Goodwill Store & Donation Center — Attraction in West Chicago Township

Dear Goodwill Corporate Team,

I would like to report an incident that occurred at your 1201 W. Washington Boulevard location at approximately 1:30 PM today. My parents had finished purchasing some faux flowers along with other items. As my parents were exiting, they were approached by your theft security employee: Crystal. (As a note: we called the store and she provided the first name Crystal, but refused to provide a last name. Hopefully, this is her real name. If resources allow, I would appreciate if you could verify this information.)

Immediately, Crystal approached my parents with a degrading and aggressive tone of voice. She accused my parents of stealing the flowers, when they, in fact had paid for them along with their other purchases. We asked that she check our receipt to rectify the situation and verify that we had indeed paid. Instead, she aggressively grabbed the receipt from my hand and screamed that the flowers were $1.99 a piece, rather than $1.99 for the bunch. The flowers at this Goodwill location do not have price tags. Henceforth, we were not aware of the price. We put our trust in the cashier to scan our purchases accordingly, since that is the job of the cashier after all. Additionally, my parents have purchased flowers at this location on many occasions—priced at $1.99 for the bunch. With the price precedent aside, how were my parents supposed to know that the flowers were $1.99 a piece when there are no price tags or signs on the wall indicating such pricing?

The situation immediately began to escalate with Crystal screaming that my parents are shoplifters, and accusing them of intentionally misleading the cashier. During this exchange, I kindly requested that Crystal speak to my sister and I due to the fact that English is not my parents’ first language. She replied, “I don’t care. Those people shoplifted at my store.” She continued to point fingers at my parents, screaming that “those people” were “shoplifters.”

This was incredibly disappointing to hear. My parents, immigrants whose first language is not English, were left in a vulnerable position of being unable to defend themselves. With Crystal screaming that they were “shoplifters,” they were humiliated in front of the entire store. With the rise of anti-Asian sentiments in the city, I cannot help but perceive this situation as a form of racial profiling. Her lack of care for my parent’s inability to defend myself due to the language barrier; her utter disrespect for them, my sister, and I; her aggressive words pelting us without mercy. Her labeling of “those people” as “shoplifters.”

I am angered and disappointed by this situation. Up until this point, I have been a loyal customer of this store. After this incident, I will not be returning to this store. I ask that the Goodwill Corporate Team take the necessary steps to address this heinous incident. We would like to request that disciplinary action be taken against Crystal. Goodwill should not tolerate employees who harass and racially profiled their customers.

My parents are also frequent shoppers at this location and are now hesitant to come back as they may be subjected to Crystal’s discrimination once more. As a company that prides itself on dismantling discrimination of any kind, I hope that Goodwill takes...

Hit it every time I'm in town. I watch reviews, and wanted to toss my 2 cents in. The staff is about a 50/50 split. Some are very nice and friendly. Helpful and constantly working. Hustling around constantly putting stuff away and trying to keep things in order. Others are rude, don't care about customers in the slightest. Will literally push past you to unhappily stock or whatever they can do to hide and look busy. Prices aren't bad and it's a typical thrift store. As with everything prices have increased exponentially over last couple years. It's always a treasure hunt. Always a guessing game. Don't buy anything electrical. Not a coffee pot or vacuum. Only a couple outlets to check anything. And they don't like you looking things over very closely. Worst part is parking which is not all on the store it's city life. Their is none close unless you get lucky. You may have to walk a block or two. This is nothing like the goodwill in my hometown. The store itself is kinda dirty. Could use a good mopping more than anything. Disorganized and busy combined make for bad attitudes. Customers don't help either, they drop something they don't pick it up. Theft is noticeable, as in cords that were taped to a device when it was brought out are gone within minutes. By the time you go to look at something you seen being brought out the cord or remote will be gone. Like I said it's a treasure hunt, with luck and an easy dose it attitude you'll have a nice experience. If your shopping and thinking you'll have a normal retail store experience your very wrong. Target is only a few blocks away if that's what you want. And honestly prices can be about the same. Have fun and kill some time there it's...

I will never and I mean never shop or donate another item to this store and company! I bought an expensive item here not even 24 hours before and the item doesn’t work and it’s broken physically! I went back as soon as the store open looking to maybe get a store credit or and exchange seeing as I like supporting the store and would’ve found something else I needed or wanted, however the male manager was rude and very ignorant! He didn’t try to help me in any form or fashion and was very dismissive when I tried to explain the situation. I bought the headphones for my grandson and to see the disappointment when it didn’t work made me have to purchase another one from Walmart! I could see if I had the item for more then 24 hours but no I didn’t I even had my original receipt and was very polite! At this point I won’t ever shop here and will never give this company another cent of my money. From now on I will give to the Salvation Army at least they have better customer service and treat you like your money matters. Management needs to do something about this policy because you definitely just lost a loyal...