Goodwill Industries of Delaware & Delawre Cnty

Great Goodwill for drop off of items. Mike never lets you struggle getting items out of your vehicle. He’s always quick to help.

Book section is great! No grimey, well read romance novels from the 90s here (lol). More like a legit bookstore than any Goodwill I’ve been to – brand new, recent publications in every genre for $ 1 – 2. This store also has a large album collection.
Not an ideal Goodwill for clothing.

One of my dirty little secrets: I keep my bookshelf stocked via routine trips to this particular Goodwill. Given that I’m prone to a scandalous, borderline-​obsessive book-​buying habit, it’s nice that Goodwill is on hand to help swallow the financial pill that is my compulsive need to purchase. And for some reason, this particular Goodwill seems to refresh their literature stock a lot, which is fantastic news for the voracious reader, and perhaps less-​fantastic news for the voracious reader’s wife who can’t imagine where we’re going to put another bookshelf without blocking a window.
Elsewhere, according to my wife, clothes shopping is quite delightful here. On our last couples’ trip to this location, she walked away with stacks of new, brand-​name jeans for pennies on the dollar. Selection is always a roll of the dice when thrift shopping, but this store is a clean, well-​stocked, efficient middleman in that regard. Vinyl junkies and heavy readers everywhere rejoice.

The last time I found myself at this particular Goodwill location was quite a few years back, and it wasn’t the best experience. I was in need of new jeans, since a few old ones were wearing out a bit with some holes in them, and I came here with hopes of finding some nice new ones to wear. After a bit of looking and trying some out for a good fit, I had a few nice new-​looking jeans in hand that I wanted to purchase with some leftover Christmas gift money I had from a few months prior. One of the jeans was even a brand new pair of Calvin Kleins that had a store price tag still attached to them, for only five dollars here. The cashier was a bit on the rude side however, even feeling it was her business to tell me I should’ve spent my gift money in a better way, which was odd. I mean, as an employee at a place of business, wouldn’t you want people to spend their money at your place of work, since it helps your job security and pads your paycheck? Also, is it really any of her business how I choose to spend my money, especially gift money? Anyways, my brush with her was a little off putting to say the least, and put me off of this location for a while. So for the next few years, I only frequented the one near our home for the occasional offbeat and interesting finds.
About a month ago I found myself at this location again to check them out and see what they had. Much to my amazement and delight, they had improved the look and layout of the store, and to top things off, the employees at the front checkout counters seemed much friendlier and a lot more helpful than I remember. Seems their standards for customer service might’ve gone up a few levels since my last visit, which made for a better shopping experience this time around. I know, I know… this is Goodwill and not Macy’s, but as a customer spending money in a store, no matter what the price or quality of the merchandise, you expect some kind of courtesy and humane treatment… and a charitable organization such as this one, where they help people find employment that would have a difficult time otherwise, would train employees a little better in what true customer service can be. It seems they have learned here, and started to train their employees a little better in the art of customer service and satisfaction. I was very happy to see that.
I found quite a nice haul during my recent shopping here: a Monster High Cleo doll in nice condition with original clothing (albeit missing a few accessories) for a dollar, a very nice two box set of Card Captor Sakura manga to read for $ 6 a box, a few animé videotapes for a dollar each, and a few very nice articles of clothing for my closet. And since it was near Halloween, I happened upon a Ghostbusters shirt fashioned after Venkman’s jumpsuit with his name tag on it, with a bit of faux slime on it, very new looking and in my size, for five bucks. Needless to say, I was ecstatic about my finds!
Granted, as with any Goodwil or thrift store, you have to give items (especially clothing) a good looking over to make sure they are in good condition (no holes, ripped seams, stains, etc) before buying. But even if you miss something and notice it only after bringing your items home, they have a very decent return policy of returning items for store credit within ten days of purchase. Some piece of mind for anyone who enjoys thrift shopping on occasion.
Oh, and some fellow thrift shoppers can be sweet as pie. I had a brief and pleasant conversation waiting in line for checkout with someone who is learning to draw manga/​comics who noticed I was purchasing some myself. It was a fun experience.