The Salvation Army

I am usually a thrift store junkie and will dig dig dig, but at this perticular location, i really didnt want to. THey have a lot of great furniture, but everything is super dirty and disorganized, boyfriend and i stayed for 10 minutes and left. The entrance is in the back and its hard to get in and out of it. A hassle. Very dissapointed with this location.

Great place for furniture!
Every day certain items are on sale. Also veterans and seniors get a discount, so be sure to let them know if this applies to you! Some days it’s clothes, other days Brick-​a-​brac, furniture, shows, etc. Check out the daily deals on the whiteboard or ask an employee. Deals vary. You can also call and ask what is on sale.
Not sure why some folks are complaining about the prices, as items are on par with other thrift stores. This isn’t a dollar store or a garage sale folks! Lots of thrift stores these days are wising up & doing research on labels, brands and pricing accordingly (& fairly). This is a business after all. There are lots of great deals to be had here.
Very friendly staff. Parking and entrance is in the rear of the building. Some times parking can be a challenge. I’ve seen folks park at Norm’s next door but you’re probably not supposed to do that ;)
I’ve acquired a few great pieces of antique furniture here including an oak sideboard as well as a china hutch. Great deals. Seen other great items that have been snapped up by other customers too– from major appliances like refrigerators to a Danish modern dining set! You just need to go often and buy it when you see it– gems don’t stay here very long!
Support a great organization and find a treasure!

Called this location for the donation pick-​up number, and the woman who answered the phone was beyond rude.
And it just made me think: How sad that an organization relying on donations feels well within its rights to treat members of the community like dirt.
There are a plethora of organizations that need your used items and are happy to help. Call them.

Parking is in rear, hard to get to with traffic patterns. Way overpriced. Keep going.

I’ve been a patron of this place for years. It’s the ‘Cheers’ of Salvation Army stores … and by that I mean it is the ONLY place that I know where the staff greets regular customers by name. This personal touch can be attributed to the motivated management team and associates who work the day-​to-​day operations. Charles in particular is awesome. This guy is in tune with his customers and works hard to ensure that there is always a broad and divers range of top tier items to choose from. He’s extremely knowledgeable, helpful and always professional.
The Salvation Army needs to replicate the magic of the Costa Mesa store at its other locations.

I want to like this store because the staff are all friendly and pleasant. But… whoever does the pricing is completely delusional. A quarter of the merchandise, pretty much anything that isn’t broken or total schlock, is marked as «collectible» to justify antique store prices, ensuring also that those items never go on sale. I’ve seen used, non-​vintage Pyrex and Fiestaware marked as collectible and priced higher than it is new on Amazon. Artwork is probably the worst — most of it is packed far too tightly in bins that are full of broken glass, the remnants of so many once-​loved Target prints… marked as collectibles. Once I picked up what was clearly a child’s painting of an eagle, done on one of those cheap Michael’s canvases, marked as collectible and priced at $ 35. It wasn’t even a good painting. Parking here is also a disaster.

Great place to donate items but not to shop. I always have great hope of finding something but so far i have found nothing. Tons of clothes but they are so disorganized that you can’t shop. The few that I found are stained or have holes. It’s extremely hot in the afternoons when the sun hits the front windows. Private Parking in the back.

I used to really like going to the Costa Mesa location — even though it was old and musty… but then they came and «upgraded» it — shopping for clothing is now really hard. They hung stuff on the walls way to high to look at — you can’t easily see any of the tags. It was supposed to be fixed months ago. They need to keep it simple — I could come in looking for jeans and go straight there now I have to look all over the store… The people who «updated» it obviously don’t shop there…
On a positive note the people who work there are great, Janet, Charles are always helpful and upbeat. And the prices are really good —

