Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette — Attraction in Albany

Today, my two daughters & granddaughter stopped in the Albany Goodwill 9/20. My granddaughter found a bracelet she wanted, so it was being held at the counter for her while we all shopped. Later, one of my daughters had been waiting at the jewelry counter for at least 10 or 15 mins without being acknowledged even ONCE. She wanted to give me another bracelet to purchase. Since we couldnt get help any help at that side of the counter, my granddaughter and I went and got in line. We decided to wait for the checker at the jewelry counter register so we could buy both bracelets without having to inconvenience a checker on the other side. However, the checker we had the displeasure of dealing with, refused to help us, even though they were working the Jewelry case side of the registers - no more than a foot away. The first two times i asked them to please get me the other piece of jewelry so i could pay for both, they 100% ignored me. They even acted put off that they had to find the bracelet being held for us. Not a smile, a nod, a glance; not a single word to ANY of us. We were inconveniencing that person.

The third time I asked them to "please help us get the other bracelet," they flat out told me "NO." They said they "could open the case to get it for us, but they weren't going to." I was shocked. They told us to "step aside and wait until the line was gone first," then they would get it for us. What??? It would have taken them no more than 5 seconds to grab it & there were 3 other checkers working that same line: the one WE HAD JUST WAITED IN LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. I was absolutely stunned.

I have never been treated so rudely at any Goodwill store in my ENTIRE life. In fact, we usually find Goodwill employees to be friendly, kind & helpful. Not this person.

We weren't waiting for another 15 mins - just because. I told them to keep it & we left. No things are worth tolerating that. There was no excuse for this person behavior, whatsoever. We probably won't be back to that store again...

We have been donating to and sometimes shopping at Goodwill for years. Recently I took a donation in. An hour later, we discovered that our resident three year old had dropped her mother's smartphone into the bag of items to be donated! I called the store immediately, thinking there was a good chance we could get it back. I provided a detailed description of the phone, including the photo saved on the front. The manager I spoke with said that electronic items like that were put into a box to go to Portland. She looked for it and said she didn't find it. She said she would check further and call me back. She didn't. I called back a few hours later. The first manager had left. The second one I talked with said that all items donated that morning had already gone out on the afternoon truck to Salem. No mention of a box to Portland. While I was on the phone with her, a staff told her they had received a smart phone that morning. Why in the world they didn't put it aside to wait and see if it had been donated by mistake is beyond me. Of course when I called Salem, they said they got 15 truckloads a day and there was no way they could find a single item. I'm guessing that the phone was immediately sold to a staff member in Albany and never put on the truck. This could have been handled...

The first thing you notice upon entering this Goodwill location is the organization of the store. It is well organized and easy to locate specific areas. They have a nice selection of books, DVDs, clothing, shoes, accessories, and other miscellaneous items.

The downside of Goodwill is the prices. They are way too high for thrift store shopping, especially since the items have been donated. It is really difficult for me to justify paying most of these prices for used items. I often find it to be cheaper to purchase items brand new from the department stores.

I haven't experienced any rude or demeaning staff members at this location. They have all been friendly and helpful. The store is normally clean, well stocked, and organized. It appears that the employees generally take pride in the appearance of this Goodwill location.

Overall, I struggle with recommending Goodwill due to the high prices. However, you can find a couple deals at times while browsing the store. Goodwill does offer some good programs for...