St Vincent De Paul Society

I have been shopping this Thrift Store for over 20 years. I shopped here with my mom in high school and have kept coming back over the years and am now shopping for a family of my own.
It has certainly improved in quality and organization over the years. You will find a wide variety of clothing and household items crammed wall to wall in this store. What they have always depends on what is donated. Quality varies so make sure you look over what you are buying because they are all pre-​owned items– even the ones with the tags still on them may have flaws!
I appreciate their electronics policy. You can bring the item home and if it doesn’t work you can return it to the store within 24 hours.
Now, why the 2 star rating? Like I said, I have been coming here for years and years. I’m even on friendly terms with the clerks at the store. However, lately, I have been being overcharged nearly every time I go there. They «forget» something is on sale… They charge you twice for an item… So watch your receipt because they are being sneaky and trying to rip you off. Also, the demographics of the store has changed significantly over the years. I feel discriminated against shopping the store because I am not of Hispanic heritage and have even had some ethnic slurs and obscenities thrown at me by other Hispanic mothers as I walk to my car when I visit on weekdays– not just once, but twice!
With so many thrift store in the area, if the clerks continue to try to swindle me or if I continue to feel unsafe at the store or the area surrounding it, this St. Vincent’s thrift store will lose my business. I wouldn’t recommend them to my friends…

My son brought me here as he was on the lookout for vinyl. Not me, I’m always looking for clothes. I found many brand names here, just not an abundance. I saw Ann Taylor, White House Black Market and Limited Express. The clothes here are sorted by S, M, L, XL. S could be size 0 or size 6, you have to look through everything and figure in shrinkage from previous washings/​dry cleanings. I didn’t see any place to try things on here. Maybe they had one, but I didn’t see it.
Other Unilocalers have remarked about the furniture. They have lots of it and some is nice and some is not so nice. It’s all kind of glommed together in a section of the store making it hard to look at and check out. The price tags were scarce. The lamps and light fixtures seem to be tossed in a corner without much thought. I couldn’t see any prices on those either.
Things were organized and well displayed, but I wouldn’t make this my first choice for any household items.

I called them often for furniture and used goods pick-​up. Be careful of your slightly used furniture as they are very particular about what they choose for resale items. The furniture mustn’t be torn, soiled and missing pieces or buttons.

You can’t beat St Vincent’s in downtown West Chicago. Dirt cheap prices. I was only there to hunt for furniture. Which I scored an amazing hutch for $ 30!!! Someone needs to really clean this place, but on the other hand that won’t stop me for popping in once in a while. I like finding hidden treasures.

At least on the day I went, this place was a boatload of fantastic finds and about 25% of it had the original tags. For the pre-​worn, much had dry cleaner tags attached. From a soft 100% cashmere scarf, to a Burberry 100% merino wool argyle sweater, a few Ann Taylor wool above knee skirts, cotton and linen lined short dresses for summer, Ann Taylor and Loft wool jackets, a Juicy Couture hoodie, silk or linen blouses galore, a black Michael Kors coat, lots of soft leather jackets… a Charles Gray cashmere and wool knee length coat. Most of what we found had been put out on the floor the day or two prior, which was nice to see, as they’re keeping up with the donations coming in. What’s most notable about this shop are the employees — some of the nicest ever, and as strange as it may seem, they rival Oak Brook Mall shops in kindness and customer service!
While this store definitely had slightly more expensive items than other thrift shops and St Vincent DePaul thrift stores, this store definitely had the best selection and the best brands.

This place sure was hopping for a mid-​week afternoon visit. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
The shop was packed. This is usually a good thing. Except when you’re looking at a lot of broken, very outdated (no, I don’t mean vintage) and generally ugly merchandise. I’m often focused on furniture and my visit here was no exception. Ready for the problem? Everything that may have interested me didn’t have a price on it! I really dislike this tactic. Basically, anything that is semi-​nice isn’t priced and then you have to get the manager to give you a price. This did not work in my favor. At all. For example, I saw a table that I liked. Got the manager and attempted to negotiate a deal. He gave me a song and dance about how the shop bought it on eBay for $ 125 but he would sell it to me for $ 100. Um, I call BS! No way did the shop spend money on this table and he would sell it for less than they had into it. Plus, there was no way anyone in their right mind paid $ 125 for this table with the intent of selling it and making a profit. And so I moved on. To a table with four mismatched chairs. No price. Found the manager. Yes, it’s $ 150 and no he won’t sell the mismatched chairs separately. Okay jerk-​o, I’m done playing this game. Next time, I’ll remember to leave my Coach bag at home and wear my sweatpants and a ponytail. I don’t like being played, so I can’t imagine there will be a next time anytime soon.

I love this thrift store. It’s old & a bit dusty, but they have some really unique finds & their prices are low! Nothing better than a good deal. I mostly love the furniture section (in the back). I can always find a good project here. The staff is extremely helpful & kind & they will help you load items into your car or truck – which many places won’t do. I’ll upload pics of some fun things I’ve found here (& have redone).

Wow. I am surprised that I am the first to review St. Vincent Depaul. I have been to many other resale/​thrift shops, and this is the shop with the lowest prices I have seen thus far. In saying that, it is also one of the oldest/​dirtiest shops I have been in thus far.
What I like about St. Vincent Depaul is that the staff are very friendly and know frequent customers by name. They give out donated bread every week for those who need it, and have extremely well priced merchandise. It may be a little shabby inside, but I can always go home and sanitize what I just purchased.
The store always accepts donations and it is really easy to donate, and they accept clothes, housewares, electronics, books, DVDs, furniture and more. A word of caution, be sure not buy back what you have previously donated as a member of my family (who shall remain nameless) has done before.