Goodwill Columbus

We were excited to see this big new building was going to be Goodwill. Finally we had some time off & went to check it out. Wow… very big disappointment! Not a lot of aisles to get lost in & find treasures. Just a few rows of very organized overpriced knick-​knacks. Seems to be good for clothes though, but that’s not what we were looking for. Might check it out again in a couple months, but for now we will stick with our old thrift stores that are unorganized & have hidden treasures.

The people that help you check out are usually very friendly and professional. I especially love the book section here! Great selection and quality. Reduce, recycle, reuse!

Poor service and two of the items I bought were missing discs. Good thing I never intended to play Red Dead Revolver

As you all noticed I started a talk thread about, «where would you donate gently used items from your household?’ I gave up and came here and I sort of regret this decision.
When I came in the employees were not helpful and instead made me lug all my bags around the store to where they need it to go. Isn’t this their job, by the way? Also the girl did not want to deal with my donation and said, «if it isn’t much of a hassle can you please carry all your items to the back of the building?»
I don’t like donating here anymore after finding out about the whole thing with the CEO profiting out of everything that comes into the stores. It doesn’t feel like it’s going to a good cause like I used to donate to in the past with the kidney foundation or cancer society. So I will continue to give my gently used household items to a place I actually care about because I don’t feel they should profit out of my stuff.
I will only come to the Goodwill stores when I desperately need something I can’t come up with for like Halloween or an event.

I’ve been going to Gahanna’s Goodwill for several years now, so I figured it was a good candidate for my first Unilocal review. And, since it’s become quite the hot spot these days (I’ll get to that) I wanted to put my two cents in.
First thing, it’s a fairly good-​sized store with maybe 5 or 6 dressing rooms with benches inside to place your things. There’s currently a section in the front where they keep the auction items in glass cases. They have single room bathrooms in the back near the home goods section. Also, in the back area is where they currently have the books, cd’s, records, computer games, and movies. I’ve even seen laser discs mixed in with the records!
The employees are friendly (especially Martha who I haven’t seen in awhile) although Goodwill has joined other businesses who make their associates take calls even when they’re working the register. I think this is a bad policy (and also rude) in terms of customer service. How can they properly serve the person at the register if they’re answering questions on the phone?
The layout is your typical rows of metal racks on the main floor with more racks along the walls. Like a lot of thrift stores, the racks get overcrowded at times, making it hard to search through the selections. They put the shoes and boots on top of the racks of clothes. I’ve seen vintage Salvatore Ferragamo shoes a couple of times (heads up etsy/​ebay/​vintage loving groupies!) as well as Steve Madden, Carlos Santana, and Nine West.
The clothing selections are usually fairly good (I think Goodwill moves clothes around from store to store to update the selections) and I’ve found some of the following brands on various visits: Seven for all Mankind, Citizens for Humanity, Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy to name a few. They did away with the daily tag color discounts; now they have discounts (50% off, I think) on Sundays and Mondays only for only one tag color. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed the discounts again since I’ve heard fellow shoppers complain.
Now, about the popularity uptick (and I don’t believe it’s related to the Thrift Shop song, by the way.) What’s happened is that the secret (Target discounted goods) got out to a lot more people, some of whom are very aggressive. But lately, around the beginning of October, things have gotten out of hand. A group of shoppers have been parking their carts near where the new merchandise is brought in so they can get first dibs without allowing anyone else to even get close. It’s quite a sight to see: as soon as the cart is brought out, the group rushes in and people start grabbing. The employees have to move quickly out of the way and are often blocked from bringing out non-​Target items by the swarm in front of the door.
One Friday in early October, I witnessed one lady announce she was buying the entire cart of Target shoes that had just been brought out! This angered some of the «swarm» but I guess there’s always a bigger fish, right? Lately, there seems to be even more people added to the «swarm» and I worry that one day a fight over items may occur, as some people are very pushy. It’s amazing to see the same small group of people have carts literally full of Target items every time I’ve visited on one of the known «Target days.» I’ve talked to other customers who are displeased with what’s happening, and several (including myself) believe that the management should vary the days they bring out the wanted merchandise in order to level the playing field.
This is long, I know, but I wanted to present a fair and accurate portrait of a place that I’ve long visited and will continue to visit, although I think it could be better.

I stayed at a hotel up the street while in town visiting family. So of course, I shopped here numerous times. I found so much cute, brand name stuff, including a Banana Republic dress with tags still on. There were also a bunch of iPhone cases still packaged.

my favorite goodwill to go to! Lots of name brand clothes

I used to love this one but they barely have specials anymore and they raised their jeans prices to a ridiculous amount just like morse rd one almost $ 10 a piece!!! You can find them on clearance half the time brand new for that price. Stuff is so scattered and on specialty prices stuff us almost retail. You can find done good stuff though but they pack racks so tight it nearly impossible to look. And their target section of goods you get cheaper on clearance at target!!!

This is probably one of the better Goodwill stores I’ve visited. It’s incredibly clean and organized for a thrift store. There was even air fresheners dispensing spray to downplay the cliched musty old smell that many thrift stores have.
I spent $ 28, and got 4 amazingly funky vintage dresses, and a 80stastic two piece suit! It needs work and a good dry cleaning, but hey! You can’t go wrong with that. It’s not really out of the way-​its about 5 – 10 minutes past Easton.

This is one of the neater, organized of the Goodwills that I’ve visited (up there with the Hilliard location). It’s a medium sized store with very narrow aisles — two carts cannot pass one another, and getting past another shopper can be tricky. They had crammed a good bit of small furniture — little shelves, tables, desks, a couple of chairs, some salvage boxes — into a small space. Their book selection was outstanding — the entire back wall is books, videos, & DVDs. Most of the books seem to be salvage as well, with a good number of popular and recent titles in new or next to new condition. I ended up with five books and a 4 ft. curtain rod for $ 13 total. I will probably come here again even though it is outside of my normal shopping area.
Update: This Goodwill does have one of the better selections of women’s shoes that I’ve seen in Columbus stores. Sorted by colors and ranging across most of the women’s clothing racks, I saw quite a few pairs that were new or nearly new. I got a cute pair of Rampage flats for $ 4.26!

Average. Nothing crazy.