American Thrift Store Miami — Attraction in Cutler Bay

Update: awful awful customer service. I will now only come back here if in an extreme pinch. Every visit recently has been a worse experience than the previous. Yesterday I found the cutest Cars overall set for my 3 yo. It was $3 (and not their tag color). The lady said she couldn't sell it to me because it wasn't a set. It was on the hanger as a set. Yes, but tags that are a set have a second tag with xxs on it, this doesn't have that so its not a set. I understand that, I'm familiar. But surely, you can see that $3 for a tiny unbranded shirt doesn't make sense. There was no manager on duty apparently and they refused to sell me both items, only the shirt. The cashier put it aside and said I could come back in the morning and try to get it. I only returned because my son really wanted it and I don't live far. I returned in the morning before 10am to find the basket it was in was emptied. I stood at the counter for a good five minutes with no acknowledgement from the two cashiers there. One lady saw me standing there and didn't say anything, just passed by several times as she put fliers on the counter and chatted with the other person. I finally had to say Excuse me loudly. When I explained the situation, she basically didn't care. Sorry, anything gets put back in the back and back onto the floor. The girl who had been there the day before just said I told you to be back by 9:30, sorry. Never had such poor customer service. I realize now stupidly that she didn't mean I'll save it for you if you come back in the morning. It was meant, come first thing so you can try to get it before someone else because it'll be back on the floor. What BS. I still don't see how something as little as a $3 outfit couldn't have been accommodated. I wasn't trying to buy an expensive outfit and pitching a fit because it couldn't be sold. The cashiers the evening before just kept saying how they are just cashiers and can't do anything. Then have a cashier on every shift who has the authority to make calls. Just sour experience all around.

I loved this store when they first opened a couple months ago; spent way too much but was finding amazing deals every time I went, whether it color of the day or not. Once a Henri Bendel bag that just needed a cleaning for $20! Lately I've been fairly disappointed when I've gone and left with little that seemed worth it. Their purse and bag selection quality has gone way down, crappy brands, and if designer brands, crappy condition or charging online reseller prices, like $50 for an okay Coach or MK bag. They use eBay to price higher end items, and now anything remotely worthwhile is put behind the counter and priced at exorbitant eBay prices. It reminds me of the prices you'll see old Disney VHS tapes at on eBay - just bc someone listed it at that, doesn't mean people are buying at that. It's supposed to be a thrift store, not resell market. I have barely found anything that's the marked down color of the day on recent visits, making me wonder if they are now pulling the same strategy as Goodwill has been accused of. Toys were always a great treasure find, now those have gone way up too. Last week they had several Hess trucks, helicopters and cars but all priced at $10-15 and no way to know if they worked! I found one in the box in immaculate condition last yr at a local antique shop for $20. No thanks. There are still finds to be had here, so I still come (better prices and quality than goodwill even still) but be prepared to take your time, look and research their prices on...

Good prices, for the most part. Especially for clothes. The special pricing on some items can be ridiculous. I saw a mirror for $149.99. A regular used bed pillow for $8. The electronics section contains used items marked at full price as if they were brand new. Incredible.

The dressing rooms are always full and there is no organized line.

But the worst part is how staff and customers alike will make FULL BODY CONTACT with me while I'm minding my own business browsing the racks. When you enter this store, expect to forfeit all rights to your body and personal space.

I actually had one woman (customer) reach directly in front of me and browse the hangers directly in front of my face. (It wasn't even crowded. How badly do you need to check those specific clothes??)

5 minutes later, one employee pressed her body right up against me to hang clothes directly in front of me. No words. No "excuse me."

The people here can behave like wild animals. I don't know who raised them, but "Excuse me, sorry," is really easy to say. There's no good reason for not saying it.

Also, it's free to have manners. Anyone can do it. There is no "glass ceiling" or "institutional racism" attached to having manners. It's simply a choice.

From a business perspective, it does not increase cost or prices to be polite to your customers. In fact, you do better business when you are polite and professional. Seems pretty obvious, but apparently this store has not figured it out yet. They sometimes go out of their way to be unpleasant. It's shocking.

Also, whether the store is very busy or not, there is usually a long wait in line. Expect to wait ~20 minutes. Even at its busiest on a Sunday, this store will have just one register open. I don't know why they have roughly 10 registers if they're going to keep them all closed.

I am a repeat customer, unfortunately. I absolutely hate coming here, but the prices can't be beat. Goodwill is more...

I have mixed feelings about American Thrift. They're still fairly new, and when they opened they had amazing prices... but only for a little while. Now most of their prices have gone way, way up, with a lot of items being surprisingly expensive and overpriced. I've been told some customers tried moving price stickers from one item to another, which caused the staff to not sell anything they suspect has been tampered with. I found that out when I wanted to buy a particular item which didn't have a pricetag on it; the cashier was super nice about it and checked with their supervisor to see if they could price it on the fly (if that was you, thank you!), but ultimately refused to sell it, saying I'd have to come back multiple times over the next few days saying it "might" be repriced, if I wanted a chance at finding it again (and since that seemed unlikely, I didn't bother trying, haha). I have found a couple of things here; there are sometimes gems to be uncovered on the giant wall of tchotchkes, They have some books on that same wall that are super cheap, but any books they decide have more potential to sell wind up displayed in separate areas with their own drastically upped prices, too. On the whole, I'm sadly a little less enthused with this place every time I visit. It's sometimes worth popping in for a quick look around when I'm going to the nearby Aldi anyway, but otherwise, with how quickly prices have soared after opening, I don't think it'll usually have much to be found--at least,...