Palo Alto Goodwill

Okay, previously I thought poorly of this Goodwill overall. Sure the majority of the stuff that this thrift store sells is way overpriced for the simple fact that the most of the merchandise is used. However, this Goodwill also gets some high end as well as unique items. Just today, I bought a pair of Adiddas shoes that were unique since they were Muppet themed, very cute and reasonably priced for about $ 10 being that they were in new condition! I also notice that this thrift shop gets a lot of electronics including laptops, desktop computers, and radios. However most items even though are in great condition are not recent technology and not cheap.
Pros:
–friendly staff
–great selection of high-​end merchandise esp. electronics and clothing
–lots of new merchandise for sale still in original boxes — possible returns and/​or salvage?
Cons:
–most items esp. electronics and jewelry are overpriced for being that this is a thrift shop
–lack of plus size clothing and pajamas in stock
–even though the clothing aisles are organized by size some of the clothing is mixed up

First of all, this is a Goodwill. Where people donated their things for charity. However, this store is a total rip-​off!!! I’m telling you, the staffs marked up the prices. OMG, this is a thrift store, alright. They like to hiked the prices. They are not knowledgeable of the brands at all! 90% of the prices they tags are outrageous. You can go to Target or TJ Maxx and shop their clearance cheaper than this Goodwill and it’s new!
Second, when you returned items, they would call their manager. That manager will inspect your return items like you have committed a crime. They assume that you have intentionally switch your items and return it back. It’s crazy! They are only employee and they act like they owned a designer store.
So if you like to be treated this way, by all means go there. To me, the staffs need to know more about customer service and understand that they work for Goodwill. They shouldn’t overpriced all their items.

I pretty much only go here to make donations. The one or two times I’ve gone shopping I’ve found nothing. Based on things I see people taking in it’s pretty obvious the best stuff is getting loaded on trucks and going somewhere else cux it ain’t hitting the sales floor.
I’ll go back to keep donating, but not to shop.

I haven’t been to a Goodwill in ages and came here on the recommendation of a friend to find some cheap cocktail dresses. Note that they do not allow for returns or exchanges. So make sure that dress fits! Anyway, it might be because this Goodwill is located in Palo Alto, but I was surprised by the number of designer clothes here. Lots of nice stuff. I ended up getting my dresses and was pretty happy about it. The dressing room was open when I went, since I saw that was a complaint by some other Unilocalers, but my main complaint was in regards to checking out. Staff continued to put away clothes and whatnot as I and another customer stood in front of the cash register to check out. Regardless, I’m happy I found what I came for. By the way, prices ran higher than I though for a Goodwill as well-​some dresses were $ 50 – 60, but I suppose they’ve done their research on how much a dress like that is supposed to cost in stores. There’s plenty of parking in the back.

The recently completed renovation (Sept 2015) is a terrible downgrade. Depressing drop ceiling fluorescent flickering blueish overhead lighting is so poor it’s a disincentive to shop here because a.) you can’t really see what you’re assessing, and b.) it sets a prison/​you should be ashamed to shop secondhand vibe. Also gone are the lively fun recognizable regular staff, who have been replaced by a bunch of stressed out deer-​in-​the-​headlights looking employees. Sure, previously the store was run down, but at least you could see what you were shopping and there were regularly great deals to be had. Now it’s an example of why people are grossed out by the idea of thrift stores. It seems like they’re now sending the better inventory off to other stores to punish you for thinking Palo Alto would mean higher quality stuff. I used to come here as often as I could, but this is now off the ‘stop by if you’re in the area’ list. Yuck. Keep driving to another location. If they changed the lighting, it could make a world of difference.

The dressing rooms are always locked!
Have to stand around and hope one of the
Staff comes by with a key.
Big waste of time.

Pretty interesting stuff, nice staff, but I think it’s a little cheaper to shop at Burberry.

I thought the Palo Alto Goodwill would be a minefield of designer gems but alas I was mistaken. Most of the women’s clothing here was very mediocre and often ratty. Prices were reasonable I guess with most items under $ 10. But I did see a lot of cheap brands like Charlotte Russe and Forever 21, and those items are probably close to $ 10 new anyway.
The men’s section seemed to fare a bit better at least in terms of shirts. There were some Boss and Bugatchi shirts in the mix.
The parking lot is also not that big so be prepared for some lines.

Massively overpriced and smells like drug addicts. Go to Thrift Center in San Carlos instead.

This is the most expensive and overpriced thrift store I’ve ever been to. The first time I came here, they were charging $ 10 for an Ikea table that usually costs $ 7. Today, I literally laughed out loud because they were asking $ 160 for an end table. The shoes are about $ 20 per pair. The housewares seem to be a steal at $ 4 – 5 for a bowl.