We stopped by The Salvation Army on the way to Los Angeles for the LA Marathon several weekends ago where I ended up purchasing two fairly inexpensive t-​shirts. One shirt I used as a throw-​away for the marathon; the other shirt I wanted simply because I thought it was cute — it says «I Dance Because» on the front. The shirt has a small bleach stain but unless you’re examining it up close you can hardly notice it. The grand total for both shirts came out to $ 8.00. The men’s clothing is definitely cheaper. My husband found a throw-​away shirt for $ 1.99 — lucky!
There are some amazing treasures at this store. I spotted a vintage 1980’s Cabbage Patch Doll and Wish Care Bear in the corner. Pretty cool.
The Salvation Army is the ultimate place to shop for cheap (er) vintage clothes, handbags, shoes, dishware, furniture, lamps (so many lamps), small appliances and odds and ends you won’t find anywhere else.

Came here to drop some big bags of towels, because I was just married and my wife has some excess stuff.
I grew up coming to this store, looking for treasure, but I never found any…
Love the Salvation Army and Good WIll.

The more I thrift, the more I’ve come to realize that stores such as the Salvation Army and ESPECIALLY Goodwill are losing touch with their target demographic. This is a thrift store. Not a pawn shop or an estate sale. When common items from any dollar tree are regularly priced at $ 4.99, there’s clearly a problem.
That said, the prices here range from «Holy crap, that’s a good price» (which is truthfully more of an exception than the norm), to just flat out «Holy crap» …as in absolutely absurd. The last time I was there I found a three foot HDMI cable priced at $ 25. That should have been twenty five *cents*, guys. Not dollars. Anyone familiar with monoprice knows where I’m coming from. This is why as much as I enjoy a good day dedicated to occasional hunting, stores such as the Salvation Army are slowly but surely leaving my bargain hunting rotation.
However where this particular location receives a solid FIVE stars is for their staff. Their manager, Janet, serves as a solid example and representation in what a store manager should be and aspire towards. She’s polite, energetic, helpful, and most importantly, acts in a manner consistent with what the SA is supposed to represent in the first place.
How do I know this? Because during one of my last visits, she gave a homeless guy who had stopped in her own lunch. She also gave him information that could hopefully help get his life back on track should he choose to pursue it. After she was done helping him, she headed back behind the counter to return providing excellent customer service.
Another regular employee who goes by Lulu is also a pleasure to do business with, and one of the reasons why this location is still worth visiting every now and again.
So while this location receives two stars because it’s certainly not «A-​OK» as a three star rating suggests (their prices are all over the place), their staff are five stars and beyond. Unfortunately they themselves don’t control the pricing, and only have so much flexibility in regards to how the prices are set. But if those who price this locations inventory manage to get around to pricing things considerably more realistically on a regular basis, you’d have a definite winner all around. Cheers to Janet and Lulu for adhering to what a charitable organization is supposed to be. Jeers to whomever does their pricing. Especially the electronics section. YIKES!

After a few times being here it’s an alright store

Too expensive to be a thrift store. There is a sign that says they are not accepting donations and it is probably because the prices are too high to get rid of their inventory!

Good sale but need more than 1 dressing room for the whole store and better parking. Also, it would be nice if they would have an email list or FB page to announce future sales.

I had a lot of cool stuff I needed to donate, and instead of giving it to greedy Goodwill I wanted to bring it to the Salvation Army. When I arrived someone had already pulled up to the donation truck so I grabbed a space instead, no big deal. Except, I ended up having to make at least six trips to and from my car to get it all out and not one of the three men working offered to help. Help a lady out, guys.
Also, the parking lot is a disaster. Not just because it’s small, but because the people visiting the Salvation Army have no common sense or parking skills. Sheesh!

