This Goodwill location used to be my go to for scoring a good deal. Until Community Aid (CA) came to Lancaster and changed the thrift store game. While I still go to this location as part of my thrift store rotation, it's not often, and many times I leave empty handed.
First the things I do like:
- Location - it's convenient and parking is easy. If I don't find what I'm looking for Community Aid is right behind it. Having two thrift stores in that close of a proximity is definitely a bonus.
-New inventory: often Target donates their unsold clearance here. Goodwill blacks out the logo/tag but it's easy to see from style and branding that's where it comes from. Cheaper than buying in the store but still more expensive than thrift.
-Clothes are color coded. Nice if you're looking for a blouse in a certain color and they just recently started sorting by S, M, L, XL.
-Several dressing rooms and although there is a limit on how much you can take in it's never enforced.
-Loyalty card: free for the asking, offers different discounts daily to cardholders.
-Good deals on brand new seasonal items. Especially at Halloween. I believe stores donate their leftovers from the years before and they save them till the actual holiday. Score!
Now for the negatives:
-Organization: Now that CA has come to town the other thrift stores need to up their game. While they did recently start sorting by sizes to some degree (S/M/L/XL) CA actually sorts by size(number) and by size (letter). Also the rows are overcrowded with inventory and while the majority of quality is good, often you will find pieces not up to par, especially in the kids/and shoe selection.
- Dirty floors, dressing rooms, and cramped isles, especially in the back of the store. Often there's carts of recently sorted clothing waiting to be put on the sales rack which blocks the isles even more.
-Pricing is all over the place. This has been more of a problem in recent years as their prices increased and there isn't any pattern to their pricing. I saw a pair of lamps today - identical and obviously part of a set. One was $9.95 and the other was $4.95 for the exact same thing, condition identical, everything! Worst part is if you bring it to an employee's attention they'll pull them both for repricing and not allow you to buy either. I think most of their housewares are high, as well as some clothing items, although some clothing is really reasonable.
-Quality: also decreased in recent years as I think the better donations are making their way to CA because it's an easier donation process.
-No designated shoe department - they're here there and everywhere! Which makes no sense because they used to have a isle devoted to just shoes and it used to be their strength.
So while I don't love them the way I have in the past, they're still worth a visit. read more