Salvation Army

I used to be a loyal fan frequenting the place quite often but whoever prices their merchandise must be sniffing glue or something because a lot of the stuff is almost full retail or not fairly priced.

New female Manager in this store last January
I waited 40 mnts for her to price a piece of furniture, she kept telling me to wait since she had to jump onto a cash register, so i waited 40 mnts… She knew I was waiting and standing there on the side waiting and waiting for her.
Then as she approached me she told me sorry but I just SOLD the piece to a woman in line at my register.
REALLY !??
WHAT A ROTTEN MANAGER SHE IS, and I told her she was rotten
Besides the prices are ridiculous here, I will never be back even after there new re opening launch.

March 1^st. Just received the Salvation Army’s monthly newsletter. The Skokie store is closed for repairs and tentatively scheduled to be re-​opened in mid-​March.

The Salvation Army Main Page says it’s Temporarily Closed.

To be fair, they have some nice stuff. Also, the staff is very nice. But there is more or less no organization. Goodwill, Savers, Unique, etc will organize clothes first by size and (in a large section) then by color. Salvation Army gives you a giant rack of mixed clothes and then wishes you luck. It still might have been worth finding a thing or two, but there isn’t any changing area. If you want to buy anything here, come in a swimsuit so you can try it on in the aisles and expect to spend a long time for little gain.

This Salvation Army is way more inferior than the one on Dempster in Morton Grove. What made this place worth visiting was their 69-​cent sale on all day Saturday. Surprisingly, there were a few quality shirts and dress pants left at 1500 hour.
Without the incentive of the sale, you can literally skip this store for your thrifting adventure if you want to. The one on Dempster is a much larger store, carrying much more merchandise.
Hubby found some vinyls featuring Gloria Estefan and Heart (the 80’s rock band). We were supposed to look for Christmas gifts for our sister-​in-​law, but never mind.
I also found myself a J. Crew plaid shirt for $ 0.69, with an immaculate condition. Hubby, on the other hand, found a «Jurassic Park» Sega game for $ 4.50.
Other than the 69-​cent sale on Saturdays on their north side locations, there would be another color tag marked down 25%. Pay attention on their sign post as you walk in.

This store has completely changed, much to my disappointment. They rearranged the whole thing so there seems to be much less in it, and PRICES ARE OUTRAGEOUS! Trying to charge $ 8 – 20 for a used sweater you gotta be kidding me. I used to spend so much money in this store, now I probably won’t ever go back again.

This salvation army has a huge selection of coats, jackets, vests, boots, shoes, jeans, kitchen appliances, furniture; also very organized. I’ve updated my review compared to my first.

i would feel much more blessed by god if this location would not continue to put out items that are missing crucial parts. are you hoping people will not notice or are you guys not noticing? either way, beware. and like a pawn shop, prices sometimes reflect a willingness to test the customers gullibility by pricing some items near retail cost. ill take yard and estate sales sale any day. god bless…

Sure you can find good stuff. But be prepared to pay close to retail. They think that they can charge an arm and a leg for” designer” items (half of which are fake or damaged). Not to mention the horrible sewage smell that is so strong I can throw up thinking about it. Wow, people donate here to help the community and they turn it around and take advantage! With the selection of thrift stores in the city, this would be last on the list no doubt.

This was my first time to this location, chosen only because I was looking for a different place to go. I prefer the Salvation Army over Goodwill because of where the money goes and how it Is used so I seek them out whenever possible.
I completely agree with other posters who say that you really need to forget the cart at this location. As inconvenient as that can end up being, there really is NO room to shop with one and there is not even room to leave it at the end of an aisle, like I often do. There is barely room for 2 people to pass in an aisle let alone have a cart in there.
That being said, this shopping experience involved a few occasions of me just standing waiting for people to finish shopping and move, but overall people were very aware and considerate.
I found the book selection here to be small, but I did find 3 books that I wanted, so it wasn’t bad. The housewares stuff is strewn throughout the store on top of many of the clothing racks although it does have a few aisles of it’s own.
Staff was courteous and busy. Overall I thought they had some decent deals here, especially when you look for the tags with mark-​downs. Some of the NWT tag items, mostly from Target, seemed overpriced. There were many items I may have been interested in, but I wasn’t paying $ 10 for a pair of Target brand shorts even if they were new… I could find them on clearance at Target for less than that. Other than that, I thought prices were quite fair. This is just a very busy and very cramped location so I think extra patience, awareness and courtesy is needed here.

