AIDS Assistance Thrift Store

It’s nice to shop at a place that you know will help others. The quality of the items are far and few between however. Most of the items are not only quite old but not in good condition I would say. I would just say the items need to be cleaned before putting it for sale in the store. The three star rating is that it’s a charitable shop and that sometimes you can find rare and great items. The .25 cents paperback books and .50 cents hardback books are a great deal. I found a new fashion themed notebook for .25 cents.
This place is a must visit if you’re on Retro Row.

Has a lot of stuff for a smallish store. You’ll find higher prices due to it being located in a heavy foot traffic area of Long Beach.

Bought some beautiful rare books at awesome prices, getting them home in the suitcase was rough but worth it. My mom was delighted with some I bought for her.
There were a lot of cool items at fair prices, but I was already risking my back. The Man working the counter was cheerful and friendly.
I appreciate that this business understands that even though they fund a great cause, it does not mean keeping prices out of range for ordinary folk.

AIDS Asistance Thrift Store is an older looking store on Retro Row in Long Beach. I came here looking for a men’s vintage coat. I didn’t find it here, but I did enjoy walking around and perusing the store.
The store had a LOT of donations. Much of the items still needed to be put on racks and on hangers. There is art work, kitchen ware, mens clothes, womens items, and all kinds of mixed stuff. The place didn’t have as much variety as some of the other stores on the street, but I wanted to go in to see if I could support them as they are there for a great cause!
Kudos to AIDS Assistance Thrift Store!

When one walks into a shop with a big sign that says «Thrift Store» on the front… one would imagine that you would find some deals inside.
Fat chance. More than half the items I saw were $ 30-​$ 40.
Is it me or is 80% of the clothing here horribly damaged? I would pull something off a rack that I thought was cute and then there would be a gigantic rip down the front or huge chunks are cut out from the hem. And it would have a $ 20 ‘as is’ price on it. Really? $ 20 for something I would use as a rag? Come on…
None of the shoes had prices on them. When I seemed vaguely interested in a pair and asked how much shoes were the sales person kept lecturing me about how all the shoes are marked (no, they are not) and how great the shoes I had just last held up were and how I should buy them. We’re talking about a men’s shoe that was obviously 5 sizes too big for me. Sorry, but no.
Really weird place that made me feel very frustrated.

This awesome thrift shop that is located in the retro row 4^th street area — is a decent size and well laid out store.
Tons of clothing — vintage and pre owned, men’s women’s shoes, rows of household items and vintage collectibles.
They also have lots of great original art work — paintings, prints, vintage pieces — a lot of really great artwork at this thrift store.
You have to look, but there are some great bargains to be had if you are willing to dig and look. I found everything from name brand clothes (gently worn) to vintage glass ware to collectible porcelain.
I even scored a really cool retro bowling pin drink coaster set complete with matching storage holder.
This thrift store also supports the local community. Well worth a trip inside to have a look.
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Awesome charity thrift shop that reside right next door to the feed and across the street from assistance league of LB. the first thing you see walking in are amazing works of art pleasantly displayed. From first glance you might mistake this store for an art gallery but as you walk in you see the row of old records, wall of knick knacks and home goods, and racks of clothing. Definitely oozes the hipster vibe, from the customers to the layout of the shop. Everything is extremely esthetically pleasing to eye and I was promptly greeted when I entered the door. The only downside to this store is that the prices are on the higher side for a thrift stores. This could be the fact that its next to the feed, which is also a more expensive hipster thrift store. All in all, good cause, awesome set up, and maybe with some luck, you can find some amazing stuff!
P. s. I saw an amazing sketch of the human skeletal body complete with veins! Too bad the price was too high :(hopefully he goes to a good home!

Found a perfect condition J Crew camel coat today. Amazing! Can’t beat the prices and love that it’s helping AIDS patients and awareness. Store staff was great. Cool comic books too.

This store is huge and has a GREAT selection of vintage clothing. Unlike a lot of other thrift stores, it isn’t overly 80s heavy — I saw plenty of stuff from the 50s, 60s, and 70s as well. I saw a few simple but beautiful 50s day dresses in here, along with some fun suits from the 60s.
Not a lot of housewares here — it’s mostly clothing and some accessories. They also have a display of afro wigs, which is a little odd.
The only catch is the prices — VERY high. If you find a cute dress that’s in great condition, fully expect to pay between $ 30 and $ 70 for it. The only stuff I picked up that was cheap ended up being damaged in some way (not just ‘missing a button’ damaged, but ‘gashed’ damaged).

