Last week, all my thrifting dreams came true. I got an invite (from my favorite PR agent in town!) to the grand opening celebration for the newest Goodwill store in Jacksonville. The new 19,000-square-foot store, located at 11524 San Jose Boulevard, debuted Goodwill’s shift towards providing customers with less of a thrift store and more “department store” shopping experience. Now let me just pause and be totally honest right here. When I first read about the “less thrift store, more department store” theme, I was a little bummed. I thought it was going to be more like a high-end consignment store. And I don’t like those stores. But once I got there I found that while the layout is much cleaner, there were still plenty of the “I thought this only existed in my Grandma’s attic” treasures that I love most about thrifting! It’s the best of both worlds – a clean, well organized store where you can pick up a gorgeous designer dress AND a random pencil drawing of John Travolta (see below!) That’s what I love about thrifting!
And the absolute best part about the new store: it features clothing and apparel items that are sorted not just by color, but also size!!! Yes! That has been my one complaint about thrift store shopping over the years. Why can’t they sort items by size? Turns out they can, and they did at the Mandarin Goodwill! The store also has well-marked signage for departments and includes new fixtures to better display merchandise.
Thank you Goodwill for having me out for a morning of shopping and breakfast, my two favorite things. Can you maybe serve breakfast at all the stores? 😉
Now for a break-down of the treasures I found!
Pier 1 Pillow: $3.99
(I only buy pillows with removable cases, so they can be washed)
Old Collectible Car: $1.99
(It was once full of Jim Beam, so we washed it good to get rid of the smell and K loves it)
Anthropologie Russian Nesting Doll Measuring Cups: $4.99
Old Drink Carrier: $1.99
Black Cow Coffee Tin: $.99
Leoprad Print Express Tank Top: $4.49
Ikat Tribal Print Skirt: $4.49
Ceramic Dry Erase Notebook Paper: $2.99
vtech Laptop: $2.99
(Not pictured, because I couldn’t pry Kingston’s hands off)
TOTAL: $30.93
Minus my $25 giftcard from Goodwill
I spent: $5.93
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