Goodwill Outlet Store — Local services in Clarksville

Unfortunately my opinion of this place has gone down SIGNIFICANTLY since they opened. This has hurt my rating for the store. Everyone please do their part to make Goodwill Outlet great again!

Many of these things can be easily changed on the corporate level. I have often spoken to cashiers and given time for things to improve, but they have not so it's time for an honest review.

THE ROTATION - F

Rotation is everything at the Goodwill Outlet. The store is laid out so bins can quickly be changed out.

During rotation, the isles are cleared and new bins cannot be touched until all bins are in place and the manager gives the word.

They often skip rotations or only change out few bins. Show up near the end of the hour so you know how rotation is panning out that shift.

Fast rotations rarely happen. People fail to follow directions. They will lag, continuing to shopping in the bins. Then they'll take their time getting to the wall or walk across the entire store while the majority wait.

THE LAYOUT - A+

The store is divided into sections. Clothes and shoes are in bins along the inside bins. Furniture is in the front corner. General merchandise is along the back wall.

PRICING - B

The pricing is simple. With the exception of individually priced items, everything is 1.69 per pound. Each register is equipped with a cart scale and a counter scale. Checkout is a painless process.

Since everything is priced by the pound light items are extremely cheap and heavy items have runaway pricing. Ask for a discount on heavy items.

THE MERCHANDISE - D

When the store opened it was great! Treasure finds were plentiful. These days they're over-picked in the back.

They've changed their focus so they can send more to their private auction site. This has been a problem for many years in their retail store. They're neglecting to service the local shopper looking for a bargain.

It's often crowded enough you can't get anything. I stopped going on the weekends because I rarely found anything.

The store is advertised as as a liquidation center for items that don't sell within six weeks in their regular retail locations. This is not true. Most items have no price sticker on them, which tells me that they were never offered for sale in a retail store (Goodwill is a stickler for pricing everything). Most items are dirty and in very poor condition.

I've had items removed from my cart and refused sale. One time it was the only thing I'd found. Wasted trip.

They focus on safety during bin rotation but you'll often find broken glass, sharp knives, and more sharps right after rotation.

GOOD CUSTOMERS - A+

There are some really great regular shoppers. I know many of them by name and talk to them whenever I go in.

I see them around town and they ask me how I am. They're great!

BAD CUSTOMERS - F-----

Goodwill Outlet attracts some of the worst customers in the area.

I've seen customers INTENTIONALLY break items. Just smash them.

They open boxed games just to dump them out. They fling things to watch them scatter and laugh.

They'll examine something, decide they don't want it, break it, dump it out, scatter it, preventing someone else who might want it to lose interest.

THE TAKEAWAY:

You can still often find overlooked treasures. Bring gloves and wash your hands before you leave. Expect a lot of things to be broken in some way. Be patient. Be courteous. Ask for a discount on very heavy items. Be prepared to be disappointed on...

I'd have given the Outlet four stars earlier in 2020, easy. Now, I am giving a generous two stars.

I was a regular at the Outlet in December 2019, January, February, and part of March, 2020. A great few of months, during which I loved it and bought a lot.

Then, suddenly, about three weeks before the pandemic shutdown, they made one major change: They stopped sorting the books into their own section, and started blending them in with everything else, the wadded mounds of cloths and jagged piles of home decor bric-a-brac. There was no longer a book section, as there had been since the store's start.

This is a deal-killer for me, and for others. The fact is that the books mingled in with all the other junk here are way more likely to be ruined – ripped or beat up and bent up – than before. Why would I buy a book that is bent in half from a chair or 30 pound mirror sitting on it?

I don't know the thinking behind the decision not to keep books separate. But it was NOT a good one. If the Outlet could see their way clear to resume the old way of sorting their stock – books in their own section – you'd make a group of us out here very happy. Don't rethink it, and you've lost a segment of your pre-sold audience for good. (I checked back in June 12. Still no...

Store New Albany, Indiana . Absolutely Horrible, nothing like the stores in New Albany or Corydon, which I love. Clothing was in very large bins set about 4 foot wide, 30 foot long, large isle then large walkway then same thing with household and toys in another large set of bins. I didn't see a price on anything. Everything was sold by weight. With no way to check or know what the weight is until you check out. I do have to say the store was very clean; they clean the floor on schedule. Every clothing bin is moved out floors swept them moved back in while the customer stands against the wall. I'm glad my friend didn't go in because they couldn't stand that long. I will never go to this store again and if your other stores are changing to this way I will never shop nor donate to Goodwill Again. A...