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Salvation Army Thrift Store
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
5 reviews for Salvation Army Thrift Store
Yeah, I'd agree with the previous reviewer and definitely avoid this Salvation Army during October. You're going to be overcome by five college students looking for a hilarious outfit to mesh with their sorority/frat mixer ("isn't this the most random shirt EVAR?!1").
That particular month aside, this Salvation Army is the most affordable, AND awesome-clothing-rich thift store I've ever come across. I'm not going to lie, years later and still a majority of my t-shirts are left-overs from my weekly rummaging at this location - a majority of which were bought for less than $3 or so. The poor college student cliche isn't far from reality, and this location must have some strange capacity for always providing me with neat outfits that were right within my price range. If you're in Western Mass and need to add some badass attributes to your wardrobe, definitely stop by this Salvation Army and leave with a solid addition to your wardrobe and an alarmingly low price.
Recommendation: If you're a legit thrifter who is looking to find some gems, I suggest avoiding this place the entire month of October. Since this is the only major thrift store in the 5-college area, you'll have to deal with a bunch of bro-dudes looking for Halloween costumes. Gross. Oh wow, you're a guy in a dress? THAT'S SO FUNNY - I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE.
I made this mistake of entering Salvi's one October afternoon, and some dude came up to me and asked me if his purple sports jacket was "fly" for a costume party. I challenged him to a fight for the jacket [for it was indeed, FLY], but I guess he thought that I was joking. Personally, I just don't see what's so costume-y about wearing a purple jacket, but maybe that's why I was never invited to the Halloween parties on fraternity row [boo].
So basically, during the month of October, the patronage to Salvation Army will increase three-fold, thus less likely to find something awesome, especially since "retro" is a popular costume. However, during the rest of the year, this Salvi's isn't a location where I've had a significant amount of finds - it's about average on the general thrift store scale [i.e. prices and selection]. It's worth checking every once and a while, but I'd rather hold my breath for the longer journey to Savers.
It is a big store with a good selection. It is def hit or miss though. The lighting in the dressing rooms leaves much to be desired but for the price you cannot beat it.
The selection here leaves me wanting more. But I have picked up some cute items nonetheless.
As everyone else is saying, this place gets very picked over come Halloween. At any other time, though, it has an unparalleled selection that's going to make pretty much any hipster drool, perhaps because these people are donating their hip clothing to the place, or perhaps because Salvation Army specifically sends the very best digs here. In any case, it's a place where you'll see things like vintage made-in-the-USA Chucks, purple corduroy pants, neon-bright towels, army jackets, tons of clothes from places like American Eagle or Abercrombie and Fitch, and even the occasional piece of high-end stuff like Bill Blass or Armani. Really, the selection is so good that places like Roz's are more for the high-retail experience and guarantee of finding certain things. Some people don't seem impressed, to which I suggest they trowl the average New England suburban thrift and see how different (read: older and dumpier) the typical inventory is.
On a sidenote, they can't seem to keep in (or get) electronics. If they were smart, they'd send their vintage TVs, boomboxs, shelf systems, loudspeakers .etc over here. We all know hipsters will buy that stuff to give their apartment a retro look, even if it's broken, but right now, this place is lucky if it has anything but a VCR or two, a dehumidifier, an answering machine, and a few cheap minisystem speakers. Rather pathetic when juxtaposed against all the turntables, casette boomboxes and cute rotary-knob TVs languishing at my local thrift.