Since I work near here I often stop by. I have got many a great bargain in here. Forget a shopping cart since there is no room to go down isles with one. The store is way overcrowded with clothes racks and only one person can be in the isle because you can’t pass anyone. The store is a maze! If you can get used to it and have no cart, you can get around. This store is not the best organized but it had gotten better. Recently they removed all the dvds from the cases so the lady at the front now has to search for them and this is a hassle and takes a while, plus she looked annoyed to look for the disks and the line often piles up. Half the disks end up so scratched that I have to reject them. But overall I have gotten some great stuff here and its worth the time to visit. The lot is always full! I don’t think they have dressing rooms though. You see people trying stuff on over their clothes, which is a little weird.

My first visit here was today. My MIL and I were hitting all of the thrift stores in the area and this was our 2^nd stop. I prefer the Salvation Army in Morton Grove if I had to choose. This particular location wasn’t as brightly lit and dark and dingy toward the back of the store. I did find some cute items though, including one item that didn’t have a price tag. I didn’t notice the sign when I walked in the front door, but SA will not sell anything that hasn’t been ‘processed’ yet; meaning nothing without a tag. Bummer. I was told to go back to the processing area so that someone could put a tag on my item. Unfortunately for me the woman I spoke didn’t speak English, took my tag-​less item and never came back. Oh well. Goodwill would sell you the item regardless, so I prefer them over SA.

Big selection but way too overloaded with stuff that it is kinda hard to walk around. Some decent deals here but nothing that made me want to buy something here.

Large and organized thrift store. Friendly staff. A gold mine for costume clothes and white elephant gifts!
Again, sanitize those paws when ya leave any thrift store!

So while I still agree that this is a good store with lots to chose from, I have a small beef so I’m knocking off a star: there was a wedding dress I was dying to buy for a Halloween costume. I thought, «What a bargain! $ 25 and some change!» As I got closer to the register and saw some other dresses marked higher, I was confused…“80 for that one and only 25 for mine?” I thought. Yeah, I read the tag wrong. The dress I wanted was $ 250 dollars. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. IN A THRIFT STORE. When I spoke to the manager to negotiate (I was thinking $ 50) he said he couldn’t go down that low. I was really, really perplexed by this. It’s a thrift store! Last time I checked, it was nonprofit. The money is going to charity! I just couldn’t wrap my head around who is going to pay $ 250 for a used dress, when you can get a new one in a bridal shop (on clearance) for that price. People who are shopping in thrift stores are doing so to save money and get «deals». $ 250 for a Halloween costume is not a deal to me! So, that was irritating. I wish they could change their «policy» and work with people who are generally interested in making purchases. I still think this is pretty crazy!

I spent the day thrifting around the north side and this was one of the stops. It was also the only place where I bought anything. They have a huge selection and the prices are great. Staff was super friendly, although someone muttered «sexy little thing» as he walked by me, and I think it was an employee. So, maybe they’re a little too friendly. But overall, a cool shop, especially if you’re shopping for clothes. They dedicate the majority of their space to clothing. I did notice that they had several kitchen appliances that, if I didn’t have already, I would’ve totally bought (crock pots and the like). Often those things are either crusty or look like fire hazards. Everything here was in good shape. One downside, I went on a Saturday and it was crowded, the aisles aren’t wide, and it’s a little warm in there. I’m guessing weekdays are less busy and give you more breathing room.