooklyn you’re day probably sucked working and we’re all in such a goddamn rush but I felt like I was being forced in a rude manner.
I had a shopping cart full of stuff I wanted to go through to check for condition and prices etc. I’m getting in line to check out and still haven’t tried on the shoes I had so I’m sifting through them and the lady working is BITCHING at me because a tag fell of the bag, pretty sure she’s assuming i’m going to steal it. I also had a black bag in my back pack of some other donation items I forgot to drop off downstairs an i pulled it out while getting my wallet and she’s saying ’ you didn’t bring that in when you came in put it on the counter’ at this point, also assuming that i’m stealing items that I came to DONATE. i hope you read this and kindly f**k off, your day is what you make it and i’m sorry if you think this is how you should function at your job but it’s not. all the other employees were kind and cordial.
eat my imaginary dick.
no thanks to this salvo.

I’m a thrifter!
I moved here 7 months ago and have been on the hunt for the perfect thrift store deals. I live in the Deep South of Brooklyn. Bedstuy and Crown Heights are the closest bargain neighborhoods. I went to this Salvation Army yesterday. It was on a weird little side street but I found it.
To get in: You have to go in the first unmarked door and walk up the stairs.
It’s big and dirty but it’s a thrift store. The was tons of dresses and skirts for me to pile up. Unfortunately there are «no dressing rooms». I am a professional so I wore skinny jeans and a long sleeved slimmed sweater. I was able to throw skirts over, dresses and tanks over my outfit. I never buy pants, even though that might change with this NY winter weather.
I found a gorgeous cocktail dress for $ 10. A beautiful skirt for $ 7 and a Swedish patterned skirt for $ 5 but it was half off. Then I found a tarot deck and some house supplies for a buck each. Overall, I spent just a little over $ 20. Not like the Salvation Army at home (SEA) but still real good compared to NY thrift stores.
I will definitely be coming back.

My father passed away and what else to do with his clothes, but to give it to the Salvation Army. I’m from California, so I’m not familiar with the New York area.
I found the Salvation Army through Unilocal (thank goodness for Unilocal), packed the truck with my Dad’s stuff and took off driving. The Salvation Army is located in a pretty bad part of New York. I was a bit uneasy driving there, dropping it off and going back to Brooklyn. Just be prepared.
People there were helpful in unloading the truck, gave me a receipt and I was on my way.
The drive itself was terrible as an FYI only. 4.5 miles from Brooklyn took me 45 minutes using GPS (fastest route).

Would be 5 stars if not for the fact that there are no dressing rooms. There is a mirror in the mens area and another in the womens area. So ladies come prepared, I usually wear a fitted tank top and a skirt so I can try stuff on.
This particular SA location is my usual Saturday midday guilty pleasure. I always hit the dress racks first, have found a couple of Calvin Klein and Banana Republic dresses –all under $ 10 and all gently worn (if worn at all). My best finds have been a Kate Spade dress $ 7.99, an Escada knitted cardigan $ 4.99, Versace shoes and Theory shoes each $ 10.99, a cute vintage leather clutch $ 0.99.
There have also been days when I walk away with nothing. But I still go and rummaging to see what treasures I find. There’s always 50% off certain color ticket prices so make sure you look for that.
Also they are not open on Sundays.

The entrance is a difficult to find. It is a garage door with a stair well that leads to the second floor of the warehouse.
Great selection of household items and furniture.

I just moved to the area and was SUPER excited to find out there was a Salvation Army in the area, AND it was within walking distance! So I went out in search of some cute table lamps for my bedroom, something silver, preferably.
Walking down Quincy, this place looks like it’s on a dead end block, and almost looks like a back alley or something, aside from the new construction condos across the street (but the construction on the corner doesn’t make it feel any more inviting). I thought I was lost for a minute, and seeing a bunch of guys standing off to the side of the building, watching me as I came closer didn’t make me feel any better.
Nevertheless, once I saw a doorway, I ducked in, hoping I didn’t stumble into an employee entrance or something. Immediately, I thought, «Oh god, I’m gonna get raped, or this is the type of stairway where those kinds of things could happen.»
–_​_​_​_​_​–
Creepy city! The only thing that tipped me off that I was in the right area was the green sign I saw posted that said green labeled items are 50% off today. *pfew* At least I was in the right spot. I think it was 2 – 3 flights (short flights… nothing strenuous) up before I saw the entrance. Relief!
Once I walked in, I made sure to check out the glassware and knick knacks… I always need glassware to store my makeup in… unfortunately, I thought the pricing was a bit high. I usually tend to like Unique Thrift Store on Fulton, where the majority of the glassware is around $.99, whereas here, they’re more like $ 2.99. I’ll pass. On to the lamps. And boy, did they have lamps!!! Tall standing lamps, table lamps, a lot of sets, all in good condition, but few with lampshades attached. But that’s ok. So I saw this cute pair of brushed silver lamps that immediately caught my eye. Hoping the lady already standing there wasn’t checking them out as well, I patiently waited until she stepped to the side, and grabbed them to check the price. One had a sticker that read $ 24.99. The other didn’t. So I asked an employee if the price was for one or for the both… she said both. I’LL TAKE THEM! No hesitation there! And I got my coveted lamps… now I just needed a set of lampshades. But I didn’t care for the few they had there, so I passed on those.
I grabbed a shopping cart to hold my precious lamps, and briefly scanned the floor, focusing on household items that I might be able to repurpose for organization storage. Nothing really. I didn’t even bother to look at the women’s clothing on the other side, namely because they organize clothing by color, and I hate having to scour those stinky racks for my size. I love Unique because everything it sorted by size, which is such a pleasure to look through.
I didn’t see anything else that caught my eye, until I got up to the register. They had a rack of dvds, so I figured, let me see what they have, and then I found… FRIENDS! The complete boxed dvd sets of seasons1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8… no 2, and 6 :(. I took those bad boys to the register, and the cashier informed me that each box set was $ 2.99…for a total of $ 18.00! SCORE. That entire set is on amazon for at least $ 120. I’m still missing seasons 2 and 6, but I think I’ll find them eventually…
Overall, not a bad spot. I’ll stick to Unique for the majority of my thrifting, but I know where I can get some badass lamps from now on.

