Grey Bears

Fun thrift shop, with easy e-​waste recycling in the same parking lot. What’s not to like?

It’s a treasure hunt. used shit and volunteers. it’s not Nordstroms, but if your a thrift store person this is a good one.

Love what they are doing here! Excited about Grey Bears. Keep up the awesome service!

I’ve been shopping at Grey Bears for over six years. Of all the shops I visit, this is by far one of the best. They always have great variety, the staff is wonderfully knowledgeable and helpful. I truly enjoy coming down to Santa Cruz and spending time browsing around the shop. I always leave with something I must have!

Grumpy and unappreciative! When I asked an employee about donating a piece of furniture he said he’d have to check with someone to see if it was ok. He asked a couple of people who said to ask the manager who he could not locate. Employee accepted it then we came across the manager who glanced it over and without acknowledging me said they don’t accept anything with tears or stains. Because the employee said yes to me she begrudgingly went along with it. She was grumpy and rude in my opinion. She could have been more polite about not accepting my donation. I’d have gladly taken it somewhere else. No one said thank you for the donation or offered me a tax deductable receipt. BTW — while perusing the furniture there were plenty of pieces that were damaged or stained or both! Next time I will take my donation somewhere else where it is appreciated!

Bad experience again! This time at check out! The new lady refused to give discounts on a blouse because it was not a shirt when in the past I’ve always received the sale price for a blouse even though it says shirts! One employee even said that it was on sale and when I checked out the new lady said «No!» Then she refused to honor the sale price on the shoes because she couldn’t believe how cheap they were already!!!

V weird place. Smells awful. Just a collection of houses (one looks like it and it’s contents were set on fire?) filled with junk. Also the employees take their jobs VERY seriously. Do not recommend going here unless you are desperate to seem some weird weird stuff.

Great place to drop off unwanted stuff. Thrift shop is hit or miss, as can be interactions with the volunteers. Warning: prepare for some of the worst driving you’ve ever seen outside, and watch out for the jerks in the recycling trucks!

May 2014 Unilocal Comment
Grey Bears has been selected by Enlighten USA
for Bright Idea /​Smart Thinking
see:
BROWN BAGS for Seniors in Santa Cruz County is a spectacular success.
Grey Bears is all good.
Even their Thrift Shop is run by Grey Bear volunteers.
The complaint department is located right on the Internet at TrollCentral
and has a branch office right hear on Unilocal.
Still, Grey Bear volunteers are astonishingly marvelous.
Grey Bears has vegetables and picnics and lunches.
The key products are joy /​fun /​kindness /​happy wonderfulness /​bright ideas /​smart thinking and spectacular community connections
I give Grey Gears 5 Stars x 1000 + infinity
JOHN LONGENECKER — Academy Award Winner /​
A New Friend of everyone at Grey Bears

BEWARE GRAY HAIRS!!!
I went in for the 50% off sale and was dumbfounded that the piece I came in for was raised in price $ 40. Thats plain illegal!

You don’t want to go here, all the staff is really old and makes all kinds of mistakes, it takes a half hour for them to ring up a few items, the pricing is all over the place, you might get yelled if it close to closing time, its really weird and dirty.
Good, I hope you listen, because the absolute best vintage and antique scores are here and I want them all to myself!!! and everything I wrote in the first paragraph is completely true, I like getting yelled at by old ladies, its fun!

they have no customer services. I was told by one side to go to the other 4 times and it seams not one person on the lot could give a dam. GOOD WILL FROM NOW ON…

It’s always a crap shoot, as the rearranging of spaces seems to make for less interesting shopping or at least less merchandise highly organized. Isn’t the idea of rearrangement good in theory? Except when it means higher prices on all things of less value. Moving out the old to make room for the new would perhaps help them utilize manpower as lovely volunteers always seem in need of more to keep busy.
Maybe I visited during a changing of the guard?

Please read my review!
I actually have been (and will continue to) volunteering here for almost three weeks now and I absolutely love it! I work in the electronics store just across from the thrift store, although I have worked at the thrift store as well.
I’m surprised to see all these negative reviews about Grey Bears! Almost everyone there is a volunteer and over the age of 55 (minus me, 19). We don’t get paid at all, except for a few people. Most of the elderly I have met there are really nice and caring, with of course a few exceptions. Sometimes rules and regulations get lost with the volunteers (some may forget or not understand them), which causes for confusion. We try our best though!
Someone said the electronics head sells stuff on ebay for his own profit. I have heard of no such thing, but if that were the case, shame on him!
People complain that we only take certain things that are in decent condition. We have a LOT of stuff and even though it may look like we have a lot of space, we really don’t. We want to take more, but the reality is, it just can’t fit!
Ya ya, Goodwill will take anything you have, unlike Grey Bears. Keep in mind though all the workers at Goodwill get paid minimum wage and the CEO of Goodwill, Mark Curran, profits 2.3 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. Let me remind you, almost all of the people at Grey Bears are volunteers who get paid zero dollars an hour.
I love this place & urge everyone to at least come here once, regardless of bad reviews. See it for yourself! I don’t mean to sound angry at all, i was just upset about seeing all these negative reviews!
Come by & see me at the electronics store! :)

