MyThriftStores St Paul — Local services in Saint Paul

I used to like this store. I still come about once a week out of habit but am starting to leave empty handed more often than not.

Coming here Saturday or Sunday is a waste of time. Merchandise isn't replenished.

Book section is garbage now. No organization and shelves are frequently empty-ish. If you go to bathroom, you can see a giant box filled with books and books stacked on a table in their sorting area. How hard is it put them on a shelf? Pathetic. They don't price them individually and, as far as I can tell, the person putting on the shelves can't tell subject matter or doesn't bother to sort. Thieves don’t read; add a book button to checkout screen so don’t need employee to enter. Same price every book. $1.49. Stop wasting customer and employee time.

I have never seen the manager on the floor. He should be regularly walking the floor checking on status of things not hiding in that little room in the back.

"Carpet" in this place is nasty. Pull that junk up and change it to polished concrete.

Shopping carts / baskets with wheels are weird. Majority have wheels clogged with hair so don't roll right.

There is unprofessional atmosphere which encourages theft. Employees don’t have any kind of uniform or name tag or nothing. Give them apron or hat or something with store logo. To non-regulars, they can like creeps loitering and leering at customers.

Store's division of labor seems stupid. Four people up front. One behind jewelry counter. One manning door to tackle people walking out without paying (I guess). 1-2 supervising self-checkouts. If theft is that bad just have a checkout with cashiers. Less theft, better customer service. When replenishing shelves, an employee pushes a cart of random things all around the store and puts them on shelves. Very inefficient. I imagine someone, probably some boomer manager from corporate, thinks that they are a management genius and that customers see this and think new items are always coming out. No, customers see wasted movement and a lot of empty space on shelves.

Change aisle layout so poles not in middle of aisle. Better customer service. Reorient clothing racks so it’s visible from employees / cashiers. ...

I have met the locally infamous Ethiopian manager. He DOES NOT wear a name tag and he didn't give me his name in our encounter. I was walking on a 90 degree day and I stopped in to check out the local thrift store and cool down. I had my army patterned backpack on. I saw NO SIGN that stated "Backbacks MUST be checked in with management before browsing the store." I was carrying fishing poles in my hands as well so I did not have free or idle hands. I walked around for a few minutes and then I sat near the dressing rooms. (See picture) Where the employee was wearing open heel slippers. The manager came up to me with no credentials or name tag. As I was reading the comments about that specific manager on Google maps. I asked him if he was, indeed, Ethiopian as the post claimed. He looked at me shocked and said "yes I am Ethiopian. How did you know?" I told him about the post and consequently showed it to him. He laughed about it and we walked to the front. I was about to leave when he asked to search my bag. I had nothing to hide and everything to prove. I asked him "Are you accusing me of stealing then?" The manager, with a cashier watching, replied "yes, yes." Then the employee stated "no, we never accuse people of stealing!" Either way I said "so be it." I opened my bag to show my fishing gear and my water bottles. He was shocked and I didn't even finish opening my bag before he said "okay thank you. We just have a problem with shoplifting at this store. I hope you understand." Then the cashier GRABBED my fishing pole and looked it up and down for tags before stating "unfortunately, not everybody is as honest as you. Have a nice day." I then promptly left because there were about 70 other people with bags and backpacks but they didn't speak English so they're hard to stop. Prices a little high. They have quite the variety though! Often busy and full. Typically, you'll encounter...

I'll start by saying, I do like this place. I WANT to like this place, but I think they are getting very close to pricing themselves out of what should be appropriate for calling yourself a "thrift" store. Some items are priced liked you expect for a thrift store. Other items (particularly clothing) are priced far ABOVE the price for even new. An example, I saw a baseball bat priced at $100 (yes, one hundred). I found the exact model on ebay for $19.99, and in even better condition (the grip was torn on the one in store). Jerseys seem to start at around 40-50 dollars for a used, often obscure player. I saw American Eagle jeans for $35. I'd have a hard time even finding jeans priced that high on their own website buying new. Anything vintage is automatically marked high, often without any rhyme or reason. I don't know if this will get read by management, but I think there needs to be a large overhaul on the pricing of such items. My guess is they just price it high and "hope" someone unknowledgeable to value buys it, and if not, will probably (or maybe not) sell when it hits 75% off after sitting around for a month. Trust me, if a lot of these items were priced more appropriately, you'd have items flying off the shelf (because they do have good stuff!). I'd fill my cart routinely, but often I leave with just a single item or empty handed. If I wanted to pay ebay prices, I could do so without having to leave the comfort of my own couch. If your response to my advice is "we're doing just fine", my response to that is "sure, but you could do much, much better. With that said, I'm trying to support this place with regular visits, it's fun to see all...