Prince William Hospital Thrift Store

I consider myself a pretty serious thrifter, I go to a variety and usually check out one a week. I came to this one last week and was so disappointed! I wanted to love it, being in Old Town and supporting the hospital, but it was over-​priced for a thrift store and they mark EVERYTHING with permanent marker! Why would I buy fragile antiques covered in permanent marker? Sometimes more than once — marked with one price, crossed out and updated with a new one. Stickers are cheap and wouldn’t effectively ruin the product! Such a waste, as they had some beautiful things. I won’t be back.

Prices have gone up. Permanent marker written on leather, glass, and sides of items. I use both sides of this place. I shop and I donate. Over the years, the focus has been to match Salvation Army prices. It has not been as good a find anymore because the staff marks why something is 20.00 instead of 5 like the old days. However, for our community, I think they are awesome and we need them. I keep going to them for my odds and ends but hope they will lower their prices some reflecting the economy. Otherwise, I have to keep an eye on the sale board at the entrance.

I am a regular at this thrift store. It is clean, well-​lighted, well-​organized, and pricing is fabulous. It is staffed by (mostly) friendly volunteers. The last couple of times I’ve been in there left me with a sour taste because on one occasion a volunteer was complaining about having been waited on in a store by a Hispanic and «if they’re going to come here they need to learn English,» and on my most recent visit a lady was behind the register complaining quite loudly about «why should I have to press 1 to hear English? This is America; I shouldn’t have to do that.» This with Hispanic customers in the store. So a 4-​star rating on the store and a 1-​star on employee sensitivity to customer presence. As individuals they are free to feel however they do about Hispanics but if you are representing a charity, it isn’t prudent to bash ethnic groups within earshot of customers.