MERS Goodwill

When I was at the Salvation Army, I really had no intention of going to the Goodwill across the street. I’ve been to several Goodwill locations in the area, so why go to yet another one?
But there it was, and it had a parking lot right in front of the building. It didn’t look very busy. Then, my brain started talking me into it:
«Prices are so low at Goodwill. You never know what you’ll find there. Think of all the great deals you’ve found at thrift shops.»
So, I went. I’m very persuasive.
It was a typical Goodwill, and I didn’t find anything. However, if I hadn’t gone, my brain would have plagued me with this speech:
«I wonder what you missed out on at Goodwill. You’ll never know. Because you didn’t go.»
The store was very brightly lit, and when I first walked in, I was hit with the aroma of some kind of cleaning agent. The employees seemed to be in good spirits.
I looked at the clothes. I saw several items with their original tags. They were not necessarily cute items, but they were new.
TMI ALERT: By the time I had made it to Goodwill, my three Diet Cokes from lunch had caught up with me. I was in desperate need of a restroom, and much to my surprise, they had one here. And it was pretty clean! I just wish I had discovered it /​before/​I had looked at all of the clothing. I wouldn’t have rushed so much. :)
This store gets four stars for being bright and clean and smelling okay. And for having some NWT items, even if they weren’t things I wanted. :)

They’ve renovated this Goodwill and moved to the space next door to the old building. It’s a nice open space like most Goodwill locations. The donation drop-​off station is in the rear of the building for your convenience so there’s no need to go indie unless you plan on racking up.
I’ve noticed this location is a little pricier than locations I visited in both south and west counties. Maybe location matters on price point.

This is for the wonderful employee that took my donation a few minutes after 5pm today. He was so nice, really great customer service on his part.

This place has a lot of clothes and pretty cheap! I’d give it more stars if I didn’t go into the fitting rooms. Reminded me of being in a scary gas station bathroom. It wreaked of urine, not all of the doors lock, the lighting is dim.

I have been able to get some good deals on some good items. It’s a nice place to find all kinds of items.

Just went to this Goodwill the other day. Hadn’t been there in years. I think by what I heard around the store, it is going through some sort of «thrift store remodel» were they are moving merchandise around & trying to assemble some sort of classic retail store model. Which is cool & didn’t bother me but seemed that some of the regular shoppers were put off by it. I think the store was alittle lite in items due to this.
Thanks to Sharon H.‘s review that they get a shipment from Target — there were LOTS of mens clothes from Target that were still tagged! I bought about 5 pairs of men’s shorts that had the Merona tags on them for $ 2 a piece! AWESOME they were great & the same stuff they are selling in the stores right now for $ 20! They have swimsuits for men, etc., really timely seasonal stuff.
Staff was pleasant & seemed attentive. They were out of bags while I was there but who cares, i don’t need a another bag anyway!
Totally recommend this Goodwill & while you are there, walk across the street to the Salvation Army Thrift store for some more shopping!

Not as modern or clean as other Goodwill stores I’ve visited. I have shopped in this store twice. Last time (in 2010) I found several great items, but this time (Fall 2012) they seemed really cleaned out and my boyfriend and I couldn’t find anything we wanted or needed. That’s pretty rare for us. I would not rule this out as a thrift shopping destination but it’s very disappointing, especially because the exterior of the building looks so large and nice. There is ample free adjacent parking, so that’s a benefit.

While dropping off a small donation of hangers this afternoon, I had a chance to check out the store briefly and agree with most of what’s already been written.
A few notes, pro/​cons…
Pro:
1) The store staff are brightly uniformed in neon green t-​shirts, making it rather easy to track someone down if you need help finding something or getting an item from a cabinet.
2) There’s plenty of street parking along Forest Park or on the lot next to the store. I have a hard time imagining that you’d ever need to park too far away.
3) If you have the time to sort through a bunch of stuff, there’s plenty to look through here. Whether you find what you’re looking for or not’s another matter.
4) Most of the prices still start at only a couple of dollars for clothing. Most of the signs I noticed mentioned $ 4. There are also sales on select items.
5) Knowing what the business does for the community in the way of creating jobs, recycling/​reusing products, creating an affordable shopping place and offering positive alternatives to people makes it a little easier to accept any perceived deficiencies in the store itself. If you expect to be in a thrift store, this one will probably be fine with you.
Con:
1) It’s not the most modern shopping experience… at all. The building is older with the store located down a ramp a few feet below its street level entrance. Racks are basically organized, but don’t expect much in the way of display or retailing. Where some of the other area Goodwills (let alone Scholar Shops or the Clubhouse Shop up the street) go for «low-​frills», this location is very basic.
2) Other reviewers have mentioned the store’s «thrift store smell». Large amounts of clothing that’s come from basements/​closets/​storage will make any place (like your basement…) have a bit of an off-​putting aroma.
As a final note: this Goodwill will accept donations of hangers (along with the regularly donated items like clean clothes, household goods, etc). The official request is for clean, good quality plastic clothes hangers but not wire ones. When I showed up with a mixed bag, intending to sort them, all were accepted.

This Goodwill has been just okay for me. Redeeming factor: across the street from Salvation Army, which is a good place to go for men’s stuff.
–This one has a good selection for men’s blazers and such.
–Fairly picked-​over. It seems like the «main» Goodwill in town, the head honcho if you will. If you’re not just shopping for regular clothes, I suggest going elsewhere.

Goodwill has been my go-​to thrift store for years, beating out the neighboring Salvation Army and (now relocated) Vincent DePaul. Unlike SA, Goodwill keeps everything on one well-​lit, well-​planned floor. The staff is friendly and the selection is good. If you don’t want to pay Johnny Brock’s prices, try here first!

Being the most frugal person in the world, few things bring me more joy than thrifting. I haven’t had the chance to do much scavenging since I’ve moved to the Lou, so I figured this morning before work I’d head to the CWE and check out Goodwill and neighboring St. Vincent De Paul (since it’s moving next week.)
There are tons of clothes at this Goodwill, most of them pretty mediocre, pretty stained, or pretty huge I rifled through at least ten full racks only to find a few things that even caught my eye. There were a few decent brands but everything else was pretty ho-​hum. I would’ve given it a three, maybe even a four at this point, but then I decided to try an armload of things on.
The dressing rooms REAKED like weak-​old cat piss. It was almost unbearable, but there was one shirt I really wanted to try on so I held my breath and chose a stall. The lock didn’t work. I went in the stall next to it — that lock didn’t work. There were a few creepers roaming the store so I didn’t even bother, threw my clothes on the closest rack, and walked out.
Decent selection of clothes (and 80’s era electronics), but don’t bother going if you liked to try clothes on before you buy them.

This is a pretty big thrift store, located near two other thrift stores (St. Vincent De Paul and Salvation Army) on Forest Park, so it’s a good place to hit up when you’re making the rounds looking for whatever it is you’re looking for.
I usually don’t have the best luckfinding clothes here, but today I came across a pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans that don’t even look worn (they’re in my washer right now so I can wear them right away) for $ 4. I assume they probably were purchased for somewhere between $ 100 and $ 200. This is a place that I usually come away from with several records. My mint copy of Thriller came from here and although there was a pretty tiny selection of vinyl today, I still managed to find a couple of things, including Simon and Garfunkel and Tiffany (and subsequently had «I Think We’re Alone Now» stuck in my head for most of the afternoon). Oddly, I had to dig through a pile of Barbara Streisand to get to those other records.
There was also a large selection of obsolete or almost obsolete electronics, meaning, wall of VCRs and some boom boxes and stuff.