The Salvation Army Store

Perfectly fine medium-​sized thrift store. Wares run gamut from designer label to Wal-​Mart brands.
A few small tips:
1) Wednesday is always 50% clothing. Do your clothes shopping then.
2) Every other Friday is 50% entire store. Then do the rest of your shopping.
3) They have a small staff and you may need to call out or look expectant while at the cashier stand. The staff is nice, but please be patient.
4) Don’t bother looking at the vinyl: anything good is snatched up quicker than crumbs in a hipster’s beard.

I rarely go here. But today I has a nice visit. The man behind register was so kind to me. His kindness is why I’m writing a review. Thank you.
There’s a good selection of furniture. Many new.

I purchased a cabinet here. After taking it home, I discovered that the underside of the droor and behind the wall paper on the inside of the cabinet was infested with mold. They would not offer me a refund or exchange for the mold infested furniture.

Terrible costumer service, waited for 10 minutes for a dressing room and waited so long at the cashier that I had to get out of line because I was going to be late for work. There was not a cashier at the front even though there was a line of 5 people, and one did not come in the 10 minutes I stood there. Also be careful with the other shoppers there, I set my shoes down outside the dressing room and a woman took them and would not give them back, she tried to fight about it. This may have been the worst experience I’ve ever had at any type of store 0.0

Most of the clothing here seems rather dated. I thought Santa Cruz might have some ritzy people but I guess they don’t donate to this one. At least this store has high ceilings.
Prices aren’t super super cheap either. I got a forever 21 dress in good condition but I still paid $ 10 for it. I did pick up a hot pink BCBG maxazria dress for $ 10 but it was a standout among a sea of mediocrity.

This Salvation Army is kind of janky. Not a lot of designer brands here (despite the «Designer» neon sign on the wall. It’s kind of cool that they have LCD and DLP TVs, but most of the inventory here are company T-​shirts and VHS tapes.

While at times their stock is heavily outdated and looks like the closet of an early 2000’s high school girl… this Salvation Army is still a favorite of mine.
You know what makes it so amazing? The employees. I cannot tell you how sincerely wonderful, unpretentious and nice they are. Some even know me by name and have gone out of their way to help me on more than one occasion.
I’ve had to really dig here, but I have found some great stuff in the past. Vintage 50s dresses, fox fur stoles, designer shoes… you name it.
Their boutique items are straight out of Ross and Marshalls and are overpriced so I rarely ever look through them.
Unfortunately due to its location, you will run into some unsavory characters. I once had a crazy lady rip a coat out of my arms and scream at me in front of everyone before running away. But, that’s Santa Cruz, I guess.
Worth the time to stop in here. Some days they have 50% off sales which is always a good time!

I came here looking for a nice dress to wear. I went upstairs to their boutique section and their prices were outrageous. They were asking 12.50 for a very used forever 21 dress. I’m not a fan.

Scheduled a delivery pick up a couple of weeks ago for nice living room furniture and flat screen TV since I bought upgrades on everything. Took the day off of work which was extremely difficult in and of itself. They did not arrive during the window they gave me. No one called. I checked the web and then called the dispatch. I was told they won’t go down our HUGE private road (Fed Ex, GreenWaste, Moving Trucks have NO problem with the road.) Never, never, never again.

Large footprint means lot’s to experience. It’s devoid of real finds. Basics like beat up furniture and kitchen gear in abundance. The area around the store hosts a variety of characters that might be the featured poster children of street urchin.

Salvation Army has been at this location, since I’ve been a little kid. There’s a time where I don’t remember anything else being there, but Salvation Army. It is filled with your usual interesting characters. My guess is because it’s on the same side as the bus depot and Taco Bell? *smeeeee*
If you have the patience and time, it is worth flipping through the racks. I found a nice Eddie Bower sweater for under $ 5. Woot woot! What can you say? It’s a Thrift store.
Uh uh…, I’m gonna rock some tags, got $ 20 in my pocket…

Went in here expecting great things, but was so disappointed! Staff was not agreeable and the merchandise did not have have the variety, authenticity, or quality I had expected. Crossroads across the street is way trendier and has friendly employees so if you like used chic clothes go there!

The store is big, but is different from other Salvation Army Stores. I wanted more things. There was little selection with regards to kitchen supplies.

