Today my BF and I went to the Goodwill on Fairview Ave. in St. Paul.  Generally I am reluctant to go to this thrift store because it is stressful.  In the past I have seen lots of broken goods, for example, and stuff is thrown all over the place.  Today, things were looking a little more organized.  One thing that is odd to me is that their clothes are organized by color rather than size.  Now today I happened to want to look for a white sweater, so that was ok.  But if I’d wanted khaki pants for work, I would have had to comb through all of them for my size.  My BF found women’s clothing in the men’s section.  Also, you have to check the clothing very, very carefully.  Many items are soiled or torn.  The prices are kind of high for what you’re getting.

Now the bright side.  I have scored some deals here, mainly on stuff from Target.  Seems they must give all their we-couldn’t-sell-it-on-clearance stuff to Goodwill.  And it’s ok to pay a little more, I guess, because they do good work.  They have a lot of dressing rooms, which is awesome and a positive thrift store anomaly.  And they do have a large selection of merchandise, especially compared to other Goodwill stores we’ve been to.

I do, however, like donating to Goodwill, because they have a really easy system.  You just pull up
in the back, they help you unload, give you your receipt, and you’re on your way.

All in all, I would go back, but Goodwill on Fairview Ave. would not be my first choice for regular thrifting.

St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, 461 W 7th St, Saint Paul, MN 55102, phone 651-227-1332

Today we went to the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on West Seventh in St. Paul.  I like this store.  I have not really checked out their clothing, though today they had 50% off on certain colored tags.  What’s really nice about this place is that it is extremely organized.  For the crafty side of me, I enjoyed searching for my sewing notions in well-labeled drawers that actually contained what the label said they would.  The greeting cards were organized just like if you were buying them new.  Also, they have everything.  We found two boxes of vacuum bags.  Those are expensive!  If you had the time and knew your vacuum number, you could find a bargain.  In this store, be sure to search in every nook and cranny.  For example, tucked in one corner there were several ironing boards in excellent condition.  It’s not so obvious, but they do have a back room.  The only two drawbacks to this store is that it is kind of musty-smelling in the back room, and parking can be a little hard.  I didn’t ask or scope out the situation on dressing rooms.  However, if you want to support charitable work directly and would like to experience an extremely well-organized and well-stocked store, it’s worth a visit.  According to their website, there are also stores in Minneapolis and Duluth.

My favorite, favorite, favorite thrift store Valu Thrift in Sun Ray Mall (off of McKnight road and 94 in St. Paul, on the edge of Maplewood).

Occupying the former Penney’s store there, Valu Thrift is always extremely neat and the merchandise, especially clothes, is in really good shape. Very rarely will you find something with a stain or something that’s very worn. The prices are reasonable and on Mondays they have 25% off of everything. There is a huge selection. Unlike some other thrift stores, there are fitting rooms, but beware if you pull a bunch of stuff: you can only take in three items at a time. They mostly know when their goods are worth money, but we’ve found a gem or two to resell online.