Thrift store review: Goodwill Outlet

Update: the Goodwill Outlet in Colorado Springs has now moved and is located at 2855 S. Academy Blvd.  Items are now priced by the pound.

When we had the Goodwill color tag rotation guessing game awhile back, some of you were surprised to learn that there’s a Goodwill Outlet right here in the Springs!  They moved locations a couple of years ago, and I’d been to their old one on Platte but not their new location on El Paso, and I thought it was high time for another visit and review.

The Goodwill Outlet is located at 3506 North El Paso, just a few blocks north of Fillmore.  It’s pretty small, much smaller than a normal Goodwill.

There’s two rooms – as you enter, there’s a couple of tables and a small area for books, toys, electronics, and housewares, and then clothes racks line a couple of walls.

The second room is basically wall-to-wall clothing, with a couple of tables of shoes.  I was curious how the “outlet” part of the store worked, so I asked Laura from Goodwill to explain a little bit about the process. In response to how long items stay on the floor at the Outlet, she said that typically items are in the outlet for about a week.  New items are added daily.  So, it sounds like the stock rotates pretty frequently.

The items that are sold at the Outlet at the ones that don’t sell in the “regular” stores in their normal four-week cycle.  Because of space constraints at the Outlet, they don’t always send everything that doesn’t sell to the Outlet – just whatever they have room for.

The prices at the Goodwill Outlet are rock-bottom: adult clothing is $1 (I believe children’s clothing is 50¢), shoes are $1, purses and luggage are $1, books and toys are 25¢.  No refunds or returns are accepted.

I didn’t find much that suited my taste at the outlet – however, I am pretty confident that if you spent sometime looking, you could definitely find some hidden treasures.  There were a lot of clothes straight from the 1980s, but I did see some a nice pair of boys’ shorts and some little boys’ shoes that were totally worth the 50¢ and $1 they were priced at.

Just keep in mind that you probably won’t walk into the outlet and find something you just have to have in the first thirty seconds, like it seems always happens to me at the other Goodwill stores.  It will take some searching, but you know that’s how the best deals are found anyway!

Laura also let me know that on occasion the Goodwill Outlet will run a grab bag sale on the weekend.  The best way to find out about these is to call the store – and of course if I happen to find out about one ahead of time, I’ll certainly let you know!

You can view a few more photos of the Goodwill Outlet on Flickr.

Carrie’s Take

What was good:

• Rock-bottom prices

And not as good:

• Obviously, the best stuff is generally going to sell in the “normal” Goodwill stores, so you’ll have to search quite a bit more to find something you want to buy.

Goodwill Outlet Information

Location: 3506 N. El Paso St. (just north of Fillmore)
Phone: 719.328.1899
Website: Goodwill-ColoSprings.org
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM
Parking: parking lot
Payment Methods Accepted: cash, Visa, Mastercard – no checks.

Have you been to the Goodwill Outlet?  Find any amazing deals that you can’t believe didn’t get snatched up before they made it to the Outlet?  Share your own opinions by leaving a comment; I’d love to hear!

More thrift store reviews here.