American Council of the Blind Thrift Store

The ACB is my favorite thrift store in Milwaukee county. The prices are totally reasonable with great specials every day. Clothes are all 3.49 unless otherwise marked, and if you are a student or a senior, you show an ID to prove it and you get 25% off your purchase. I have had incredible luck in there on a regular basis, going in for a blender and leaving with a blender, going in for a silver shirt, and leaving with a super shiny silver shirt. The women’s clothes are well sorted, there is always a decent amount of children’s clothes, although the men’s section is on the small side. Their boutique clothes section is very reasonably priced, and the clothes in it often still have original tags. The furniture section is hit or miss, but there are often good things in there. I got an awesome tile mosaic-​ed end table there once, and it’s still one of my favorite pieces of furniture.
The staff have always been very friendly in my experience, and they have been quite helpful both when shopping there and donating. This is my go-​to thrift shop.

Disappointed with this store in the last year. Prices have gone up significantly. I would imagine the items take much longer to sell that way. Worth the long wait? I always thought they want to hurry up and make the money to keep merchandise moving through. I would buy a lot more if I weren’t wishing it were half the price most of the time.
I used the bathroom a long time ago there and will never again. Not sure if it’s changed in the last couple years.
While they have a bell to ring when you have donations if you need help I’d rather donate to goodwill where someone comes out to your car right away and once they come out they are happy to grab everything out of the trunk for you. The one time I rang the bell I was helping him more than he was helping me. I guess I’m just spoiled by GW.
The lack of customer service at the donation door combined with the customer service at the front of the store maybe contributing to the decline in donations they are experiencing. Many of their employees need to work on their customer service skills. Smile! Don’t act annoyed if a customer interrupts you so they can see something under the counter. Be KIND when you tell them «I’ll be with you in a moment.» Don’t throw it in their face and say «I’m helping this customer right now I’ll be with you in a minute.» SO rude!
On a positive note, they do run sales everyday often buy 1 get 2 free I something like glassware or books and other things. Also a punch card as well as senior, student, and veteran discounts. I just wish there were more to shop through.

Pretty good second hand store… They do not have a lot in the way of household/​decorative type items but they do have a nice clothes selection as well as nicer new items. Found some cool Halloween stuff here!

Some of their furniture pricing is absolutely ridiculous. I mean offensively high. They slap $ 200 on a dresser that would be better suited for the curb, and when you ask why it’s so much they tell you to wait for one of their half price days. Which means they still expect you to pay $ 100 for a piece of crap. I’ve found a few cool pieces here, mostly little knickknacks and stuff, and if you’re trying to outfit children, you really can’t beat their clothing deals. But I don’t have kids (yet), so that’s of no appeal to me. Once in a while I bring home something really cool, but overall some of their pricing is just a turnoff to me.

While their selection isn’t the best in the area, their donation staff is always friendly and happy to accept donations.
I dropped off a 14 foot U-​Haul full of donations during a recent move and the staff was overjoyed and helped unload.
Kudos to them for their positive attitude.

GRODY FACTOR: ²⁄₅
COMPARED TO OTHER THRIFT STORES: It’s very clean and bright with signs to help navigate the store. Furniture selection is better than most. Friendly staff who directed me to other thrift stores in the area.
KITSCH CHANCES: Not very likely. The knick-​knack section is picked over. The Ebay saying is «Clear glass, lose your ass.»
MENS’ CLOTHING: Not much to choose from but there was a lot of cheesy winter sweaters. I’m always on the lookout for vintage ties with cool color combinations. None found here.

Some cheap stuff, but a lot of stuff unreasonably priced. Worth watching the sale board at the front of the store, as they run good sales on certain departments on a given week. A bit greedy in CD, DVD, VHS, men’s clothing, book prices. Prices only even out if there’s a 3-​for-​1, etc., special in that department. Not as neat and clean as I expected it to be given an earlier review I saw.

Medium-​size furniture selection (though a lot of it is pretty faux-​Colonial 1970s smelly style), decent book selection, alright housewares, lots of clothes. Section of vintage greeting cards — can’t beat that.
Lowdown: cheap prices, pretty decent selection, but you don’t find the totes most quality stuff here… most of the time. Always a chance for a diamond in the rough.

We stopped in this store recently while on vacation. It was a clean store and well layed out. The furniture is on one side and the clothes on the other. Lots of smalls and glassware and some collectibles. We saw some interesting vintage furniture items in this shop.
We bought a cool vintage Gordon Martz carved lamp with original wood finial for under $ 3 while there shopping one night. We later sold it on Ebay for $ 125. It was a nice find. The local mid century dealers must be asleep at the wheel.
The back room was mounded with bags of merchandise waiting to be sorted and put out.