You want to buy a hoard of stuff for a few bucks? go to a thrift store. You want to buy a hoard of stuff for a few bucks and support an awesome cause? come and check out AIDS Assistance Thrift store.
AIDS Assistance Thrift Store is a medium sized thrift store with typical thrift store fare: apparel, books, videotapes, bric a brac, housewares, records, shoes, a small selection of electronics and furniture and some art as well.
I would definitely check out the records. I’ve actually found a few really choice records here. I don’t typically do the record dig in thrift stores because I don’t like show tunes/​old people strumming cellos but I for some reason this store has always beckoned me and for some reason I’ve always turned up with some reasonable 70’s and 80’s pop and rock and other generally freaky stuff.
I’ve also lucked out on sweatshirts and magazines. One time I came and found a barely worn 25^th anniversary Disneyland Sweatshirt for whatever their sweatshirt prices were at the time and other times I’ve come in and found stacks of LIFE mag and Newsweek from the 60’s and 70’s. Both of these treasure trips were a few years ago but I’m sure great stuff still floats in periodically.
With the exception of the front of the of the store, this place is kind of a mess. I typically don’t mind a dig but stuff is literally dumped in boxes all over the back of this store. Have fun digging!
In terms of quality of items, this place is a huge hit or miss. I’ve been coming once or twice a year for several years and there are times when I’ve walked out with amazing records or sweatshirts worth three or four times what I paid for them and there have been other times where I have literally found myself in a store full of worthless junk.
And the prices. Again, another mixed bag. From my understanding, the pricing on most of the items is flat (all sweatshirts cost X, all pants cost Y, etc). I was in the store about two weeks ago and here’s a sample of what I spotted in terms of pricing (obviously subject to change)
Women
Tops (tees, tanks, etc): 2
Others: 3
Dresses: 6 and up
Skirts: 4
Pants: 5
Coats and jackets 5 and up
Men
Shirts (with buttons):3
Tees: 2
pants: 5
shorts: 2
coats and jackets: 5 and up
jeans: 7
Sweats:2
Suit: 10
Something to note: the shop definitely awesome sale days. On my most recent visit, the shop was getting ready to stock up on Halloween inventory and everything was a dollar!
The customer service here is excellent. Every single time I’ve been here the staff has been super friendly and seem to not be completely irritated to be there.
AIDS assistance is not a thrift store I would recommend driving more than five or ten miles to visit with no other shops in mind, but if you’re in the area you should definitely stop in. You’ll never know what you’ll find!

donated a bunch of computer programming books, business books, and computer science books to this place yesterday also.
i also threw in a bunch of cliff notes that any high school or college student can use for those stories.
i also threw in 5 old school records of classic 70s music.
i also threw in 4 vhs movies and 1 ps2 game.
i also threw in a hardly used pair of tracy mcgrady shoes when he was a superstar with the houston rockets. Just needs the dry dirt wiped off of it.
my gf also threw in old clothes and shoes too.
we also got a receipt for our donations here too.
reason we donated so much here is because they help me buy that used suit jacket with a really cool matching tie back in the day. i’ve made other purchases here at this location and at their old location back in the day. so it’s just me giving back to them.

Love this place and the people are great.

This is one of my favorite shops on 4^th Street, since they’re always friendly and honest, and working for an awesome cause. In fact, when my wife and I have items to donate, we almost always come here first. Prices on all items are super-​reasonable, making it one of the only places along 4^th that we’ve bought furniture from, a really excellent and sturdy wooden dresser that we picked up for less than $ 50.
In a world where so much is designed to be mass-​produced and disposable, it’s downright gratifying to find items that can be re-​used by others, and supporting a truly worthy cause as well.

In the future, I will have to bring my clothing to this place. I feel as though there is actually a connection between the community they serve and their actual facility. A friend of mine (who is HIV pos) gets a $ 25 gift card every 4 months for the store.
They have clothing, housewares, antiques, jewelry, books, and records.
Women’s clothing is minimal. The men’s clothing section is much larger. The house ware section is pretty small, but they had everything my friend needed after coming out of the hospital sans pots and pans, which was nice. They had an absolutely gorgeous old punch bowl (maybe circa 1920?) with little matching glasses (with handles). Totally cute. The jewelry looks like a cross between San Rio Gift Gate and a Drag Queen’s armoire: pretty awesome. Records are… interesting.
They have some stunning furniture too (see the photo of the art deco dresser).
In all, they are working for a GREAT cause with what seems to be an ethical base and carry a decent amount of good stuff to rummage through.

