Salvation Army

When I moved to San Antonio this store furnished most of my apartment. Somehow it had more of everything I needed, outdoing even larger thrift stores with more inventory. Nearly 4 years later I still enjoy stopping by to shop and say hi to the the friendly, helpful staff at this location. They’ve always made me feel welcome.

I have found myself hunting around flea markets and thrift stores as of late trying to locate that perfect brew glass, book, cool art or that fine piece of vinyl. Along the way I have observed as more people are pressed for cash, thrift stores have become malls by default. The Salvation Army, a store with a good mission and prices to match is also a good place to find items off the beaten path.

This place is smaller than most of their other locations. There are tables at good prices. Shelves. Sofas. Televisions. Some of it is fairly weathered. A few of the items seem like from some episode of Threes Company. On the walls they have books and VHS cassettes. If you care for vinyl by Johnny Mathis, Hawaiian Christmas Songs, The Soundtrack of Doctor Zhivago, Helen Reddy’s Greatest Hits, an Accordion Overture by a group of Norwegian Brothers etc. this is your spot.
They have clothes here. Beyond gently used shoes. Coats. Paintings. Stuff is pretty organized and stocked well here. I have been to other thrift stores that are junky with clothes all over the floor. But not here. Employees survey and place displaced items constantly throughout the day at this store. In addition they are extremely helpful and polite. And yet something seems missing.
I think what’s missing is some of the inventory from their bigger locations, for example the one on South Flores. They have a better selection of electronic devices, DVDs and books. But I can’t fault it for being so small. I think rather it should specialize in other facet’s that maybe its other locations don’t. Maybe more tools. Winter coats for when it gets cold. Seasonal items. Or just focus on furniture and house decorations. Something that best represents the demographic that lives in that area.
While I do like this Salvation Army location and I totally admire what it stands for, it needs a little more, in terms of inventory. It almost feels like you would be here for five minutes then move on to a bigger thrift store, like the one on Fredricksburg Road. The experience is very in and out. You want patrons to dawdle through aisles all day. The more we loll the more items we will buy.
IKEA, this place is not. Nordstroms this place will never be. But if you are interested in used cups form Sea world, t-​shirts from an office baseball team or Tag-Team’s Greatest Hits at fair prices this is your store!
(I actually give this particular location 3 and a half stars.)