Goodwill

This is a smaller store compared to the others I ve seen. I dropped off one bag of donations. The guys promptly offered a receipt, which is great. I also stopped at the store to look for few small items. It was busy, which is awesome. Goodwill gets their funding from selling donating items to do the good work for many people in need.
I think remembering the mission of this organization will make shopping and searching through inventory a bit more meaningful :) The older lady who worked the register yesterday was outstanding!

This place needs a bigger location. Today was a nightmare. 50% off and I was appalled. Absolutely no carts, people were pushing into me and grabbing things out of my hands, a child was lost and the parent didn’t respond to three overhead calls, it is so small and cramped. It had just opened. Line was super long. The workers were doing great but shoppers were crazy. You can’t even move. Get more shopping carts. Also some stuff is so overpriced it’s ridiculous. I did find some great stuff though.

I shop at a variety of Goodwill stores and have found this one to be one of the most expensive ones in the Northern Virginia area. I think charging $ 3.99 for a Pfaltzgraff dinner plate that shows significant signs of wear is outrageous when other stores are selling their plates for $.99 or $ 1.99. Every once in a while I will find something reasonably priced which is why I return to this store. A beef that I have with Goodwill in general is that they require their employees to ask every customer to «round up». They are required to meet quotas. A better solution would be for the owner to use his or her profits to support employee training instead of asking the customers to do so since all of the merchandise has been donated to begin with.

I’m new to the area, and have been looking for a new thrift store to frequent and thought this goodwill by my apartment would be a good start. I’ve shopped around this store at least 4 times over the past two months, and each time I leave empty handed and disappointed in the over-​priced clutter of this store. I love shopping at thrift stores that put my money to good use, but I’m also looking for a bargain. Heck, I’ve bought new clothes on clearance at Target and TJ Maxx for cheaper than some of the items at this store. Sad to say, but I’ll be looking elsewhere for my go-​to thrift store.

attention Brendan H. of Goodwill This is my first review of Goodwill, what is wrong with this location? Who does your pricing, what justifies $ 400.00 for a leather chair with a tear and a rip in it? What justifies charging 150.00 for a CASSETTE PLAYER yes CASSETTE PLAYER calling it a vintage antique by the clueless store associate? Granted it was 54.00 on ebay with 0 bids, but your starting price was 3xs higher with no buyers, and at half off 75.00??? SMH Lucky I only buy books, but you won the cream of the crop of price gouging, I DONT CARE THAT YOU TRAIN people, nothing justifies the ridiculous and I mean ridiculous pricing strategy that DONATED goods being charged. I have called this location and this manager out because he has said in numerous reviews we will review our pricing, nothing has been done, this is still the most expensive goodwill in the country and I go goodwill touring from florida, to the midwest, to the eastern seaboard, shame on this location, for its price gouging. SHAME SHAME SHAME the management who has done nothing about this, $ 400 for a leather chair, you have been warned folks, pricing that is out of this world, and insane.

Yesterday I was shopping in the goodwill retail store and the power went out (in the entire strip mall, not just the goodwill store). Many shoppers raised their cell phones to give a little light and the managers began YELLING for everyone to remain calm. (They were not remaining calm, at all) demanding that we leave our baskets and carts where they stood and for us to all go to the front of the store and then made us exit the building. I was holding the door open to help customers holding children’s hands and carrying children, but then the manager Caroline literally yanked the door out of my hand and RUDELY said the door had to be closed NOW. A friendly employee is saying that he’s sure they will re-​open and we will be able to complete our transactions but after 15 minutes, employees were being dismissed for the night. Management did not even give us the courtesy of telling us they weren’t going to be able to reopen, they just closed and relocked the door behind the employees. As the hopeful customers began to dwindle and give up on the purchases we had hoped to make, the few of us left began to talk about our past experiences with this goodwill location. Every single one of us had had some bad customer service experiences with the manager on duty, Caroline, and we were really disappointed with the way things had been handled tonight. It’s very sad that so many of us had nothing nice to say about Caroline as a manager and employee of Goodwill, yet, she still has a job. I hope someone reads this and evaluates her skills at this store, she really should be relocated to the back where processing is done so she stops making «goodwill» look «bad». Or put her in some
Bill Collecting department where rude attitudes are part of the business.

I went to drop off a couple bags of stuff tonight at about 5:35. The website says the donation center closes at 6:00. As I was backing into a parking space, two employees came up to my car – so close that I couldn’t move for fear of hitting them.
They told me that the store was closed, but if I didn’t have much, they could take it. OK, great. But then they kept insisting that the store was closed, and when I replied that I hadn’t known because of the hours listed on the website, one of the employees said, «Well, in the real world, the store closes at 5:30,» and pointed to a sign that apparently listed the hours. I couldn’t see the sign because it was dark. Strange response delivered rudely.
The second guy stayed so close to my car that I couldn’t open the door, and he only moved when the first employee told him to. If I hadn’t had someone else in the car with me, I would not have felt safe getting out of the car to hand off the items. They both kept repeating that the store was closed. I get it, but it’s not my fault that the website is wrong, so I didn’t appreciate being scolded about it. I’d have left and come back another time if they had just said they were closed; they’re the ones who said they’d take my things anyway.
I’m glad they eventually took my stuff, but from now on, I’ll donate to the Sterling. Not worth it to get a lecture.

Got all my dishware here. Also got a dresser. All good items, and the store employees were all very nice.
Thanks!

This goodwill has some great name brands & the prices are obviously great. The staff is helpful, polite and nice. I was happy with my experience today! Will be back next week.

