Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Thrift Store Pet Peeves

I spotted this article today regarding a Goodwill Thrift Store in Colorado. Who donates a land mine? Personally I believe it was intentionally dropped off by a frustrated shopper who wanted it to explode so it would force Goodwill to clean out their old merchandise and replace with new.

My fav thrift (Smile) totally changes out their clothing twice a year - spring and fall. And they sort clothes by size. What a concept. I hate when thrift stores (like Goodwill) sort by color- see pic below. It drives me nuts. Who goes to the store thinking "Hmmm...I want to find a red shirt today". Not many people shop like that. And then have to weed thru 5' of red shirts to find one in your size.

Clothes sorted by color at Goodwill (ugghghg)


Clothes sorted by size at my fav thrift


Kids book section - at my fav thrift


Kid's books disorganization at Goodwill:


I spotted this sign at one of my other thrifts. I don't want to know why they needed to tell people it wasn't a bathroom.


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I haven't finished cleaning up the spare bedroom yet. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow. Will show updated pics. Tonight I put the bed risers on the frame, so I will increase my storage capabilities. Some of the stuff could be tossed (recycled). I know there is no value in my old Franklin day-timers from work. I don't think Jacob wants to play with my plastic vanity. The VHS tapes will go to my brother for Xmas. The Tyco train stuff is for ebay. And some of those toy things are new (well new from yardsales) - potential birthday party gifts etc.

8 comments:

Beth said...

I'm so with you on how strange of an idea it is to organize clothes by color (Goodwill)!! I guess it makes it easier on the lazy butts they have working there (at least this is the case at the stores closest to where I live). And don't get me started on how they display their books!!

Garage Sale Junky said...

You are right on with this one. I just thought the same thing today while I was out. I have a thrift store that is so disorganized it is actually comical. My local Goodwill has big steel bins where people will practically fight over to get a peek. Funny stuff

Anissa.Lynette said...

Hahahaha!! I guess I'm a weirdo. I really like how Goodwill sorts by color. I like it mainly because most labels fit differently and sometimes (using your example of a red shirt) I can wear a large or extra large depending on who made it. If the clothes were sized by size I probably wouldn't bother checking the large's and might miss something. Plus people just hang stuff anywhere to get it out of their hands so usually the sizes are mixed anyway. For me it's easier just to hone in on the color I want and go from there.

Otter Mom said...

In my area, Goodwill seems to be very organized. There is some grouping by color but it is mostly within a size range. Example, all the large and extra large shirts are grouped together by size but the red ones might be together, etc. Salvation Army is the one that just groups by color and the books are the same - Goodwill is organized, Salvation Army isn't. It's much easier when they are neat.

Chris the Yardsale Queen said...

When I see the racks and racks of color grouped shirts I don't even bother looking. When I buy a shirt for myself, I do go looking for a particular color, its more about the style, brand name, condition and type of fabric.

So when they are color grouped, it's just too overwhelming because then I'd have to look thru ALL the color groups to see if there is something I like. Too time consuming so I don't look for clothes at Goodwill or Sal. Army for myself.

On exception is at the SA near my mom's house, I will look thru all the black t-shirts looking for vintage concert t-shirts (black is a popular color for concert t-shirts).

At Smile, they sort by size, they also have different racks for sweaters and another for blouses.

Marie said...

Goodwill seems to be supportive of special needs, but what if someone is color blind? How would they sift through the color sorted clothes? Just a thought..

Elizabeth said...

I totally agree with you about sorting clothes by colour - they do that here in some charity shops too - it just drives me nuts and means I tend not to look through the clothes at all. Not that we have anything like the amount of clothing in our charity shops as in your photo of the Goodwill - wowm that is one well-stocked thrift store.

Anonymous said...

I don't generally shop at Goodwill because i don't care for their pricing system, but i LOVE when thrift stores organize by color. A great deal of my shopping is for theatrical costumes and i find it a lot easier to alter a SIZE than a COLOR.