I have been a collector at least since I was in elementary school. I enjoy decorating my home in the fall with vintage items like pumpkins, turkey figurines and platters, and pilgrims. I used to be able to find these items quite readily and inexpensively at thrift stores. With the invention of eBay, however, it has gotten harder and harder to find these bargains even at stores that have merchandise given to them. This Goodwill store is definitely a thrift store for those who have money to burn.
When this store was located farther north on Florida Avenue, there was a book room in the back that had excellent buys. That disappeared when Goodwill built and then moved into this cavernous, Art Deco inspired building.
First, I'm not sure why Goodwill felt compelled to build such an expensive architecturally unique building. It must have cost a lot of money to design and erect. In my humble opinion, it was a huge waste of money. I'd much prefer shopping in a thrift store in a run-down building that has bargain basement prices.
Almost all of the merchandise is new. The few things that are vintage or collectible are priced so high that they sit on the shelves so long they get dinged up and chipped - and Goodwill still doesn't mark down the price! An example of this is three or four vintage Lefton birthday girl figurines which are collectible. They were exorbitantly priced between $15.00 and $25.00, depending on their size. Everyone of the figurines either had damage or had been repaired. After several months, hey were still there the last time I visited the store.
The one good thing about this store was the new bathroom, but even that was in disrepair the last time I was there.
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