I probably shouldn’t give up the ghost and tell people what a great little store this is, as it may become overrun, but after reading a couple of the snotty reviews below, I felt compelled to review for this particular Salvation Army as it’s one of my favorites. Sure parking stinks; a tiny lot with only about 14 spots in back with no ally access — did I mention it’s the same lot folks have to pull into and navigate to drop donations? Keep your eyes peeled for the driveway or you’ll find yourself doing a series of U turns to enter. Sure Norm’s will have your ass towed if you get caught parking next door without actually patronizing their coffee shop — that’s why I grab breakfast or lunch and THEN hit TSA. Sure the store is on the smaller side and the entrance is über confusing — there are double doors fronting Harbor, but they’re always locked — go around back to enter. Sure their prices are sometimes silly, but more often than not, I find some amazing gems here. I won’t mention exactly what I deal in as a side business (don’t worry, it’s completely legit) but I’ve have scored some outrageous finds at this particular location. The much larger store on Brookhurst is another fav. Furniture is easy to access as it’s nearly all outside. The store is pretty well laid out and stock is refreshed non-​stop throughout the entire day. The staff is GREAT here. Always friendly, and willing to help — especially the management and the sweet little Hispanic man that works unloading the trucks and keeping a watch over the outdoor stuff. They have a great program where you can buy a red Salvation Army tote bag for .79 cents, and every time you shop with them, you get 10% off your purchase… unless it’s one of their 50% off items, which rotates and occurs nearly daily.
Now for those reviewers who commented on assumed income levels, body odor, tooth count and intelligence levels of some of the clientele and/​or staff — shame on you. Didn’t your mama ever teach you right? Do you really think these people can’t read? How would YOU like to read something so absurd about yourself in a public forum? That makes about as much sense as my assuming that if a jacket doesn’t fit, you must be morbidly obese. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all (yes, I realize I’m not practicing what I preach here, but someone needs to take you down a notch).
I’m in this shop at least once per week, and only rarely do I run across the occasional homeless person with hygiene issues. Simply move to another section for a bit. Likewise, I see many of my neighbors prowling for finds here on a regular basis, and I doubt we could afford our Newport address’ if we were destitute. I dress way down when I go ‘Junkin’”…again, didn’t mama ever teach you not to judge a book by it’s cover? And finally, The Salvation Army does wonderful work in rehabilitating those less fortunate. Most, if not all of the staff could have moved on long ago to much more «socially appreciated» positions, but from those I’ve chatted with, they want to give back, and understand the value of their experience within the organization. I feel lucky to have had more than a few conversations with staff and volunteers who have relayed how this organization literally saved their lives.
And finally, with regard to the snarky comments made about selection — it’s a thrift store for God’s sake; they stock what is donated and volunteers are sometimes charged with pricing and don’t always get it right — that’s what half off days are for ;) Get over yourself. Stop pretending to be some stupid hipster wannabe, Put your big girl panties on and dive in for a deal. Sure, you may get your hands a little dirty, but you just never know, you may come away with a major bargain — and for sure will get to meet some wonderful staff while helping those less fortunate than your awesome self with your purchases.

I liked how the furniture was outside the entrance as you walk in. The employees are nice and helpful. I was pretty disappointed with the selection here… I was able to find two items, but it seemed to me that a lot of the pieces were way overpriced.

Lol Ok… the store isnt THAT BAD: D…but it is small… parking lot is horrible… but you do find hidden treasures for a great price… and good service.

In comparison with The Goodwill, The Salvation Army is asking much too much for it’s items. I have been doing some price comparisons. I have not done price comparisons on clothes, but other household item.
It’s hard for me to believe that people are paying these outrageous prices. You could go to Ikea, Ross, Marshall’s clearance racks, garage sales, etc and save so much money and… get nicer items.
God bless the salvation army and the good work that they do, but if you are on a strick budget, this is not the place for you or me.
Note: my references are for the Newport Beach, Ca location. Don’t be fooled, they have junk. I guess it’s technically Costa Mesa.

I am really loving the Salvation Army lately!
I like the one in Torrance but this one is good too! I was in Newport Coast for lunch with a friend and instead of taking a 3 hour drive home due to traffic I thought I’d stay around! Thankfully I did because I picked up some super cute home décor items from here! Their staff is super nice and really on it too. The pricing is a bit higher here than the other’s I’ve been to but they have better home items so I didn’t mind so much. Lots of knick knacks, glass items. some milk glass, cake stands, etc.
Check them out!