Goodwill of Central Iowa — Local services in Urbandale

When you’re a nonprofit organization like Goodwill, with a mission to serve the community, exploiting people by hiking prices to capitalize on the social media frenzy around thrift haul videos and resale culture is unacceptable. Retail stores can do what they want, but nonprofits should hold themselves to a higher standard.

I’ve shopped Goodwill in Des Moines for years and have spent a significant amount of money there over time. The changes started with the 86th Street Johnston store, where they began individually pricing items—and not fairly. Basic Nike shirts for nearly $10, jackets at $20, and a Wild Fable jacket marked $19.95—prices close to buying new at Target.

Now the Urbandale store is doing the same, turning Goodwill into more of a resale shop than a thrift store. This isn’t just about higher prices—it’s a fundamental shift away from Goodwill’s original mission. Goodwill is a nonprofit, not part of the social media influencer game or resale community like Plato’s Closet. They were created to provide affordable goods for people in need, not to chase resale trends or boutique pricing.

By adopting these inflated prices, Goodwill is turning away the very people who have relied on them for years—those facing financial hardship, struggling families, and low-income individuals who can’t afford to shop anywhere else. This shift isn’t just disappointing, it’s harmful.

I am only one customer, but over the years my spending has added up to a considerable amount. Multiply that by the many others who will likely stop shopping there, and hopefully it serves as a wake-up call. Goodwill’s greed is driving away longtime supporters and abandoning their community roots.

I never thought I’d see the day when Salvation Army is noticeably cheaper than Goodwill, but here we are. The clear loss of customers at the 86th Street store—and now the Urbandale location—is just the beginning of a domino effect. If Goodwill doesn’t return to its true mission, more people will stop shopping, and their community support will...

I was purchasing a table which had the paper and you tear the bottom off. I tore bottom off and continued to shop. I saw a lady (Customer) take the top portion of the paper and went up to cash register and purchased the table...she only had top portion and the "Manager " sold it to her. I went to grab the table and put in my cart and the said manager approached me and said this item has been sold. I stated that it has not been sold as I have the bottom portion. She said Well it's been sold. The customer grabs the table out of my cart. I asked to speak with manager and the worker stated she was the manager. How can manager not follow the process when that's what the paper says on the items of furniture. This is unacceptable and not right. What can be done? I will not support or round up at this goodwill EVER again. The manager working 4-30-25 1:45PM needs a discussion on how furniture items are sold. Even another customer stepped in by me and said I was correct that the bottom portion is what you need to...

Clean organized and lots of variety and all sorts of stuff. What put me off was the lady cashier helped out a bigger gentleman and when he left the store she started laughing and making fun of the customer saying he was hitting on her, when all he was doing was being nice. I know its hard to judge based off workers but in my own work experience you do that not in front of a bunch of customers have the common courtesy to be respectful. There was an older gentleman worker who was respectful and didn't say anything or react. It took me telling the workers to have a good night for them to say anything and there was probably 3-4 of them less then 20 ft. From the entrance/exit. I also was going to buy stuff but didn't just because I was rubbed...