Discover the Hidden Treasures Found While Shopping at Goodwill Stores

Like most people I have always considered Goodwill Industries an asset to the community as it made use of charitable donations of the more fortunate to provide jobs and income for many good people in the city who for various reasons were otherwise unemployable.

As I watched the huge trailers stationed around the city fill with the donations of discarded clothes, appliances, books, cookware, TV's, audio tapes, linens, furniture and virtually one of everything (albeit, well worn and sometimes out of date) commonly found in American homes I wondered how could the Goodwill stores ever handle all of these items, and perhaps more importantly I asked myself, why would anyone buy these items?

It never occurred to me to shop at a Goodwill store. Why would I want to buy items other families, much like my own, were discarding? It just made no sense to me until my best friend encouraged me to join him in a trip to the local Goodwill store.

To my surprise the store was very new with an attractive brick façade and large windows displaying fashions that would rival some of the exclusive shops at the mall. Inside, there were clean, wide aisles, neatly organized by product offered. Clothing was displayed on racks, ordered by size and included a wide range of offerings from work clothes, to casual wear to formal wear. There were even several once-worn wedding dresses.

In one aisle several well-tanned teens were delighted to find jeans just their size with the knees already thread bare from wear and seat all shiny and worn, just like the stone-washed designer jeans selling at the mall for $78.00 a pair....The Goodwill price?...$4.00.

Two aisles over my friend also looked at men's denim jeans. He explained to me that he often bought perfectly good jeans at Goodwill for wear during yard work or other dirty jobs around the house. "Why", he asked, "should I buy brand new jeans when these are perfect for the job at hand"?

It made perfectly good sense to me.

There were rows of women's skirts, slacks and blouses all neatly arranged by style and by size. One rack advertised, "Any blouse $3.00" another, "any skirt or pair of slacks $4.00". Several women happily shuffled through these racks periodically removing a favorite colored blouse or "just the right length" skirt and placing it in a shopping cart.

On seeing my questioning look my friend explained that most these clothes which made it to the display racks were not old, worn out items of clothing, but were most often relatively new, infrequently worn garments that someone had either outgrown or had become tired of wearing. These items still had years of wear left in them and many were still in fashion.

As we worked our way through the store I saw a display of hardback novels, all in good condition, priced to sell for $3.00 each. These included classics like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and a collection of short stories by O'Henry, and Pearl Buck's This Good Earth ....among many, many others.

Another aisle featured display tables containing various popular audio books. Books on cassette tapes were priced at $1.00, while Books on CD's were priced at $2.00. These include works by John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, Toni Morrison, Louis L'Amour, and Mary Higgins Clark among many others.

Working our way into another section of the store two women were admiring a set of what appeared to be fine dinner china. Holding a delicate looking silver embossed dinner plate up to window one lady was pleased to see that she could see her hand through the thin plate...her assurance that this was indeed, fine china. The Goodwill price tag in front of the eight place setting set of china was $32.00. (We later saw these two women happily carrying a carton containing the china set to their car).

Opposite the table on which china sets were displayed a glass case contained a variety of porcelain figurines...dancing ladies in long gowns, a clown holding several balloons, A young girl gracefully bowing, a farm girl feeding geese at her feet, a ballerina twirling on one toe and many others. The prices for these ranged from $3.00 to $12.00.

As we entered a section of the store dedicated to hardware I was surprised and pleased to see a large display of hand tools. Wrenches, pliers, hammers, gages of all sorts, files, crowbars, socket sets, ratchets, planes, and even complete tool sets in tool boxes were displayed on three long tables. The prices for individual tools ranged from $0.50 to $4.00. Tool set prices were relative to the number of tools in the set and ranged from $10.00 to $21.00.

On entering the furniture section of the store I wondered out loud why anyone would want to buy used furniture. Some of the furniture on display did have worn upholstery, but as my friend explained, some people like to buy good furniture (brand names like Ethan Allen, Pennsylvania House, Hinkle-Harris, Craftique, etc) and then re-upholster these pieces to provide the exact covering they wanted.

It was then That I saw a collection of wooden furniture that included mahogany end tables, a unique lady's desk, a Lane cedar chest, a miniature drop leaf table (also mahogany), a reproduction piece of a Chippendale chest, a marble top coffee table, two marble top Windsor tables.....it was like being in the middles of a fine antiques store!

Some of the wooden furniture was old and worn, but all were quality pieces made of solid wood and many contained expensive woods decorated with fine carvings. All that was required of these pieces was cleaning and refinishing...and furniture refinishing is my first love and lifetime hobby!

I bought the two mahogany end tables for $60.00 and as there was no room in my friend's car for another piece asked the Goodwill clerk to hold the drop leaf table for me until I returned later that day. I paid $45.00 for it. (My wife had priced a very similar table in a mall furniture shop for $360.00).

Since that initial visit I return frequently to the Goodwill store seeking out new furniture pieces that are candidates for refinishing. On some visits I find nothing new and yet on the very next day I am likely to find lovely old pieces just begging to be restored and returned to place of pride in someone's home.

I had found my place in life and it was in the Goodwill store! Now I know why people shop at Goodwill. It is a shopping experience that offers something for everyone and has the added benefit putting charitable donations to work for those who need help the most.

If you have never ventured into one of these stores I recommend at least one visit. You will enjoy the experience.