Stopped in to grab some funny T-​Shirts for a UYE I’m host ing with Chad A and, I found two that are just perfect (one for me and another for Marty, if he needs a costume change)!
This place has just about everything, especially since I’m writing this review prior to Halloween.
The proceeds as always go to the AIDS programs and Hospices that help so many as this disease still takes lives from Men, Women and Children of every demographic and geographic.
They take credit cards so be prepared to go into a Unilocal buying coma!
Also, this store is very involved with our City Council to keep the Ryan White Care Act funding strong and not to allow congress to make the major cuts that would affect many Long Beach based programs (The CARE Program @ St Mary’s Medical Center-​for one) just because they claim people are not dying anymore… reallllllly, not dying anymore?
Where did they get that crock of shit?!
Come with me to some home visits to the most affected-​Latina & African American women and their children.
I’m very happy to spend my money here and, donate items to this altruistic icon of Long Beach for the good they do for the community.
Oh yes, since I was a program director for 3 AIDS Programs in the ‘90s for a nonprofit in Downey for 4 years, the word around town is that a lot of money { does } go to programs as I still write grants and participate in pro-​bono work as a PA-​C, LCSW & CAS for the many programs currently in existence!
So, yes assit the Assistance Store that does not take items donated aside and the volunteers or employees pick out the good stuff and then stock the floor with left overs.
So don’t be doing this with your love-​make a difference:

This is my favorite thrift store so far in Long Beach. A beautiful safe area to shop and stroll (at least during the day) and not too far from my house. I like to grab an iced latte from Portfolio Coffee House and stroll over here on Tuesdays or Wednesdays when there are less people (that means I can try on clothes to my heart’s content with no line for the single fitting room!). Prices are all very reasonable, which they should be because they are selling USED clothing. Prices are not hiked up just because a pair of jeans is from 1990 and can now be considered «vintage» lol. A great ever changing selection of clothing, shoes, and books keeps me coming back every other week or so. The employees and volunteers here are always very welcoming and friendly and always let me stash my purse behind the counter while I load my arms with clothes to try on. Also this place is reasonably clean and organized and does not smell like cat urine… unlike a store across the street which is dominated by kind but hawk-​like older women volunteers (which is a totally different review altogether, but I digress.)
So the bottom line is come to this thrift store if you have time to sort through clothes and try things on. Prices are reasonable and the staff is great! I recommend this store to all my friends and you should too! Don’t forget to bring your reusable bags to bring all your goodies home in!

I love love love this store! I find all of my super cute vintage dresses here, and the money goes to a great cause. It doesn’t get any better than that! The staff is amazing and they have some really cool events as well. You won’t find a store on 4^th street that can beat their prices either! Check it out! :)

I love vintage. If you know me then it is a known fact! So, this is one of the many shops that I hit regularly when on 4^th! I can’t say that I have really found clothing as much as I have struck gold with finding furniture and art. My most prized purchase from here would be an oil painting of three girls. It’s signed but I could never find info on the artist when i Googled the name. It was only $ 10 and I get compliments all the time on it! I love it!
I have also found some accessories here that are golden. Like those kitschy big eye resin miniature statues that look like little trophies with a saying at the bottom. Usually in boutique vintage shops they go for too $$$ here I have found a few under $ 5. Very good! I can’t say much for the clothing other than I skimmed through it and nothing has caught my eye. But, that is the beauty of thrift shopping. You have to hunt. You can’t be some lazy pansy and not hunt!
In all. It is not overpriced and never has it been filthy.

Im one Rod McKuen record away from a restraining order.
It’s not my fault that I find at least 3 new Rod Records every time! And he’s a poet, not a musician, which makes it even more fantastic. Oh Rod…
«It is for love that I live all alone, because the lovers I imagine, are safer then the ones I have known.»

I’m not a ‘vintage’ shopper. I figure that if I’m going to pay $ 40 for a dress or jacket I want to be the first one to wear it. However, I am a thrift shopper.
Especially times like now when money is tight and I need some retail therapy on a budget. I finally spent a Saturday afternoon exploring the shops on Long Beach’s Retro Row. My first stop was the Aids Assistance Thrift Shop and I was pleased.
This store is not the best location if you’re looking for furniture. They have a few good pieces but it seemed as though their selection of clothing was better. Articles of clothing are priced at a flat rate. I got t-​shirts for a buck! You can’t beat that!