St. Vinnie's - Albany Thrift Store — Local services in Albany

Large selection of used furniture. Prices range from decently good to grossly overpriced. I do not recommend purchasing large appliances here. Bought a home with no appliances and purchased refrigerator and electric range here, each being just under $350. No major issue with refrigerator, although the dryer sheets left inside made it smell weird for a while even after cleaning. The range didn't work, and would've returned if they hadn't provided then taken back my 90 day warranty card during loading. The unit was loaded on it's side, which isn't unusual. The only communication we had about the warranty being void was the refrigerator specifically it were to be turned on it's side (which makes sense) and we communicated coming back at a later date with another vehicle for this. Wasn't thrilled after paying and beginning to load into vehicle to learn this would apply to range too, and should have returned then. The stove top worked, but to get oven working we spent $180 in new parts and fixed ourselves. Could have bought a new unit for the total cost spent. Lesson learned. Should be policy to check larger and more expensive items for working condition prior to pricing and selling to the community and all conditions should be made clear prior...

Well, to start, I was sold a women’s ‘shirt’, for 4.99 that had bleach stains and missing a button. Upon further inspection, it is actually part of a pajama set🧐. The clothes I purchased were extremely overpriced for a thrift store, let alone a Catholic-run one (clothes otherwise would be in a landfill). Laughable price points really. The speakers were blaring Christmas music so loudly that I was flustered and tried to hurry out, which is why I didn’t notice the shirt’s disrepair. I realized on the trip home that the clothes were quite stinky in the confines of my vehicle. So I quickly tore off tags to launder them, before they stunk up the house. I just now tried to return the sad, damaged shirt. I came with my receipt and even saw the person who rang me up for the shirt originally, but the manager would not only not allow a return, but refused store credit 🙄. To be fair though, management is probably just taking orders from the greedy, corporate higher-ups. ✝️Thank you to the darling cashier, who did rally management, to listen to my saga (to no avail). St. Vinnie what happened? You used to be affordable. You used to actually help folks in need. Sending ‘booooos’ & ‘hisses’ from the parking lot. I will definitely not...

Expensive and dishonest

I was purchasing several items and was so excited to find a cardigan that fit well. I brought my items to the cashier and she kept looking at the cardigan. I thought she was looking for the blue tag, but she showed me another tag at the wrist marked .99 at first I thought it was a sale and was excited. She said “no, it’s a STAR item”. “A what?” I asked. Supposedly, if their workers like an item they put a special ticket on it and charge more for it. I told her it was in with all the rest of the sweaters. Didn’t matter. Then she changed the tag to $12.99….excuse me? Bait and switch anyone?? It was an off brand too…maybe I could understand if it was a luxury piece but it wasn’t. It was such a huge let down. I’m a teacher and set a limited budget for clothing.

They also have a few racks marked as “vintage” with prices in excess of $100 for items that wouldn’t bring near that in an actual vintage shop. I don’t know who is running this place, but thrift stores should help out those who can’t afford to shop new, and that’s not really...