Do you shop at TJ Maxx, Burlington, Marshall's, Gabe's, Ross Dress For Less, Goodwill, etc?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

My city had a Burlington for a long time that was huge. It was in the same space as an old K-Mart. A home goods section, a baby section, lots of clothes, and a huge coat section. You could go there and get a coat or a dress in your size, because they had multiple sizes of every coat and dress.

A few years ago the developer took the store and made it 1/4 the size, split the remaining space, and added a TJ Maxx, Sephora, Nordstrom Rack and some kind of spa.

I went to said Burlington in its new configuration for the first time this Christmas. It was as you describe it - like a church rummage sale. One-offs of everything, and stuff kind of strewn about. You definitely had to browse it in the same way you’d browse Goodwill. I went next door to TJ Maxx and found almost the exact same store, just with slightly different stuff.

People do absolutely love TJ Maxx, because they love the curation of goods. It looks like Burlington scrapped the department store model and went to the TJ Maxx/Marshall’s/closeouts model.

Our Burlington/TJ Maxx/Rack plaza’s parking lot is always packed.

We’ve also got a chain called Ollie’s (I think it’s a northeastern chain?) which is a closeouts store in the same vein as Big Lots (RIP). They have a different customer base than the other closeouts stores. A little more junk, a little less curated.

People definitely like to browse for good deals at these stores, just like they’re at a thrift store. But I find that for me, places like this just entice me to buy junk I don’t need. You go in with the mindset that you’re already getting a good deal - even if you’re not getting a good deal.

Bin stores are the new outlet stores. People come to browse just to scratch that gambling itch, and then also leave with stuff they didn’t need. I guess outlet stores just make it a little easier to browse instead of physically digging.

And then in the end, it’s just flippers and resellers buying all the stuff and putting it on eBay for the original price :slight_smile:

22

Some of the clothing at the off-price merchants (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less) is last season’s merchandise from the regular department stores, while others is stuff manufactured for sale in these stores. And then there’s Nordstrom Rack, which seems to have slightly better merchandise.

23

I just went to Burlington in 2025 for the first time in a little over twenty years. I remembered Burlington as being a decent clothing store on par with Mervyns, Kohls, or any one of the myraid of mid-tier places, so I was very surprised to see how far they had fallen.

We have an Ollie’s here and I like it much better than Burlington. It’s actually semi-organized.

24

We had a goodwill in my small town. Loved the place. It was well organized. They even organized by color. They left the space and Mel Trotter took over. I think MT might be a Michigan only thing? Anyway their prices were way higher than Goodwill. Still decent organization and I bought a couple of winter coats there of better quality and much lower price than I could get at Walmart or especially Meijer. There are Goodwills in the two closer small towns to me that I go to, and I don’t usually have trouble finding what I want/need at them. The other stores mentioned by the OP are not at all local to me. For me it’s Goodwill Mel Trotter, Walmart, Doller General, Family Dollar, Amazon and or Temu. I’m not cheap I’m poor.

25

I wear relatively cheap polo shirts, t-shirts, and Levi’s 501 jeans.

I know how they fit, and don’t need to shop in person. Hated “clothes shopping” when I was a kid, never saw any reason to change my opinion as an adult; so I buy my 501s direct from LS&Co, and just order American Polo shirts in a variety of colors as needed.

Short answer, no, I don’t shop at any of those locations.

26

When I need new socks or t-shirts, I want to get eight or ten or twelve identical ones. For that sort of thing, the off-price retailers aren’t ideal.

27

I generally shop at the stores listed in the OP (except for Goodwill) and also outlet stores in addition to online. I don’t shop at Goodwill because from what I’ve seen, I don’t want to pay those prices for those used clothes. Vintage stores are another story.

But the TJ Maxx, Burlington etc can be a pain if I’m looking for something very specific , like a black sleeveless button down blouse.

28

I’m not buying or wearing any 2nd hand shoes, socks, or underwear. The last Goodwill I was in had a bin of shoes for 10 cents. Problem is they were not tied to their mates. Yeah…nah!

I wouldn’t buy towels or bedding from Goodwill. Ever.

I’ve been to a Amazon unclaimed pkg. bin store a few times. Those are great. But it’s catch as catch can. And you’ll have to spend a bunch of time browsing and digging.

29

I occasionally buy clothes at Marshall’s, but I go to Wal-Mart more often because it’s within easy walking distance of my house.

30

Yes, I do a lot of recreational preowned item thrifting (and garage sales, auctions, etc) and Goodwill & Salv Army are weekly visits. I also check Marshalls & Burlington pretty often, at a minimum jeans & cookware, easy since they’re stripmall-adjacent to grocery stores I’m visiting anyway.

I doubt I buy anything more than one in twenty trips to any of them, though. But I do nose up some deals or find a rare thingy . The Vans shoes I’m wearing now were bought during such a visit, I don’t recall which store or the price (low) but I do remember getting them to the car and feeling like I got away with stealing something.

