Unique Thrift Store

I was pretty disappointed with this Unique. The racks were pretty bare, and there were not nearly as many clothes as every other Unique I’ve been to. Their home goods section is really nice, not huge though. I’ll give them another shot but I was really let down last time I was there.

I frequent this store a couple times a week. I can’t say that the inventory is refreshed that often, although there might be a few new things this often. This is my favorite place to buy linens, because they always have tons of awesome ones. I’ve found two amazing crocheted quilts for a few dollars each, and some awesome stuff for my kids (Lightning McQueen sleeping bag, Ninja Turtle sheets, Strawberry Shortcake curtains, to name a few). I also love their stuffed animal display. My kids love plushies, and so far we’ve added Tangled Rapunzel, Hello Kitty and several friends, three bedtime Care Bears, and Jake the Pirate and Captain Hook. Their selection of boys’ clothes is underwhelming; the girls’ section is better. They do have an amazing array of women’s clothing. I always find something good here for myself.
So far, customer service has been decent. No incidents yet. I have not yet tried to return anything or buy an item without a price tag.

If the customer service was better, I would be there more often :(There used to be a manager (I think her name was Mary. Something w/​an «M») who was awesome. She was friendly, helpful & considerate. There is not a single manager there that has those qualities :(It’s sad, because they have a ½ price sale on Mondays, but the people that work there especially management are rude. It’s always surprising to me when a «manager» doesn’t go above & beyond, but also has a terrible bed side manner. I don’t get it. If employees watch their managers behave this way, how can they know the way to treat customers? It’s very simple & easy to be nice to people.
Also, be a little more grateful when people bring in a ton of donations.
Positives: Not as dirty & dusty as other thrift shops, Good prices on ½ off days, (Otherwise not that great), Has a Parking lot. Takes credit cards and exchanges.

This used to be my go-​to thrift store, but lately I’ve decided it’s not really worth it. Every once in a while I’ll find a good quality gem, but often everything is just cheapy brands (Walmart, Kohls, etc). Nothing wrong with those, but once they’re used they tend to not hold up long. The store has always been too expensive regular price, but their half price days used to have some good deals that made the cheap stuff more worthwhile. Lately though I feel like the prices have been creeping way up. They recently remodeled, and it does indeed look good in there. Things are organized and easy to find, but the prices are just too high. For instance, I was there recently and saw a cheap, unlined Walmart brand lightweight coat. They wanted $ 18 for it regular price! Even at half price that’s a lot for a coat that had no warmth to it and probably won’t last very long. Their books used to be pretty reasonable but now they want $ 3 for many used paperbacks. (The kids books are still a pretty good deal, especially at half price, and they’re well organized.) I saw a pair of thin boys shorts priced $ 6. Again, even at half price it’s not a great deal – I bought similar shorts for my son from Children’s Place on sale for $ 3.50 and they were much better quality! You’re much better off shopping the sales at stores like Walmart and Kohls (you’ll barely pay more for brand new than you would for the same items used at Unique), or visiting other thrift stores to get deals.

I will admit that a few months ago, I would have given Unique 4 stars or more. Going there was like an Easter egg hunt among the great variety of little treasures and unique items you could find there. Recently, however, it’s been revamped and reorganized – or should I say organized and sanitized – so that it looks pretty much like any ordinary store. There seem to be far fewer items jammed in there, as well. And, of course, prices have gone up. It’s really not the fun thrift store experience it used to be. Items seem more conventional and easily accessed. Fewer interesting off-​beat items. And huge amounts of shelving devoted to a rather limited supply of way overpriced books. Most books are $ 2.99 a piece, no matter how old or out-​of-​date they are. You can do much better at most of the libraries around who are happy to get rid of excess books for 50 cents or $ 1. When I was last in there, I overheard two women saying to each other, «This is no fun anymore,» and I had to agree with them.

