Part of the thing with the off-prime stores for me is that you don’t get a certain predictability in brand availability or stock completeness. In the legacy mainline retailers you could generally count that, for instance, you would find a representative range of sizes/colors/fits of a particular line of Dockers or Haggar pants or Izod polos or store brand dress shirts. At TJ’s or Marshall’s you often will have a kind of random sampling. And really for “pleasant surprises” I’d rather thrift it.
what “perishable products” do these clothing stores carry?
I’ve actually bought designer label suits at Goodwill, and a pair of shoes from them online (apparently some stores can recognize names and take them off the shelf)
Yeesh, that reminds me of the old mail-order ad scam where they promised to “send you a fully functional sewing machine for one dollar”. Send in the dollar and you received a hand sewing needle. Well, I guess it’s fully functional, at that. 
TJ Maxx and such carry stuff like special candies, pasta and stuff that is supposedly gourmet. I have found some nice stuff there. Stuff that grocery stores dont usually carry anyway.
TJ Maxx and Marshalls have tons of stuff that isn’t clothing. Housewares, makeup & perfume, bedding, toiletries, soaps and cleaning supplies, luggage, seasonal items, etc. And dry goods as well, mostly snacks/pastas/spices/coffee.
Nope. But I rarely enter any store any longer (we have to drive to get to them).
I’m hoping the quality work clothes I bought several years ago don’t wear out before I retire in a few years. And, if it isn’t available at Costco, I’m probably not buying. I hate ROSS, etc. BARF!
I stopped going to Goodwill when I found out they have become a for-profit enterprise. I also noticed that they sold some items at a higher cost than one could buy them “new.”
I don’t harbor any resentment they get some money on their stores.
I don’t know a bunch about them. I think they are a decent charitable organization. They are a 501(c) (3) non-profit registered charity.
As I understand it, there is a blanket Goodwill organization (and, yes, is a 501(c)(3)), but local Goodwill organizations (which is who operates any given local Goodwill store) operate semi-independently, and a few of them have been found to be paying their executives very well, and/or doing other possibly sketchy financial dealings.
This is not true
Right.
Many non-profits pay their executives fairly well, altho not even close to big busines-s $100M is not rare). That does not make them 'for profit".
PGA Tour gets $14M for example. American heart Assoc-$4.5M. About 50 Non-profits pay over $1M.
https://www.charitywatch.org/nonprofit-compensation-packages-of-1-million-or-more
OTOH you have Goodwill with $200- 800K, which is really small potatoes in the non-profit business.
Yes, I want to see a cite for this claim.
Please note that I did not claim that it makes then for-profit.
My primary client for the past decade has been a not-for-profit health insurance company, and I am well aware that they get intense (and unfair) criticism from some camps, for paying competitive (but not exorbitant) salaries to senior executives, because of the ridiculous argument of “but you’re a non-profit!” A competent organization, even if it’s a not-for-profit, needs to be able to pay competitive salaries in order to attract good, experienced talent, and ensure that they are well-run, and responsible with the money that they spend.
However, when the CEO of a local Goodwill branch – not the national organization – is making $900K, in Omaha, that’s pretty danged high pay.
I will pop in to TJ Maxx once in a while and buy a shirt, or socks.
Home Goods is owned by the same parent as TJ Maxx (it’s all housewares and decorative stuff). We shop there at least every couple of weeks. If we’re in the market for a kitchen item, or bed/bath, it’s the go-to
No, you did not, but-
I’m surprised no body has mentioned Savers–shop them all the time, always clean and organized, good kitchenware, clothes, books and music selection
Note that Savers, unlike Goodwill Industries, is an actual for-profit retailer.
true, but I thought I saw a sign that they donate to (can’t recall?). Savers only donates between 8 percent and 17 percent of revenue according to NBC News
My bad. I’m sure there are enough loopholes Goodwill jumps through to keep its 501(c)3 status, but a “thrift store” that charges more for some items than retail stores charge for brand-new things screams “something ain’t right here” to me. MHO.
I’m sure they charge what the market will bear. You’re not required to buy anything.
Lots of things might be worth something to me but not to everyone else.