I truly despise this place, so much so that I’m finally writing a review and never going back, which is unfortunate. Every time I’ve attempted to purchase something OR donate something here, I’ve been met with bad attitudes and difficult employees. If you are looking to get help while purchasing, either the employees disappear or get rude with you. If you donate, you get the same thing, and employees pick through your items and only pick out the best things to take. Now I don’t need a thrift store employee to kiss my butt nor am I unreasonable and donate things that belong in the trash. However, I do expect employees to at minimum be helpful and courteous, and not be completely absent or rude.
Last time I went to donate, I ended up taking every single thing to Goodwill instead, including the stuff the Grey Bears wanted because I’m not dealing with multiple receipts. Goodwill was happy to receive it and they were very nice there.

This place has gotten so much better! And they used to be good! The place is like the Winchester mystery house in that it just keeps going and going! Amazing men’s shirts, women’s consignment, quality clothes, toys, dishes, furniture. I think the electronics are sold in a completely different section where they take surplus computer parts as I saw NO electronics in the thrift store.
Amazing place!

I went to Grey Bears with my son to volunteer on the brown bag line and drop off an old TV to recycle. There must have been 50 others there helping too, plus about the same number of drivers being loaded up who deliver the bags of mostly fresh produce to seniors. There were young volunteers from a Quaker Camp helping too, so it was multi-​generational.
Afterward, we wandered the facilities. A chair yoga class was being offered right after the bagging, so I made my son take it with me until their thrift stores opened. It was lovely and actually a bit challenging, taught by an engaging female teacher.
Afterward, we shopped a bit in the thrift store before leaving. My son was interested in the computer/​electronics store, which had apparently just moved into a new building, and was being run by a nice youngish man and an older woman. The thrift store was packed full of very nice things. I found a beautiful glass bowel that will make a great wedding gift for a friend’s daughter’s upcoming wedding, and pants and a shirt for my son.
I was surprised by some of these reviews because everyone we met was welcoming and friendly. Thanks Grey Bears for a fun summer diversion!

What awful people. I have a garage full of old computers and electronics that I wanted to recycle. I had heard of Grey Bears ewaste recycling program and it looked great. I tripled checked the web site and it clearly stated that it was open Monday-​Sunday from 7:30am to 3:30pm. So, on Saturday I rented a van and loaded it up with my e-​waste. At noon on Sunday, I checked the web site one more time and headed to Grey Bears to recycle my stuff. I get to Grey Bears and the gates were locked and closed. There was a women closing the Exit gate. I stopped the van and here’s the conversation that transpired:
Me: «Is Grey Bears open.»
Awful women: «No. Grey Bears is not open on Sundays.»
Me: «Your web site says you are open on Sundays until 3:30pm.»
Awful women: «Then go to the website.»
Me: «Wow! What awful customer service.»
Her: «I’m just telling you we are closed.»
Sure, people make mistakes and don’t update their web site but to be mean and sarcastic to someone that wanted to use your service, that’s uncalled for. Especially when you were in the wrong and significantly inconvenienced someone.
Avoid these people like the plague.

This review is based on my experience with the Electronic Waste center.
I went once before to recycle a TV a couple of years ago, I was greeted when I got there, asked if I needed help, and were very kind and helpful.
I went just the other day, and my experience was not so nice. No one acknowledged me. I finally walked up to someone, and said «Where can I recycle this?» (It was a coffee maker) With NO words, the guy grabs it from me, and tosses it and it falls off a table right in front of me. NO «Thank you» no nothing. He was so incredibly rude, and unhelpful.
Based on that, I rather throw my E-​waste in the trash! Won’t be recommending this place again!

I have been watching grey bears change and expand this year. It is evolving into a really nice place to search for all sorts of things. You can buy a bag of books again for $ 5. It’s decorated and orderly. The store hours have increased as well as the building sizes. There are always people there shopping. The service is good from the staff and about the prices… well if you can wait, they have 50% off now every Saturday. That is amazing. So I am checking it out though before 3pm.
I used to volunteer but haven’t for almost two years. It’s a terrific organization for our community.