Last weekend, my family and I zipped down to Portland (again) for a quick shopping trip and while we were there, went to visit a Goodwill thrift store. In Vancouver, the equivalent would be The Salvation Army, or Value Village.

Goodwill is a North American organization that helps the needy by offering employment, job training and career services.  They have over 2300 retail stores that sell donated goods at very low prices. Goodwill splits their stores into two – retail stores and  outlets. We visited four stores and one outlet between Seattle and Portland.

I found the stores to be very clean and well presented. All items were sorted into sections: clothing/shoes, books, household goods, furniture and electronics. Definitely a vintage hunters dream!

The Goodwill outlets are completely different. They are basically large warehouses where semi-trailer trucks unload donated items into massive blue bins. None of the items have been processed so the sorting is up to you. It was a surreal experience that sort of felt like dumpster diving. In my 5 mins there I encountered suitcases, Christmas ornaments, shoes and even old underwear! Needless to say I wasn’t as prepared as some of the other people who arrived with gloves and masks on.  Once you’ve finished your shopping, you pay by the weight of your items and off you go.  I’ll admit, the outlet isn’t for everyone as it can be an intense shopping experience – as you’re elbows to elbows with someone once a new blue bin enters the warehouse. If you don’t think you’re up for this, you can always try the goodwill online store.

A few of the awesome deals I managed to pick up:

• Two 1970 Yashica Electro GSM rangefinder cameras with the famous Yashinon 45mm F1.7 lens  for $8.99 (valued between $20-$150).
• 1/8 size Crema Violin which needed some parts for $4.99 (valued between $100-$150).

I’ll be writing posts about these items in the future.