The Good Will As-Is Super Store in Milwaukie, Oregon is More Than Just a Place to Shop

Goodwill industries maintains three As Is super stores in the Portland Area. One is in Hillsboro. One is in Vancouver Washington and the Portland Area store is located at: 1740 SE Ochoco St, Milwaukie, OR. The store is organized around larger blue plastic bins on wheels filled with recyclables that are sorted according to being clothing, shoes, house hold goods, Christmas goods, electronics etc. A visit to one of these super stores is something that you can do on a rainy day either just for fun or for shopping.

The stores are stocked with priced items that did not sell from retail stores and or new stuff donated and just unloaded from 1000s of garage sales in the Portland area. Called sometimes affectionately "the bins" by local rag pickers, which is a real vocation, the clothing is available priced by the pound. One picks out what one wants to buy and has it weighed at the checkout counter to get the price before leaving. If it looks like complete garbage, you need to open your eyes and see the parking lot is full of customer cars with hundreds of people digging though the bins. It must be better than garbage with all that action going on. In fact there is real competition to get to new bins that are just carted out on the floor from the employees only processing warehouse behind the retail space. People were standing in line on either side of where the bins would be rolled onto the concrete floor to be first to dig into the bins. Some of the bins were a bit dangerous to dig into with sharp kitchen knives popping out in all directions. Unfortunately due to federal laws against recalled dangerous toys , the as is stores may no longer carry those for fear of federal actions against them. In that regard the knives were still safe.

The center also had books in bins for sale. Books and books tossed in to the blue bins on wheels . These were priced by the book and not by the pound. Paper back books were $1 each, hardbacks were $2 and video tapes were set at $1 each. There was lots of junk furniture, rugs, and older working televisions. Most everything seemed picked over when I got there. I had been there when there was a better selection. Maybe on has to avoid weekends or late afternoons? In the past I got an old wind up mantle piece clock there that was just missing the key for $6. This time i bought a gorilla mask with one remaining gorilla glove that weighed out for $1.07.

The as is super store, the bins, is not a store for everyone of course. If you are curious and want to see the rag picking trade in action this is the place to go. Some of the rag pickers make pretty good money there because they resell finds to vintage stores. The big mystery is what happens to the rest of the junk from the bins that never sells after being picked over? At some point some of it must end up going to the dump? Not one of the big mysteries in life but something to wonder about after seeing the shear mass of garbage getting picked though and left behind in the bins. You can do your part if you believe in recycling to go and visit the bins with some money in your pocket and see what you will cart away.

The address and contact info for the Milwaukie store Is: 1740 SE Ochoco St, Milwaukie, OR 97222-7313

(503) 230-2076 www.goodwill.org

Happy rag picking!