Aaah thrift stores- that delightful mix of shiny great stuff and gross broken junk. The Huntsville and Madison areas are full of thrift stores of every level, and some are definitely better than others. The best and worst thrift stores that I have found in the area are as follows:
Asbury Thrift Store- 8606 Madison Pike, Madison.
This one is large, full of stuff, and relatively clean as thrift stores go. I have found lots of good junk in here, and at reasonable prices. One of the problems is that the book room is quite dusty and they do sometimes put moldy books on the shelf. If you have any respiratory problems, I would not go into the book room. The rest of the store is good, with a seperate room for toys and children’s book, a large clothing section and lots and lots of furniture. B
Asbury has a lesser-known twin at Highway 53 (SE of Jeff Road), Harvest, AL 35649
This Asbury Thrift Store is gross. Gross with a G R O S S. It is dank, damp, moldy and has the homey feeling of a cave that even a cave man wouldn’t live in. I have bought from there before, doing a bulk deal on a box of stuff. The contents of the box actually made me sick- antibiotics sick. F
Goodwill, 1812 University Drive, Huntsville-
Goodwill used to be a good place to find a bargain a decade ago, but it is no longer. It is very clean and usually has a medium to good selection, especially on glasses, plates, etc., but the prices are extremely high. These days anything of real value is sold through their own auction website and never sees the public. The furniture prices are only slightly below what the furniture would cost you new. In genreal, it is a waste of time if you are looking for a bargain. D-
The Hangar- 1815 University Drive, Madison
This one is a bit far out- past most of civilization on University, but it is well, well worth it. This store has so much good junk that that they occassionally fill up and won’t take donations. There is so much that you can’t park near the front door because of all the stuff spilling out into the parking lot. The hangar is pretty selective about what they will take, too- you will not find stained and broken items, and it is clean for a thrift store. And, because of all the stuff they get in daily, and the fact that it is a small store, the prices are unbeatable. There is very little that costs more than a dollar, and most things cost considerably less. All clothing, except for formals, are a dollar, and accessories are .25 up to a dollar. And on top of that, the area that it’s in means that most of the donations are upscale stuff. I actually picked up a Dooney and Bourke there for a dollar! These are the prices that all thrift stores used to, and still should, have. A+
The Salvation Army- 2114 Oakwood Ave., Huntsville
It’s huge, it’s well-priced, it’s clean, what’s not to love? The store itself is cavernous. You could wander all day looking at everything, and I’ll bet some people do. There are large sections for clothing, housewares and has the best thrift store book collection in town. The prices are at the low-average side for thrift shopping, and it is one of the cleaner thrift stores. The collection is usually well weeded out for broken or damaged items, and though there are a lot of good items, it is hard to find something really upscale. A
Downtown Rescue Mission Thrift Store- 3710 Governor’s Drive, Huntsville
Eeep, it’s hard to pick a thing that bothers me the most. While the store is a great idea, and aids a wonderful charity, it’s hard to shop there. The store is huge- it is even larger than the Salvation Army store, but the selection is shall we say, dirty. Many of the items are either broken, stained or just decrepit. The store is filthy in every department, but especially by the front door. The cashier is almost always chain smoking inside the store, and most of the employees smoke inside it as well- public smoking laws be darned. I actually mentioned it to the cashier one day, and was informed that her husband owned the store, so she could smoke if she wanted to. Owned? I don’t know what is going on there, but if it is privately owned, it shouldn’t be run as a charity, and if it is not, they need new employees. If you can stand the smoke and dirt, there are occassion good finds. They do have a lot of very good board games, and the book section is ok if you want recent paperbacks. But therest of the inventory looks like it wasput out on the tables quicly and completely unchecked. Used underwear? Really? Do we really need that being sold? Ick. D
