Habitat for Humanity ReStore - Greater Salt Lake Area — Local services in Salt Lake City

I used to love shopping here. I used to find really nice stuff, lightly used to brand new. Considering all of their inventory is donated, you would think that things would be reasonably priced… NOPE. After a year, I watched the guy that runs the store, Alan, super inflated the prices. Stuff that was sold for $3 is now $8-10! I’ve seen items from the dollar store sold here for more than a dollar. Additionally, you would think they’d cut the prices when they have too much inventory…. NOPE. Last time I was in, I could hardly move around to look at stuff. Just go to Lowe’s or Home Depot, Alan likes to price his inventory at retail market value, not second hand value. Go to the D. I. or Savers for furniture, Alan prices theirs for double or triple what you would find elsewhere. Lastly, Alan does not know how to train his employees. A friend of mine went in to get some new furniture for their home, we talked to an employee to put an item on hold so we could figure out if it’ll fit in the house. Our name was on the item. When we got back maybe an hour or two later, the same day, the item had been sold. No one told us any policies or restrictions to putting an item on hold. Alan wouldn’t negotiate anything for us, absolutely nothing, not even a discount. We were treated like we made the mistake instead of the employee. I went back in a week later and the same thing happened to someone else, except this time they bought the item first and then returned to find out another employee sold it and there was no record of the transaction. Very very poor quality management and customer service. Someone who has experience running a thrift store should take over for him. He has no idea what he’s doing, no idea how to...

Used to love this place. It’s always dirty and chaotic but great to find very specific things. I’ve been coming here for years and have donated a fair amount of materials as well as bought a lot of hardware for projects. Pretty disappointed in the prices in the past year… I just went in to buy 1, 6 ft piece of wood and 5 2 ft pieces. They all had been previously used and filled with nails. They tried to charge me $25. I can easily go to Lowe’s and get 5, 8 ft pieces for that price.. or more. I also find it ironic that they are a non profit who is supposed to make home and building materials affordable, yet they have had 2 nightstands there for $2,000. The nightstand have been there for at least 6 months. These wouldn’t even sell on KSL for that much. It’s just absurd. Article furniture or things in the box, that are newer but returned with blemishes, are donated. I’m sure people wouldn’t support their donations being exploited with absurd pricing. Let me also share that I’ve heard Alan, the store manager yell at kids who are working, yell at store workers, and belittle everyone. Constantly gaslighting. I’ve been shocked at what I hear. The people who are volunteers should not be talked to that way. Nor should Alan talk down to people who have clear cognitive delays. The attitude of the store is much different than it used to be. And Alan, I don’t want to hear a response from you about this and have you try to gaslight me. I’ve spent literally thousands of dollars at this store to help finish projects I needed to complete with a very small budget and this just isn’t it anymore. Community sourcing via KSL is...

(this is an edit of an original review, based on subsequent information)

Originally I gave one star for NO communication, and a complete failure to meet our appointment to pickup our bedroom furniture. Turns out that I was sent an email response after I scheduled a pickup of said-furniture from our driveway: the email miscarried, i.e. cyberspace must have eaten it.

Anyway, the day OF the pickup, another email came early, saying that our pickup had been denied: the reason given was as follows: "We worked tirelessly over the past week to convince one of our partners to pick up your donation, but unfortunately, we were unable to lock in a commitment from any organization. All of our 501c3 partners have reviewed the pictures and associated pickup information, but none have elected to pick up your donation."

But this email went to Junk and I did not recognize it as having anything to do with Hab4Hum. It got deleted. And I did not read it until we received a phone call the next day, directing me to the emailed explanation of why Hab4Hum did not send someone to keep our pickup appointment.

So, my original complaint has been satisfied, and I give 4 stars for effort. (I have no experience with the store itself at the...