This is the place where if and when you die all the contents of your life will appear. That is to say unless your family really cares enough to keep the good stuff and discard things they don’t feel worthy enough to wear or display.
All Salvation Army’s have a certain odor of humanity to them from the furniture to the clothing hanging on the racks. This place is huge compared to all the rest. I can come here and get lost for a hour or two until I find that certain gem.
I have purchased so many antiques and other items here it is not funny! The selection always changes based upon what is delivered. I really don’t come here for customer service cause you will not find it here. But I usually treat people kind and they usually respond in a kind manner.
The records are really not in great condition unless you get to them as soon as they arrive and I really have never purchased any clothing even though it is expansive. My purchases have included art work, art glass, pottery and furniture.
One mans garbage can become another mans treasure.
There is always some salvation in knowing my purchases will be forwarded to help those less fortunate to hopefully find there salvation. That’s why it is called goodwill!

On the plus side, it’s big and carries a lot of stock. But you have to spend a looong time sorting through it because there’s a lot of chaff. And generally speaking, the prices are higher than at the Brooklyn Goodwills.
Also unfortunately, the selection has also been really picked-​over recently, since the Pratt Institute art-​kids have herded over. I should know. I used to be one. At this point, it’s not worth my time to compete with them.

This salvation army is massive. You can find some good deals here if you have the time to look through some racks, but overall it’s worth it.
I like their attempt to keep everything organized, and somewhat clean. It’s a great place to get shirts and lighter items, — I didn’t see a large amount of cool jackets. Spend the time and come out with something good.

Throwing an extra star in there because I may have just hit this place on a bad day/​week/​season.
BUT
Stopped in to look for some cheap maternity dresses. Failing that, I looked for a piece of cookware I kind of half need. Failing that, I checked out the handbag and electronics section. Fail fail fail.
1. There’s no maternity section — you have to dig. I only found one thing, and it was actually a size XL nursing dress. (This is just an FYI; I didn’t really expect them to have a dedicated section, but it would have been helpful.)
2. The selection was mehhh. Clothes were mostly on the lower end of the quality spectrum, and though I did see a handful of decent labels, nothing looked particularly new or good-​as-​new.
3. The prices were a little ridiculous. $ 9.99 for someone’s busted-​ass old gray cotton dress? WITH stains? I saw a lot of things that should have been in a $ 0.99 bargain bin (which doesn’t exist, btw), but nothing that was priced accurately.
Bottom line: There are lots of women’s clothes here, and if you’re willing to really dig in, or you’re looking for raw materials to make something else, it *may* be worth stopping by. But for the more casual shopper just looking for a good deal on used stuff, I’d say you’re probably better off finding a thrift shop in a wealthier or more suburban area.
(The cashier was nice, though!)

I’m going to base this review strictly in comparison to other Salvation Army thrift stores. No, I’m not going to get into «Look at all the siqq deals I scored so I can keep my Etsy shop running.» but the actual store itself.
No doubt about it, this spot is hard to find for the first timer. It’s actually on the second floor, up a caged stairwell. Once inside, the whole store is grimy and dimly lit. The housewares are generally unclean and poorly organized, there is an abundance of clothing, most of which is clean, but you will find many items which are stained or damaged beyond repair. The furniture section is okay and really quite affordable, but that section is hard to navigate, and sometimes items are without a tag.
While I will never criticize the mission or benefit of the Salvation Army, I do have to call this store out on the maintenance. It’s a wreck. I wish they would do a service to their customers and patrons to clean this place up, add some fresh coats of paint, organize things a little more, just put a little bit more effort into the place to make the shopping experience pleasant.