The Salvation Army Thrift Store

They were selling a fake Coach bag behind the counter for $20. When I told the manager it was fake, he said in a snooty way,' Yeah, I know. If it was real, we'd be selling it for $100' . We didn't feel welcome as customers. His tone was just so unfriendly it was like he felt he was doing us a favor, even responding to us. Other than that the store was ok, but there was not a great selection.

The store doesn’t have any change rooms, and you can’t get a refund on returns. I understood that this needed to be a measure during the height of the pandemic, but it doesn’t make any sense for the consumer at this point in time. I needed 1 dress but wanted to try 3 to see which fit me. This policy requires me to buy one, go home, try it on, travel back to the store and exchange for another, go home, try it on, go back to the store again, etc. To be told “buy them all and when you come back you’ll find something else you’ll like” isn’t in-line with their mission of helping out low-income people. I’m pretty disappointed and walked away with nothing. I’ll go to renaissance, where they have opened their changerooms again.

It's rather small and messy. Long queues to pay. I was only browsing but prefer other thrift shops.

The worst experience ever. No change rooms? Where else do you go shopping at a clothing store and can’t try on something that you cannot return. And then I tried just putting the item in front of my body in front of a mirror and the woman told me that wasn’t allowed. That doesn’t even make any sense. If you are a clothing store I should be able to get a sense of what something looks like on me. Absolutely ridiculous. Rude people working there with insane arbitrary rules, like you can’t hold an item up in front of a mirror. Is it really Salvation Army’s policy for their stores, that you can’t look at what something would look like in a mirror?

This particular store is quite close to the bus stop and stock good mostly used products including clothes, kitchen appliances, furniture and decorative designs. Though, big size shoes are not available when visited but on the scale of 1 to 10, it should be an 8 for this store. One no no is selling of very used bags to customer to take their products.

It is not always clear where the line-up starts at cash-out but the process of cashing out is painfully slow at times. One time the man who usually stands at the door told me to stand behind two women who were just talking and were not in line, the clue was they weren't holding anything, and I asked them if they were in line, and after a long pause they said no. So he apologized but it didn't change how demeaning and time guzzling cashing-out actually was.Sometimes clerks either ignore you or are rude and the tone is rarely friendly. As another poster said that sometimes you get the feeling that we are meant to feel lucky we are being served at all, making the process at cash-out even slower and more demeaning, IMO. The man at the door is not usually friendly and can be intimidating at times, IMO. Some good deals can be had, but the store culture might not be worth the hassle, stress and time, IMO.They charged extra for the remote that went with TV. The scotch tape was still on chord. The tone was condescending and argumentative.Another time I asked the clerk to cut price tag from jacket for me so I could wear it since it was raining & he just tore it out, leaving damaged seam in jacket then said it was fine. Disappointing, & if I knew he was going to just rip tag out from my great deal, leaving damaged seam I wouldn't have asked & I kick myself cause I should have known better.Like another poster said there is a feeling sometimes that staff are allowed to be rude and indifferent to customer experience and time.Prices can be high and quality not so much and the constant hovering IMO can feel discriminatory if not creepy.Once I was asked about contents of my bag.Lots of double standards in social respect, IMO.You can return things but only for store credit and there are no open change rooms.Reviews for this place on Google Maps are a mixture of the old and new stores. It matters IMO because the new store is much smaller, and doesn't sell furniture. Pictures of much bigger old store is not entirely representative of what you will find at the new store at 6116 Sherbrooke st. West.One plus for this store is that they don't charge the accumulated, almost 15% sales tax because it has charity status compared to the Value Village which adds sales tax due to its 'for profit' status.During one of my shopping trips there, I saw one shopper being accused of taking off price tag, even though she said she didn't, it seemed like she was in trouble and being humiliated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.Often there are items in the store without price tags so you can't buy them. Strangely, the unpriced items might be the best items in the store. Sometimes you are told to come back the next day and the item will be priced and then the next day the item is gone and so is your time.Sometimes I think the hassle and time it takes to find something worth buying then going through the slow and sometimes demeaning cash-out is not worth the bargains. When I leave I sometimes think that was my last time going there. The bargains are sometimes not worth the time it takes or the frame of mind you are sometimes left in due to IMO, unfriendly/demeaning store culture especially at cash-out and door IMO, and as other posters said you get the feeling you are being exploited/disrespected for being low income and having your time wasted on purpose, IMO.I once said to the man at the door that the cash-out was really slow and then he said you say something then walk away and I said I am sorry but I am late. His real concern shouldn't be that people are walking away because they have something else on their schedule but whether people will be coming back.

A non profit organization where you can donate your used clothes and devices and get a discount code for further purchase from the shop!The shop sells these items for reduced priceAmple of things available!

It bugs me that the best donations never make it to the shelves. They end up being sold to higher end thrift shops for a more upscale clientele.Also, customer service is very poor, no changing rooms, short window period to return merchandise, and a no cash refund policy.We are being exploited by the very services that are ostensibly intended to serve us.

For what it is and what it offers, it was pretty well organized and more so than the ones I went in the US (although that was a while ago). Very little or no strong odours of mildew, sweat or otherwise from the clothes, books, etc.The electronics, gadgets and the like seemed a bit overpriced to me. One small LED lamp I bough did not work but they will refund money if you keep the receipt and return the item within 15 days.This section of the store can really use some IKEA organizers and better displays. Many items like cables, chargers, and connectors, were bundled in bags in a manner that you could not really inspect labels, conditions, etc.All in all, it was a nice experience and we will probably come back after a couple of weeks.Very few pictures were taken because there weren't really many items worth talking about. I will post a few shortly.