Sand Dollar Thrift Store

This location is much, much better than the location downtown. It is not junky or disorganized like its counterpart. They have a good variety of ladies clothing and shoes. Men’s clothing is a little more limited as is the selection of housewares. Service was quick and efficient. Prices were reasonable. I would shop here again if in the neighborhood.

The only thing about this place they are not organize they need to be more organized with every thing I didn’t want to spend all day finding my size in the clothes. The bedding is thrown togeather. They need a system or somthing.

Sand Dollar… never going back! Saturday mission was to find costumes for the high school musical. So I headed to Spencer to my favorite retail stores Salvation Army, Sand Dollar and Alamo Thrift. Stores I have frequented for over 12. Good sources for school uniforms and children’s clothing in general. I had visited Alamo Thrift Friday night and made purchases. Got approval for purchases on Saturday morning. I knew there were at least 4 more costumes at Sand Dollar. I had scouted them on Friday night but they were $ 5.00 and $ 7.00 and I was not sure about my budget. As I entered Sand Dollar, I noticed a very small 5×8 sign on the door that stated 50% off on first and third Saturday. I thought is this the third Saturday? As I walked past the cashier I asked if the clothing was 50% off. All she said was «yes». I had stopped buying on Friday night until I was sure my selections were in line for both style and cost. I didn’t want to lose those 4 costumes at Sand Dollar, so I came up with an idea. If I take pictures on my phone and send them to the school for approval they could say yes or no. I started looking at other pieces and taking pictures because the 50% made a huge difference. These costumes at Sand Dollar were $ 3.00 to $ 4.00 more than Alamo Thrift. 50% off was going to make a big difference on a purchase of 20 to 40 items. You know that Salvation Army is 50% off all day on Saturday? So at 12:10 I went to the counter with 22 items. I was told I couldn’t get the 50% off because purchases must be made between 9 and noon. That was the very small print on the sign. Almost as if they don’t want to sell at 50% off. Maybe the manager could help me? HA! I know I have gotten discounts here before don’t remember how long ago? The manager didn’t even look at the stack of clothes. Well, I have shopped at this store many times and I didn’t recognize this woman who claims to have worked there for 7 years. She, Julie Ramirez, hides in the back of the store. She said «no» she wouldn’t make an exception and extend the 50% off to a school. I said maybe you don’t believe I am buying this for a school I can prove it with a tax exempt certificate. She said she doesn’t accept tax exempt certificates and that she didn’t recognize me as a regular customer. How could she, she stays behind doors in the back of the shop? What I didn’t understand was why she wouldn’t consider this purchase as a community service gesture. «You can come back on Monday and they will be 50% off», she said. I asked, «will you hold them for me?» She said, «NO». Just to make sure I called my school contact who said just walk out… it is too much money to spend. So I headed back to Alamo Thrift and for $ 60.00 I bought 27 items of clothing. They let the school email the tax exempt certificate and THEY printed it for my receipt. They offered to hold any items that would be cheaper for a next day purchase and told me what color tags would be effective on Sunday. WOW! What a difference in customer service. Not to mention by comparison of type/​label clothing between the two locations I was able to determine that Alamo Thrift is cheaper without the color tag discount than Sand Dollar for the same clothing.
So in solidarity I ask, as a mother trying to volunteer time to support a school district, that you boycott buying at Sand Dollar. As best I can tell Sand Dollar is a store for profit. At least Alamo Thrift supports American Veterans. Alamo Thrift has these deals: 25% EARLY BIRD Special every SATURDAY, 25% MILITARY Discount every day, 25% SENIOR Citizen Discount every Monday and
50% Manager’s Discount on certain items. Shop Alamo Thrift!