CommunityAid — Local services in Monroe Township

I have walked around the Selinsgrove store about 20 times since September 2018 so I have pretty good knowledge about what is available for men. I happen to live closer to the Mechanicsburg store which I have visited dozens of times and made many purchases for personal wear. I'm well aware of brands and clothing quality from years of operating a store. Bottom line, Mechanicsburg gets really good stuff on the regular and high end racks while Selinsgrove seems to get all the common items. Only one thing has initially blown me away at the Selinsgrove location and that was a deconstructed custom blazer with surgeon cuffs however it was missing buttons so it was a dud. There is a big difference in quality between the two stores which is discouraging for those who both travel to different stores and those who live in Snyder Co. and rarely travel to Cumberland Co. At the Mechanicsburg store I have no problem finding excellent condition items made by JCrew, Polo, Brooks Brothers, Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Express, Under Armour and other well known quality brands by the cart full but at Selinsgrove it's a lot of lower end brands from Target, Walmart, Old Navy and abused shirts. The "high end" racks at Mechanicsburg are loaded while the racks up front at Selinsgrove are weak at best with overpriced filler items. Just because the name appears to be Italian it doesn't mean its quality. I don't expect Community Aide employees to know all the brands but I'd expect better research before asking $35 for an item just because it's Camel Hair or has a fancy name. Look at eBay sold listings not active listings if that is your pricing source. The same goes for the shoes at this location. A brown pair of women's boots with deep scuffs and non repairable defects for $49?? You are reaching a bit. This review isn't all about price because the reality is 99% of this store is "reasonably" priced but the majority of those items are not high end or even mid grade. I get the whole charity situation and understand not everyone has fist fulls of cash but at the same time not everyone shopping thrift stores is broke or a reseller. I don't mind paying $12 for a sweatshirt if the quality demands it but that hasn't been the case at this store. And before anyone says that's what donated in that area I'll stop you there. I have personally donated over 400 clothing items in 2018 alone to Community Aide many of which had retail tags attached. I donate my items locally and they are dispersed amongst the stores. Since I visit weekly I get to see the things I donated hanging on the racks at both locations. Guess where I found all the lower end items? That's right...Selinsgrove. I believe in helping everyone and I know many of my donations like Columbia Jackets, Jcrew, Polo and so on have clothed some less fortunate people and also were picked up by resellers. That's none of my concern who buys it I am happy to do my part. My complaint if you didn't figure it out is the lack of quality in this store compared to other locations. So yes my northern friends my complaint is for you. I want to see you score a Columbia jacket in good condition if not new with tags. I want to see you stumble upon good condition Jcrew shirts if that's your thing or actual Italian clothing that doesn't cost you a fortune. While I want to give this store 3 stars for its overall lack of quality I think 4 will suffice only because Community Aide is simply better than that other well known and corrupt thrift chain that charges an arm and a leg for everything resulting in thousands of overpriced items being sent to an outlet weekly for people...

I know it's not all about me, but I'm offended on so many levels for people who don't have a lot of money. Thrift stores are supposed to be a place where lower income people can get bargains, and feel better about themselves because they don't have to worry about being judged for wearing lousy clothes. They're supposed to be an outlet where a single mother, father, or low income working family, who can't afford brand name stuff new, take their kids to shop so she won't get bullied for wearing Walmart clothes. But Community Aid's policy is to mark prices offensively high, and drop them little by little until the item sells. I know, because I've watched it happen over years, and because do the same with my e-commerce sales. I don't proclaim to be a non-profit, and my slogan isn't "Neighbors helping neighbors". Their slogan should be: "Why should the people who could use a break have nice things, when, if we wait a few weeks, we'll eventually get 2x as much?"

On top of that, management has always been rude and discourtious. Community Aid used to be TREMENDOUS. Now they screw poor people by pricing them out of items that are donated to benefit them. People who at least used to be able to buy used, can literally get the same thing new, at Marshall's or TJ Max. Even Boscovs is as cheap- as long as they wait for a sale. This place has become a wannabe botique with prices, like Plato's Closet, but without the quality, and by selling things they received entirely free. Please see the attached picture. The same perfume is available online, NEW & UNUSED, for the same price, shipped to your door, not knockoff. Community Aid uses neighbors donations to take advantage of other neighbors. They're terrible. They're the Amazon or Walmart of thrift stores. Crush the competition, then...

Was there today and had a question for management about an item we were really interested in. Very disrespectful. Didn’t respect my time by making me and my mother wait For at least 30 minutes After saying they were going to be right out to help and still never showed. She ended up going on about to do something else. Just feel like they could’ve taken a minute to answer our question considering that the manager on the shift was just a few feet from us at one point rather than tell another employee to tell us to wait just to walk away and never show anyways. Will not be shopping or donating there again. Felt really disrespected as a faithful customer and donator to them. I’m 7 months pregnant and my mother had a hard time getting around. We walked from the front to the back of that store at least 3 times just to get someone’s attention. We first went up front to ask for help in the back and they were supposed to call someone to help and know one ever came. so I had to find someone else who ended up getting the manager on the shift but that manager wasn’t concerned about what we needed help with and went to do something else (after passing along a msg telling us to wait). We waited for at least 20 minutes before we had to walk back upfront just to be told by another employee that the manager was now counting money and we would be waiting awhile..They may have nice things, but that’s it . They could care less about the customers and their time. and I personally am disgusted that someone would just blow us off like that as if we didn’t matter at a place like that. Hope they learn to appreciate there...