Can we go thrift shopping? Of course we can!
I’ve heard this legendary «half-​off Monday» thing so decided to check it out.
I’ve really never been to a thrift store prior to going to Unique, even though I’ve done dumpster diving in college. It’s ok to adopt the poor-​college student spirit every once in awhile. I went in and intended to find a pair of nice cowboy boots for myself. I saw some cowboy boots; unfortunately, they were for men. Darn it! I wanted those. They were freakin’ Durango. Oh well, that was my luck.
Nevertheless, the exploration continued. I embarked on the Columbus journey on finding… just something… didn’t have anything on my mind. A nice, tartan, Banana Republic wool blend blazer appeared in front of my eye. What size was that bad boy? Size 4! I think it will fit, for $ 2.75. Whatever, let’s get it!
I then scored the New York Company Tuxedo vest and a LOFT wool vest for $ 2.49 each. Since the season has changed, the cold weather accessory department was packed. I didn’t get to have a good look because I was constantly being pushed around. That’s ok though. I didn’t really need anything from there. Mine was well-​stocked from last harsh winter so I’m good to go.
On the side note, they were playing some strange but entertaining Halloween music. The entire store was pretty heated because of heavy traffic, so I will suggest you to wear light so you will not faint or feel sick. I didn’t see anything that’s priced above $ 6.99, except the pair of Durango I saw for $ 34.99 or something like that. They accept exchange, but no refund or store credit, except tech gadgets, music, books, video games, and furniture are final sale.
It’s located at the north-​end of Western Ave., the shopping plaza adjacent to the Walgreens. The 49B north Western bus will take you there (get off at the last stop: Western/​Howard). Don’t miss half-​off Mondays. Store opens at 6am. Credit cards are accepted.

I have been going to this location for a long time and have gotten a lot of cool stuff over the years. I went there this past sunday and wanted to buy a pair of boots. The manager would not sell me the boots because someone had ripped the price tag off. She said no one could buy the boots until tuesday when they had been repriced. I offered 25 bucks for them (none of the shoes there are over 15 – 20) and she still insisted that I had to wait until Tuesday.
Tuesday morning I came back the second they opened and the boots were gone. I informed the same manager that they were not there. She looked everywhere along with the guy who has personally repriced all the shoes and couldn’t find them all while denying that they had been sold by an employee who didn’t follow the rules. And that was obviously the case. Bottom line I felt like the store enforced their policy inconsistently which resulted in denying me the purchase of something. A sorry or confession on the manager’s part would’ve made me feel better.

Love shopping here. I know the entire staff and go here 3 to 4 times a week. They have a lot of great shirts, pants, jackets, etc. everything is hung and they keep the racks organized so you can find your size easily & quickly. I always go check out the records, books and vintage electronics. You can find a lot of cool 70s gear there. Occasionally I’ve found some cool original art and furniture. Everything is cheap aside from the CDs, for some reason they are priced at $ 3 and they are all usually pretty terrible. Lps are $.75 but it’s hit or miss as far as condition, I’ve found some really great records but they’ve been really scratched & beat-​up, but then sometimes you find a great record in mint condition. You never know, which is part of the fun, The best thing I’ve found there was mint condition NAD stereo receiver from the mid 80s for $ 25 – still works great! Always a fun treasure hunt there :)

There is a lot of variety of choices, but the product come and go fast. You have to visit often and at different times to see when the store stock up. There has been a change of hands to company so the prices went really high. The workers keep changing once the company is own by new people. Try it out on different days. The manager of the store is very nice and professional so the people leaving has nothing to do with the manager.

This place does a business! The prices are reasonable, and considering the volume of business they do, I’m often surprised at how friendly the staff is. I’ve worked retail for years, and I know how hard it can be, these guys do a great job. Great sale prices too.

I typically go to the Unique Thrift Store in Uptown, and I definitely think that that one has a better selection (in terms of both quality and quantity). This store is pretty easily accessible by bus, but I don’t really enjoy taking the bus, so I do wish it was closer to an L stop. You should go prepared to spend an hour or two looking through everything, and, especially on Mondays, go early and be ready to handle lots and lots of people!
PROS:
–Like all Uniques, it has 50% everything Mondays
–Sorted by type, then size, so you don’t have to look through thing that will never fit you
CONS:
–Very limited shoe selection (I think I saw half a rack of shoes in my size)
–The jacket section is right next to the cash registers, which sucks for the people trying to look at the jackets and for the people trying to check out.
–Sorted by size; usually at thrift shops I actually like to shop by color
–The electronics are sold sans cords, which seems super dumb to me.
–No changing rooms.
Things I got on this trip: two 4×2 framed prints ($ 8 each), a LOFT shirt ($ 2), a Ralph Lauren Polo tee ($ 1.50), a Chicago Underground tee ($ 2), a Rafaella sweater ($ 3), a Peter Martin button up ($ 2), a silk scarf ($ 2), and a Linda Allard Ellen Tracy button up ($ 2).

This is a GREAT store. I can’t believe I’d never been before just now. I usually shop the one in Uptown and this one was a lot better (at least for me). Perhaps because it may not be as highly trafficked. But I really made out in this store. Found a ton of really cute summer tops. And the added bonus was that everything was half off that day –
Hard to believe these thrift stores actually LOWER their already lower than low prices. I’m getting so I can’t even shop at Target for clothes anymore! Besides, why would I when I can find much better quality for so much less money — not to mention, it’s far less wasteful to buy used, as well.
It’s also a rather convenient area in general — with a few other stores around like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar. Yes, I love me some bargains. Why pay more?