Smallish store. Higher than usual prices, but a good selection of more high-​end clothing brands. Come here for an Armani or Brooks Brothers suit for just $ 30.

I came here looking for movie props, which I found some here!
I agree with some of the other Unilocalers pricing here seems inconsistent and overpriced. If you are looking for housewares or wares in general selection is cool.
I could not bare to check out anything else, the clothes and shoes didn’t look worth it.

I found a lot of great items at this Goodwill — a couple of striped tops, Warriors playoff t-​shirt, Stüssy grid track jacket.
However, the pricing is inconsistent. Some items were clearly tagged in the wrong category. I purchased a long sleeve knit which was priced as a long sleeve blouse ($ 9). Fortunately, the store manager corrected the price to $ 6. I also purchased a thin half-​zip pullover which was priced as a blazer whereas an identical item was priced for cheaper.
This Goodwill is pricier than other Goodwill stores in the area. I know it’s in Palo Alto. but c’mon, it’s still a Goodwill!

Good, if small, goodwill location! They accept donations here, and the process is easy and fast.
The store is best for clothes– the Home Consignment Center down El Camino is better for furniture, and the Goodwill in Menlo Park is better for upscale items. The Goodwill further south down El Camino is better for kitchen utensils and tools. This one is quite well-​organized, though, and has a lot of basics (solid t-​shirts, etc.)

If it was for the over charging by greedy pricing if give the store a 5 star but funding a original tag 3 dollars cheaper at store killed the rating totally
Com on! whoever holds that overpricing gun up; remember all that is donated FREE to your pocket book you act like if it costs you personally lighten up Scrooge !

A lil small but very very clean store, You can get some real fancy stuff here and the workers look real happy to assist you.
I gotta pretty classy shirt for only ten bucks. They even have suits here too for cheap. Theres alot of great free parking too. YOu should come here and check it out.

Today was my first visit to this Goodwill. Although the store is a bit small relative to a lot of other locations, I left with a number of great clothing finds at around $ 5 – 10 per item. It’s great that they organize all the clothes by size. This is often the deciding factor for me in whether or not I go back to a clothing thrift store. I don’t like wasting a lot of time going through endless racks of mixed sizes.
The store was quite clean. It reminded me of some of the more unique boutique-​type Goodwill shops in Portland.
It’s nice that they have 4 dressing rooms (2 male & 2 female), but it would make much more sense to have them be unisex stalls instead of separating males and females. That way females don’t have to wait for a female dressing room when the male ones are going unused.
The only thing that felt a bit awkward is that there was a male employee «manning» the ladies dressing rooms, policing to make sure that women adhered to the 3-​garment limit. He was standing outside this area for quite some time arranging clothes on the go-​back rack while watching all the women go in and out of the dressing rooms. It felt very elementary and ultimately it slowed everyone down since the women had to get all dressed and get back in line again after trying on only 3 items. What if you have 4 pair of pants or 7 shirts?
If they want to have someone policing the dressing rooms, it would make more sense to offer #s to hang on the door like they do in some clothing stores. If you have 8 items, you get a #8 to hang on the door, for example.
The mirrors on the sides of the dressing rooms are not in ideal locations. Near closing time, people were trying to look at items on the shelves while others were trying to see themselves in the mirrors. It would be helpful to add a few more mirrors throughout the store so people could try on jackets and other larger items without going in the dressing room.
If they ever got the opportunity to relocate to a larger space, it would be nice if it were closer to the Mountain View train station or a VTA stop.

I dropped off some old clothes here, and the guy who received us was super mean and cranky. I figure you could be nice to the people who go out of their way to donate to the needy!
Sheesh, never gonna donate to this location ever again!
Pro-​Tip: Go to St. Vincent’s (Redwood City, right across from Target). Their donation hours are separate from the store hours, call ahead to find out.

It is Time For some of that Goodwill Love!
I headed out to the Palo Alto Goodwill right after Thanksgiving to see what neat things I could get to make the condo more festive.
my haul included:
40 feet of brand new led multi colored lights – $ 4.99
3 different ornaments – $ 1.99 each
Cat watering dish with flow motor – $ 4.99
Giant Nerf bazooka gun – $ 4.99
Resident evil apocalypse dvd – $ 2.99
various candles and plates –$.99 to 1.99 each
Great stuff at Awesome prices!!!
The parking was a bit hectic in their small lot.

This is probably the mother load of all thrift stores! I knew PA would have some good stuff at this location! They had SO many new, never worn clothing items for dirt cheap prices. There were so many name brand pieces that I felt like I was at Ross, but not really. The prices did seem «slightly» higher at this location, but still worth the drive for your thrift store shopping. You can then head over to Stanford mall after all the money you save:)