Goodwill Retail & Donation Center — Local services in Punta Gorda

Been going to this goodwill since their old location more south of Jones loop road for about 8 years. I usually spend $80+ dollars every visit if not more usually it's $100 lately. I've never been treated so rudely while donating or shopping with a business as a local that I've been "supporting" in my own community. It's mainly been since they moved to their new bigger location by Dominos and the liquor store. They don't want to take your stuff or say snarky things upon donating most of the time I'm not always donating top of the line big items but usually good quality kids a latest styles of ladies clothes decent name brands much I could resell online if I wanted just don't have much time. I was there last week 15 minutes before they closed I wanted to try on two pairs of jeans before I checked out and the lady rudely barks as I'm walking in there quickly bc I know they are about to close she yells it sounded abrasive "my dressing rooms are closed"... So I put them back and was about to get in line but the line was so long. I found an aisle close to the register to browse some kids clothes waiting for there to be two people in front of me to go get in line. The same lady comes dangling the "stragglers" up o guess yelling the store closes in 10 minutes and that we need to go to the register kind of rude sounding again and felt like she was targeting me... Even though there was at least 6 people in that line and two cashiers who were may I add very nice and usually are decent and somewhat friendly.All of this to say I am probably not going to be shopping here anymore bc of the repeated rudeness I feel when I go either shop or donate... I can go buy nicer stuff at a regular store or try Salvation Army they never treated me poorly like this. It's just even more sad bc I usually go for a short trip like a hour or two every couple weeks as a solo de-stressing trip to see if I can find something cool, it's usually for relief from my daily stresses at home providing for others and I go to pour into my own cup to be greeted and treated poorly on my little bit of time off and then PAY them to treat me...

My children and I were racially profiled in the Punta Gorda Goodwill today! Unfortunately the "ladies" working at this location have no customer service skills or knowledge on how to approach customers. The "manager" NICOLE basically came up to me while I'm shopping and accused me of leaving my 5 year old child unsupervised and accused him of taking a candy from the front. When I looked at my child he said he didn't take anything, and she insisted that I find it and bring it back. Mind you my son does not take candy and eat it in the stores- he even said to me "mommy I wouldn't eat a candy without paying for it". Also- my son was not unsupervised. He was either with me or my aunt. After I got to the register to pay for my two items the manager insisted again that I find the candy and bring it back or she would charge me for it. Keep in mind this was in front of other customers. You will not accuse me or my 5 year old son of stealing a $2 bag of stale candy from a Goodwill. She said VANESSA which is her boss would check them, so I insisted that she do. In the end Nicole(the manger) ran to the back once she saw were recording the incident- and as I left the cashier said "ADIOS". If that isn't a hint of racial profiling I don't know what is.

**I ended up leaving my two items that I was going to purchase.

I just believe the situation could have been addressed with more professionalism, discretion, and empathy especially involving a 5 year old child. The other worker Ann Marie was the one who was accusing my child as well.

SWFL Corporate team has...

I FREQUENT goodwill and can literally spend hours there...I did find a shirt that was there that I liked priced at 7 which normally id have no issue with, im guessing they didnt see that there were a bunch of stains down the front of the shirt it was disgusting. So I asked since 7 Is actually high for a reg used t shirt at goodwill if they'd do anything off of it. They refused and were not even friendly about it...said once its priced its priced which I know is a crock because another location sold me a shirt with a fairly large hole in the back that they missed, they discounted it a dollar. I would have been happy with SOMETHING.but they were nasty and couldn't be bothered. So I wont be bothered to go back there and really there are locations priced way better than this one, plus I guess their ac is broken because its hotter than the gates of hell....maybe that is why they're so nasty and miserable... if you want filthy clothing for a higher price than most, go to this location 🤷‍♀️ THEIR REVIEWS SPEAK...