Way too much stuff and way too expensive. How are they helping the community when they charge $ 70 for a coat and $ 70 for a picture in a frame. Bowls $ 6 each when there is a set of ten. Who wants to pay $ 60 for bowls at the good will?!?

This place is over over priced. And the manager is soo mean, yesterday o try to buy a cd i bring to the front ready to check out, i do t know the cd is not in the fron like the dvd ‘s. I paid for and i let the cashier know the cd wasent in the case. She talk to the mannager and she say is my problem bcause i dont take a look before pay, she dont give a refound or store credit. I bs!

Everything is overpriced, manager is very rude on tonight’s visit. Stated that this goodwill is the top in the entire metropolitan DC area. Took him over 30 minutes to come to the front when asking a question about games. Stay away.

A year ago, this was the best Goodwill in the Greater DC area. Now, it must be one of the worst. Prices on clothing and glass/​dinnerware haven’t changed, but everything else is drastically overpriced. The point of shopping at Goodwill is to get a great price on used goods. There are no great prices here anymore. There aren’t even good prices. I’m amazed that people still shop at this place… they must only be buying clothes. Not sure what happened, but if this place went under new management between ⁰⁷⁄₂₀₁₄ and 07/​2015, you’ve really screwed your store. Absolutely awful.

I have been coming to this store since it was originally Salvation Army, about 20 years. I have bought tons of furniture, household items, décor and more. I have also donated a lot. That being said, the past 6 months to a year the prices are outrageous. A side table that’s in terrible condition costs literally 60 dollars. At the fair city or sterling goodwill things that are in better shape cost 10 dollars. They then have stale inventory that never moves off the floor and nothing new comes in. I don’t know what happened but I feel so sorry for people who need goodwill as a means to shop, they are pricing poorer people out of the Herndon neighborhood. When a crappy table costs 500 dollars and a beautiful new one at value city or Ashley furniture costs 300 something is seriously wrong.

Worst goodwill I’ve ever been to. The clothing is not organized at all. The other items are way overpriced for a thrift store. There are literally 28 customers waiting to check out and one cashier.

I’m only reviewing this location for the furniture. I came here looking looking to buy some temporary table and chairs as an alternative to the hassles of Craigslist. However, the prices are ridiculous and you’d be better off going to IKEA. Chairs were about $ 20 – 25 and tables were $ 40+. If you can buy clothes for 90% off, shouldn’t the furniture be 75% off?

Unfortunately, like others my like for this location has been greatly down graded. Saw 2 items priced well over regular retail costs!
Terra cotta pots marked $ 1.96 each. Just bought the same ones at Michaels for $.89 each.
And Halloween decorations marked $ 1.96 each that I’ve seen in multiple packs for under $ 5.
Don’t think I’ll waste my time going to this location any longer. Very sad.

For those looking to visit this location for the first time, the coordinates on Goolge maps are wrong and this place is located at the end of the shopping plaza to the north most side near Hama sushi. It took me a little while to find it because the map thinks it is located off of Centerville road, which it is not.
This is by far one of the best Goodwills I have been to as far as making donations go. I had a few bags of clothing to donate, and as soon as I parked my car one of the staff members walked over to me an offered to carry the bags of clothing for me. I gave him one bag (the heavier one of course) and toted the other two myself. We put the bags on one of the receiving carts and he immediately offered me a receipt without my even asking! Wow, now that is good service. On top of that he was very friendly and professional.

Wow. Took a car load of donations here today and thought I was going to get knifed by the guy taking donations!
Complained to the overall manager; he brought out the donations manager as well. As soon as the donations manager saw me, he said «I know what the problem is.» And said that, over and over again, made no eye contact with me, etc.
When I pulled up to make the donation, the donation guy was literally cursing (f**** idiot is how he described another customer trying to back her car up). Then he turned to me with what I can only describe as a look of disgust. Ok, not a great start but hey, I just want to quickly unload my stuff. We don’t need to make small talk.
I proceeded to unload my first item, a bumbo seat. Second item was a bunch of kitchen items in a large Rubbermaid tub. I asked the guy if I could unload the items into another box or put them somewhere directly. «As you can see, there’s nothing available», he practically snarled.
Ok, at this point this guy is so hostile I’m ready to call it quits. It’s one thing to be rude, another to open hate your customers and make them feel as uncomfortable as possible. No thanks.
The kicker — I asked for my bumbo seat back. «Get it yourself.» Excuse me? «I.
SAID. GET. IT. YOUR. SELF.»
Back to the first part of this story — with the managers. The overall manager was quite apologetic, but the other one was again completely dismissive.
I finally got so fed up with one manager apologizing while the other was pretty much accusing me of being a racist — the whole «I know what the problem is» was pretty transparent — that I walked out.
Disgusting customer service and really upsetting to be treated that way by the manager. I work in social service programs and so recognize the mission of Goodwill. Which makes it even worse to be treated like I’m some white privilege princess (who btw did all of the unloading like I usually do, no problem and no expectation — just asked if there was a box, that’s all). Never again.
Back to the Sterling Goodwill, where I’ve never had a bad experience.

Shopped here for years. One Saturday afternoon I found a Silpat (bakers will know what it is) price $.96. Sneaky, dishonest clerk said to me, «Oh, wow! Great deal. Can I show it to someone else who doesn’t know what it is?» I replied that it was okay, but she brought it back with a $ 2.96 price tag. Management needs to think about an employee who is dishonest with customers, are they being dishonest with employer.
Have not returned since, and I will never return. Too bad for them because I am a collector.