I always enjoy shopping at this Salvation Army. My family often finds great bargains there. This Salvation Army is huge with the first floor having the cheapest priced items and the second floor being the boutique, has the higher priced items. The first floor generally has the items of cheaper brands and in «used» shape. What I mean about «used» shape is, for example, the clothing here can be faded, have tears, shrunk among other things. However, that does not mean that you cannot find a very nice piece of clothing here. With a little searching, you can find a shirt from a very good brand and is in excellent shape for less then $ 4 here.
The second floor is the boutique. I find the prices here are often pretty high for a thrift shop. But then, the jewelry, collectibles and clothing here are also of better brands and in excellent shape. Most of the jewelry that they sell here seem to be old costume jewelry. I hardly ever see sterling silver or gold.
The clothing is mostly of name brands although with the occasional Kmart and Walmart brand. Not that I would bash cheaper brands. Some of the clothing items that Kmart and Walmart sell are actually made by popular high end clothing companies who sell their items in a different name. Still, for me, I like to shop in the boutique area mainly for the higher end items. But wow!, the prices can be shocking still! I found a shirt that I loved and although it was in brand new shape, Salvation Army was selling it for $ 12! I gave in and bought it. This is something I would not normally do as I thought that was still a lot to pay for a shirt at a thrift shop regardless how great a shape it was.
Also, getting help in the boutique area of this Salvation Army is a major challenge. The clerks often disappear. It takes forever to get help from a clerk to see something for sale in a cabinet or to unlock the dressing room so that you can try something on. It can be frustrating, to say the least! Where are they when you need them?!?
If no clerk is in the boutique area to help you, you have to walk down the stairs and clear across toward to the store’s entrance where there is the main counter and get a clerk there to assist you. A long walk and very tedious as well as stressful! Regarding this issue of lack of customer service available in the boutique, if it was not for the other positive aspects regarding this store that make it a pleasure to shop at, I would be giving this store just two stars!
Pros:
–this is a huge two story thrift store that gets lots of merchandise– I always find some bargains here
–generally most items are reasonably priced for being used
–nice selection of merchandise — mainly clothing, but also jewelry, electronics, furniture and more
–has a boutique section on 2^nd floor that has higher end merchandise (sometimes pricey)
–helpful staff
–great sales often
–conveniently located in the downtown area
Cons:
–some items can be over priced esp. in the boutique section
–many of the clothing is of retro 1980s-​1990s styles but you can still find a few modern styles
–it is difficult to get help in the boutique section
–only wheel chair accessible on the ground floor

It’s been a long time since I’ve bought anything from a Salvation Army. I’m talking half a decade. The ones back home are usually disorganized, clothes are threadbare or super faded, and there’s an endless supply of crying kids that somehow decide it’s time for a tantrum because they’re in a store that smells like grandmas.
Hey kids, you think I like the smell of old furniture and toothpaste? Do you? Anyways, this thrift store was fairly well maintained and the cashier was helpful. I found a few tops for $ 2-​$ 3.90 that were in great shape and my size. I scored a pair of Bongo shorts for $ 4! Bongo’s good for shorts right? Haha, just kidding, they’re lame I know. But they look like they’ve hardly been worn.
The dressing room has a 3 garment limit and this is where we run into trouble. There’s only 2 dressing rooms, neither of them is under surveillance, and while pretty clean (when I went) the customers were leaving piles of clothes in the dressing rooms. Well, guess who is going to sit in this makeshift pile of padded shoulder dresses while they try on their shorts? Hmmmm?
Yep, me.
Aisles were clean, clothes were decently priced, and no kids were running around screaming. But the dressing room was in bad shape and the 3 items limit was an annoyance, since it wasn’t really enforced too well. Clothes here are pretty basic, or downright unsalvalgeable. You’re not going to find a cute top for your Forever 21 skirt here. More like, layering shirts or oversized sweaters for those leggings.

This place is clean enough, as sterile as a thrift store can be and very well lit. Sometimes it feels a bit too much like a department store, lacking that charming, colorful Santa Cruz feel that compels me to linger about.
Being downtown in the middle of the action is both a blessing and a curse. Being thoroughly picked over and on the high end of cheap is only one problem. On one hand, you’ll either need to spend copious amounts of time on public transportation or fight to the death for a pricey parking space just to get there. On the other hand, once you do manage to get there you’re only yards away from things that are a heck of a lot more interesting.
I never go there intentionally, but if I’m spending a day downtown anyway you might find me passing through if I’ve got time to kill.

great, friendly people here.
We donate here often, and will continue donating to the salvation army. We used to donate to the Good Will since they were closer, but they have a limit on how much you can donate (2 bags a person, which I’m guessing to mean they have too many people donating).
When we do our spring or fall cleaning, we have plenty of items of clothing and toys and books we know someone is bound to treasure, so we want the opportunity to donate as much as we have, not have to come in on separate days because of a donation limit.
Every time we donate to the salvation army, there is always someone there to help you unload, they are always thankful for your donation, and you always see a smiling and friendly face.

Pretty decent thrift store.
Love the location more than anything. Other than that… it’s a thrift store. Always hit or miss.

I love thrift stores but I was very unimpressed with this one. Crossroads is right across the street and it’s great!
In this store, the clothes mostly seemed not-​so-​cute and the store felt a bit abandoned with very few shoppers. In the entire, huge store, there was also not a single ugly Christmas sweater to be found for an upcoming party I’m attending… I think one of the other thrift stores across the street (forgot the name) was brilliant enough to come here, buy all the ugly X-​mas sweaters, and sell them across the street for more. I almost settled for a lame Christmas tie but it was $ 2.50 which, while very cheap, seemed quite pricey for this not-​so-​great tie… Oh well!

vc Don’t go in there expecting to find exactly what you want… it’s not that kind of store. This is the browsing, spending hours in there looking through lots of racks, loving every minute of it store. Yes, sometimes you’ll come away with nothing but other times you’ll find exactly what you’ve been looking for. Don’t expect the latest trends here (unless, of course, you luck out!), but if you’re looking for a classic piece like a warm sweater or slacks for work, they’ll probably have it.
They also have a pretty great selection of used furniture. I’ve seen some awesome retro pieces I wish I had the money for at the time. If you’ve just moved in or the beat up couch needs to be replaced this is a great store to find used but clean furniture that’s better than the particle board stuff you get at ikea.