My personal haberdasher. A good healthy walk from my house (which takes me past Bill’s Hot Dogs to counteract the healthy walk). Very well organized by size then color, clean (on the scale of thrift stores), and it seems like there’s some kind of big sale happening every time I go. Today was a half-​off sale on everything in the store — picked up a J Crew wool coat for $ 10.
Things like jeans and shorts are usually in the $ 5 – 7 range. I’m in the process of losing a bunch of weight, and it stinks to pay retail prices for pants that I may or may not be wearing in a few months. So Unique is a great resource until I land on a body I can stick with for a while.
My wife is very much in to sewing, and she’s been able to find some really good clothes to cut up for projects. There is also a good selection of tablecloths and napkins, an extensive shoe selection (haven’t found much there, but I don’t often look as my feet are getting picky as I get older), as well as a VERY random antique electronics section.

Certain types of items are over priced.
I have seen some items that were cheaper new. They have alot of cheap crap, but every now and again you find a gem.
One thing they do have is a well trained staff. If you consider rude and lazy to be good qualities.

I consider myself a seasoned thrifter, and have been to most of the Uniques in the city. This particular location usually has quite a few items that I need or have been looking for. The workers in this location seem a slightly more tolerable than the ones in Village Discount, for example. The major downside here seems to be habitual; many items are way overpriced for questionable goods that quite often have hidden flaws or stains. Last winter, there was a Wilson’s ladies leather jacket from maybe a few seasons before which, while used and in decent shape, had a price tag of $ 80. I know they try to overprice items to get half their amount on discount days, but sheesh. You can get a new leather jacket for that or less in a lot of places.

Score! I found a Micheal Kors camel brown leather handbag. And it was only 10 bucks! Awesome.

This is a thrift store, so expect crowded aisles, and some clothes that have fallen to the floor, and NO dressing rooms. My husband and I went here today for their ½ price Monday and my husband (6’2″ 2XL) got a long black cashmere coat for $ 10 and a great very muted teal/​olive trench coat, silk ties for 50 cents each. I got a nice hoodie Hanes brand for $ 2 and a gorgeous heavy long navy blue bath robe that looked brand new for $ 5, and a 50 cent belt for it. These prices I list take into account the ½ price part since it was Monday. On Mondays they open at 6am, and I think they are open until 9pm. One day we might try to get their early.
The downside is that there are no dressing rooms. I actually had my husband hold up a coat and I tried on some jeans there, but none fit. Next time I think I’ll wear biking pants so I can try on jeans over them without getting arrested.
I wanted a winter coat but they don’t have many yet. They say try back mid to late October for them.
This was the 2^nd Unique we went to today. The first was on Elston, which I will also review.

I’m updating my review… is anyone surprised? Came here on half price Monday a few Mondays ago and got a really cute Geoffrey Beene jean jacket and a little star shaped dish (to stash my keys, phone etc) for… a whopping $ 6. Yes, that’s right. –For both! Overall, there wasn’t too much of a selection that day so I was a little disappointed. Half price Mondays are quite popular and I suspect everything was picked over by the time I got there (after work, about 7pm). However, overall this store has some pretty good finds, so I get excited even when I get only one or two good things! I’m big into «resale-​ing» (do you like how I made that a verb?) and this is one of my favorite places. Check it out –I guarantee you will find a decent item that tickles your resale fancy every time you go!

I’m not big on thrift stores, because they require the patience I do not possess. I did, however, have a lot of fun in this store. It is clean and well maintained. The quality of the items by far surpasses your standard Village Discount Outlet.
While I only found one item I liked, my husband found a bunch of great jeans and shirts.
We drove down to the Sheridan/​Montrose store and they had a much better selection of items. This time, I let with a full bag (I would have reviewed that location, but it does not seem to be on Unilocal).
Make sure you check their website. I found a great coupon for $ 10 off a $ 25 purchase.

Decent thrift store, although kind of far away from most neighborhoods in Chicago. It reminds me of suburban thrift stores, which tend to be pretty good in general for clothing. While I wouldn’t make my way out again, it’s a great place for thrifting for those who live in the area.
Clothes are organized by color. The women’s selection is really great here, men’s not so much. I found the perfect black wool mini skirt, with pockets for only 5 dollars. The jewelry selection is wide; you can find a few cute pieces for a bargain while nicer stuff is surprisingly priced round twenty to thirty dollars. Kitchenware selection is pretty slim.
They accept cards too, which is nice.