The Salvation Army Family Store & Donation Center — Local services in Independence Charter Township

To start off with this is just in regards to the donation part of the business. I have never been inside the store to shop. On Monday I attempted to make a donation there was an employee sitting outside who I believe had the job of telling people they don’t except donations on Monday. This literally makes no sense if you have an employee standing outside whose job it is to tell you that they’re not excepting donations why can’t they take the donations. On my second attempt to make a donation my coffee table was turned down because the dock worker said there was paint overspray. I explained that this isn’t paint overspray it’s just dirt. This is a marble slab coffee table which originally purchased at over $600 could easily have sold for $100 with no issues. I proceeded to pull up 10 feet and move out of the line I grabbed a water bottle and a napkin and wiped off the dirt that he claimed was paint overspray. I could’ve taken it back but I realize that why would I give a donation to a place that isn’t grateful or willing to except the gift that I am giving. I called the manager to have a conversation who basically told me that they can’t take everything they have too much coming in. Which is why they don’t have donations on Monday. I would recommend taking your donations to an organization That is grateful and appreciative of the effort you’re making to drop off those donations. Over the years not only have I volunteered at the Detroit location but I’ve also donated monetarily and literally thousands of dollars in closing items to this location. This will be the last time I make an effort to give any donations to an organization that...

Update 3/8/25: For some reason I like to torture myself and I tried this location again after a 2 year break. This time $70 worth of clothes and odds and ends. Still rude snippy cashiers. I would rather spend more money for new (and with their price creep, it's not THAT much more expensive).

I buy a lot of speakers for different projects. Used speakers are always hit or miss. Sometimes you can't tell if they are any good without putting some decent sound through them. Anyway, looking for a set last Saturday. Couldn't find anything I like at Oxford came over here. Saw a decent subwoofer for $15 grabbed it. The snippy woman at the cash register say, "did you make sure it works? we don't accept returns on electronics". I said, when did that start? Oxford always let's me swap speakers because half of the time they are junk. "Oh, they just started that policy" uhuh, and how am I supposed to know if it's a good speaker? "there is a uh plug right over there" ookk, plug it in, light comes on. k, that's about all I can determine at this point. For $15, I'll take the gamble. 1 minute at home...nope, blown cone. guess who is done w/ Salvation army? Oh, and I never just buy speakers, I always bring the kids and tell them to get what they want. But hey...you guys need "policies" for you charity work. I'm done. Just a hint, Goodwill accepts returns including their online venues. I have a policy too. I never support businesses that use the...

Outrageously overpriced! It should be illegal for a store that's supposed to be "thrift" to mark things higher than retail...higher than antique stores. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I've seen the same items sitting on the shelf for weeks and weeks because it's marked too high. They would rather let things not sell and sit there, than to price things reasonably and move them. That is horrible.

Salvation Army has completely lost touch with the fact that they are supposed to be a "thrift" store, a sanctuary for people on hard times or a limited budget to shop.

Often i see chipped or broken ceramics (making their true value close to zero) marked for 8, 12, even 17.99! Today i wanted to buy a simple ceramic planter and it was marked for $14.99!! A small bag of diapers was $5.99. I can walk into Walgreens right now and buy them for that. That is absurd. Who are they helping by over charging. THEMSELVES, that's who.

Donate somewhere else, shop somewhere else. Or, if you see something there that you like, try looking it up on ebay first. You will most likely be able to find it...