Salvation Army Thrift Store

I really like this store. I always find something to buy. It’s fun to see items that are a blast from my past. I’m on the lookout for household items and furniture rather than clothes. The store is usually clean and the staff are friendly. And donating and buying are for a very worthy cause.

Can find some great stuff, especially on Fridays when everything is 50% off. I just wish there employees would be trained on there customer service and human kidneys skills, don’t get me wrong a few of them of very nice. But the majority of them including there female manager can care less who shops there !

I go here for the furniture, dishware, and general housewares. I tend to stay away from the clothing as much of it has had some hard use. The dressing rooms smell and there are the usual personalities roaming in and out.
I like browsing the sales they have on Saturdays. It tends to be hit or miss for me. Sometimes I score, but a lot more times I leave just wanting to clear the smell out of my nose. I know, I know, it’s thrift, but at times it can smell, well, like a urinal…

I visit this location once a week. Always a great deal to be found. Better prices on clothing than the Goodwill. Always a crazy person or two in there to keep things entertaining. Make sure to give them their space.

My mom and I use to go to this Salvation Army all of the time in the 1990s. Back then, this store had a boutique section that had fine jewelry, collectibles and clothing. We loved it back then. I often found something to buy that I loved. If I wrote this review in the 1990s, I would have given this thrift shop a perfect score of five!
But they eventually got rid of the boutique and when they did, they got rid of the nice stuff as well. Probably since the Salvation Army Stores in Oakland and Santa Cruz still have boutiques, they get all the nice things that this store use to get. You can still find the occasional great item here, true. And, they do have great sales. Still, this Salvation Army is not at all like it was about 15 years ago.
Pros:
–huge thrift store
–constantly has sales
Cons:
–no longer has a boutique
–most clothing is of retro styles from the 1980s-​1990s
–all clothing is mixed in sizes
–lack of plus size clothing
–often the store is messy and disorganized
–difficult u-​turn to get over to the store
–limited parking in its private lot

I have only been in this Salvation Army location a few times that I can recall, including one recent trip, on the day after Memorial Day. It was just like most of the small Salvation Army stores, a few small appliances, a medium size shelf of books, and several racks of clothing. Didn’t have much time to look thru the clothing and didn’t see very many interesting books, but it was nice to stop here, since i rarely get to this location. I find this one hard to park at since the parking lot is quite small and a little crowded. But I still enjoyed stopping here, and won’t rule out the possibility of doing so again, whenever I happen to get to Salinas next.

Actually I am speechless. Waited the whole morning for the truck, set up the items, which are heavy, by the door nicely so they wouldn’t have any problems picking them up. Took a minute and went to the bathroom, in that minute they showed up and left a note to re-​schedule.
Did they wait more than a minute? No. Did they use the doorbell? No.
The only option the costumer service rep offered was to set up another appointment. Nice, ain’t it? So I have to waste another morning and really hold it in until they show up since they won’t wait more than a minute or just seconds.
It is extremely shameful that one has to beg to donate, there are literally hundreds of dollars in items and no, I am not setting up another appointment, if I call a thrift store or put my items for free on craigslist people would be more eager to show up and pick them up.

Like any thrift store, it’s a mixed bag. Some days it’s hot, other days it’s not. It’s not as though the store is in control of what gets donated. Being in Salinas, it’s not going to be a «designer» thrift store, but you can find the occasional diamond in the rough. You just need to know quality when you see it and what it’s actually worth, even with a bit of extra love on it.
The furniture here seems to be in better shape than at other thrift stores that I see.

This is a gem in my hometown. I always find something in the housewares section to bring home. The last time I was there, I found two cushioned benches that had good lines (just need new fabric) and a great little robin’s nest blue vase.
Don’t sleep on this place!