31

I’ve never seen used socks or underwear at goodwill. I wouldn’t buy ‘em if I did yuk. I’ve bought new socks there. I like “fuzzy” socks for work. The tops aren’t tight and make my legs swell, but don’t slide down under my heel either.

I’ll buy shoes there especially for mucking stuff out or doing messy diying where I don’t want to destroy my regular shoes. I don’t know if my Goodwill’s are weird or other people’s are. The three I go to regularly are well organized and clean. I’ve never seen anything dumped in a bin particularly shoes. Shoes are organized on shelves in pairs by size, women or mens, children’s.

32

I’ve been in a Marshall’s once and was not impressed. I walk past Ross on the way to the drug store and I’ve never seen a reason to go in. I do cruise the shirt racks in thrift stores, not usually Goodwill, and sometime find things, but the shirts mostly have awful patterns or don’t have a good feel. (I go into thrift stores for other reasons.)
I just bought a new pair of Levis, hardly inexpensive any more. And the stores near me all had gigantic sizes, while I’m also very middle of the road in size. I finally bought a pair on line.

33

I have bought shoes IF they are a great deal, like that pair of Doc martens priced at $2- Spray with lysol, let dry, then use anti-fungal powder. But only if little wear and they dont smell.

34

The problem with shoes, if they are worn just a few times the previous owner has mashed the in shoe lining. Sweated in there and, yes, maybe left some fungus among us.

Doc Martens are not something I’d care to own, anyway. Especially not hand me down.

If you’re gonna buy shoes with heavy tread don’t take them inside your house til you’ve scrubbed that tread. Any buggies eggs could be hiding there.

I don’t like bedding or linens from a thrift place. In fact I won’t even walk on that aisle. Certainly not gonna touch.

But I’m phobic about germs. It’s a ME thing. I know this.

35

Different types of stores serve different purposes.

Places like Goodwill take donations of goods and sell them at modest prices to fund charitable activities. Obviously, you won’t what is there unless you go and look. I’ve never had much luck with clothes there, but my wife often does. I guess they get more good donations of women’s clothes than men’s. I’ve found some good books at places like that though.

Marshalls and TJ Maxx are discount retailers that seem to mostly sell stuff that other retailers couldn’t move. I’ve gotten some good clothes and shoes at Marshall’s.

I will go to higher end retailers like Kohls because they will have the precise brand of shirt or pants that I want, and it will be easy to find. Obviously, one pays extra for this convenience.

36

There’s a now-aged guy living at the same condo I used to. We became good friends.

Back in the day he owned a company that sourced much of the various non-clothing crap that TJ Maxx and similar sell. It’s mostly first run stuff, not cycled through other retailers first. But it’s also designed to be cheap junk from the gitgo. Call him the B2B Temu of the 1970s to 2000s.

His company is long sold and he’s long retired, but I suspect the supply channels to TJ Maxx and similar haven’t changed much. Maybe fewer middlemen between the overseas factory and the store distribution system. But still made-to-pricepoint cheapass goods.

37

TJMaxx goodies, housewares , books, and bric a brac are not Temu/Shein cheap. At all.

May be the exact same thing but higher priced.

I found this out buying the fits all, works on any chair/stool leg stretchy rubber leg tips. I bought a PKG at a TJMaxx. $10.99. Cheaper than the “as seen on TV” version. They worked pretty good. So I decided I need another PKG. No more at the Maxx. None at Walmart. So I check around online Temu has the exact item for $3.99. got free shipping for some reason. I think I ordered a couple more things.

So, yeah…

38

Now retired in Hawaii, my suits, sport coats, ties and the like are long gone. Needed a sport coat for a stateside wedding, terrific selection at Goodwill for cheap. After the shindig, re-donated. Same with some cold weather outers. Always went to Ross or Marshalls for wall mount TV racks and Calephon 2nds cookware. Tuesday is extra discount day for us geezers.

39

Yep. You missed a point.

Historically the likes of Temu’s suppliers sold to Chinese middlemen who sold to importers who sold to distributors who sold to TJ Maxx who sold to you. It was cheaply made crap with 5 layers of markup applied. So it was cheaply made crap that was simultaneously expensive to you and me.

The advent of Chinese e-commerce sites like Temu & Shein with access to the US market mean the very same cheaply made crap from the very same Chinese factories can now be sold from factory direct to you with Temu and the shipping courier making a small cut. All the middlemen including TJ Maxx get cut out. Now you’re finally paying the (low) price the cheap crap deserves.

Shame about all the US businesses and workers out of jobs. But it can be argued that middlemen don’t add nearly as much value as they do cost. We were all just used to being ripped off by layers and layers of them throughout our lives until recently.

40

Well. Okay.

But as always “buyer beware”.

I’ve been ripped off a couple times by cheap crap that I feel I’m more discerning now.

I see YouTube vids where people order an item, only to receive a picture of the item. Or a miniature version. I read all product descriptions. So not likely to happen to me.

:scream:

Oh crap, I just jinxed myself. I made an Amazon Haul order just this morning. It’ll be all kinda screwed up, I’m sure