Mercer Island Thrift Shop — Local services in Mercer Island

If you'd like to actually go thrifting, shopping here has become pointless.

Prices are completely divorced from reality.

MITS now generally tags items between 1.5x and 5x higher than prices in actual consignment shops and eBay stores. I should know... I ran a large eBay store for years! I couldn't have gotten half of what they now ask for clothes and shoes.

For example: today, I saw they had some cool pants from an Italian maker that, resold by actual, for-profit resellers might go for $80-$120.

"Thrift Shop" price? $250. 🙄

To be clear, this is the rule, not the exception. It really is rampant—especially in menswear. You could slash all the prices in the menswear section by 50%, and I could still probably count the actual bargains on my fingers.

As their prices increased, item turnover has decreased. Now when I show up, the shelves are more-or-less stocked with the same grotesquely expensive items that were there last month... Because why would anyone buy them? Even "on sale", there's just no point.

I can't imagine that prices that high actually help them move inventory, either... It doesn't matter what you charge if you can't sell things!

I used to go multiple times per week. Recently, I've maybe gone once per month.

Today, I finally left in disgust after they priced an unmarked tie—the first potential bargain I'd seen in ages—at $40. What a ​shame. Six years shopping here, but I don't think I'll be back.

Normally I don't go off this much, and I feel bad because they're an NFP, but this is just a complete waste of a good thrift shop....

I would have given this place 5 stars the first few times I visited back in 2013. There was a super nice guy working back then who was either the manager or the one in charge of pricing. His warm personality was always welcoming and I felt like a valued customer (he was the only staff member who actually greeted ALL customers upon entry AND checked on guests throughout the store)... However, since 2014 I haven't seen this gentleman but the rest of the staff will watch me walk in the door, never speak and even staff members around the store just walk right by me. On several occasions, I have observed how other customers in the store are treated and notice a much warmer welcome. When I'm the only person of color usually in the store when I go, it leaves me to wonder if there are some prejudicial issues going on here. Why should a customer have to greet first or hunt down staff for assistance when the entire store is fully staffed? Hire people who want to serve ALL types of people. Find better production staff for pricing based on current value, trend and brand. I see responses beneath lots of reviews pertaining to customer service and pricing issues. What ACTIONS are...

I hadn’t been here for awhile so I decided to take a look while my husband and kids went to get fresh produce from the farmers market. There was a sign at the door about bags, I glanced over it (because I was just carrying my purse) and walked in. I was stopped at the door by an employee who said I needed to leave my purse at the counter. Are you serious? I was very confused. My purse isn’t huge (mom of 5 kids big I guess) but I was told it was too large. I told the woman I wasn’t comfortable leaving my purse with employees and she suggested I leave it in my car (umm…I have an SUV and don’t want it broken into, especially if the store is seeing a theft problem). I told her I wouldn’t be shopping there anymore and went and joined my family at the farmers market. Looking back, I would have been fine if an employee wanted to escort me through the store while I shopped since I don’t steal. With them not trusting me and them thinking I’d trust them with my purse which holds many types of identification and money/credit cards, I don’t see myself ever supporting or shopping there...