The mysterious proverb, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” holds implications especially relevant to the 16-18% of Americans who are reported to shop at secondhand stores. In other words, they “go thrifting”—an activity that entails sifting through discounted pre-used items in search of quality goods.
Frederick county native and thrifter, Autumn Crutchley, explains why thrifting is one of her favorite past times:
“Part of the reason I think I love to thrift is because it’s how I grew up!… I took our trips to Goodwill as if I was going to the candy store, you’ll never know what you’re going to find!”
Potentially the most well-known corporation that pairs this kind of secondhand business model with brick-and-mortar is Goodwill Industries.
Since Goodwill’s inception in 1902, over 3000 individual Goodwill Industries stores have opened across the U.S and Canada. These many stores are divided into about 150 location-based subgroups. Stores in the same region are placed in Goodwill organizations serving that region; this is why a store in California may implement certain programs and rewards for shoppers that can’t be found at a store in Maine.
The ‘subgroup’ that serves the Frederick County area is the Goodwill industries of Monocacy Valley.
Instead of going to every single Goodwill in Monocacy Valley, I went to the three locations closest in proximity to my hometown of Brunswick, Maryland:
- 1003 W Patrick St. (Frederick, MD)
- 805 E Main St. (Middletown, MD)
- 8425 Woodsboro Pk. (Walkersville, MD)
My personal review of each store is mainly based upon observations made during a singular visit to each location on the same Saturday in March. Because of this, conditions observed may specific to that day or time.
Though I have visited each of these three stores multiple times prior to the visit where I collected data, this review should not be used to make concrete judgments about the integrity of each store.
Each of these stores serve an important role in our communities.
Time of day, day of the week, and staffing all affect a store’s presentation.
I looked for four basic and relevant criteria to base my rating of each store on, though I also factored in Google ratings.
- Cleanliness: How well kept do floors and bathrooms appear?
- Organization: How well-implemented are different methods used to classify merchandise? i.e color, size, brand
- Variety: Is there a wide range of different types of items, either in a certain category (clothing) or type of merchandise? i.e furniture, home appliances, book, CDs, electronics, bags accessories, etc.
- Pricing: How reasonable/consistent are prices? How do prices compare to other goodwill stores or retail price?
- Additional Notes: Not included in scoring—though important to note.
- My Rating: What is the average when each of the 4 category ratings are added together?
- Google Rating: How did other people in the community rate their experiences?
- Overall Rating: What is the average of my rating and the community (Google) rating?
Walkersville
Visited on March 15 from 11:30 AM-12:15 PM.
Cleanliness:
I found this store to be relatively clean, though due to the age of the store the floors appeared streaked/ discolored in places, and there was some debris on the ground.
-Cleanliness Rating: 3.5/5
Organization:
Of the three stores I visited, this location had the best organization. The shoes, in particular, were arranged in a consistent rainbow order. The clothes were arranged by this color order in addition to size.
-Organization Rating: 5/5
Variety:
Most Goodwill stores in the Monocacy Valley are divided into similar sections where different kinds of donated merchandise can be found, though the selection of these is more well rounded in some than in other. I found that there was a wide selection of clothes, so much so that it was difficult to move some hangers because of the amount of clothing packed onto one rack. This store also had more furniture like couches and chairs for sale than the other stores.
-Variety Rating: 4.5/5
Pricing:
Sifting through clothing racks, I found that the majority of short-sleeved shorts ranged from 1.99-5.99 in price. Pants usually ranged from 4.50-9.99, though outliers are expected when considering how coveted a brand is, the condition of an item of clothing, or it’s retail price. I think it’s more important to look at the pricing of items more generally than focusing on individual items that may seem too pricey- as hundreds of items must be priced each day. The Monocacy Valley website doesn’t disclose any policies or standard used by employees when pricing items. With this said, the Calvin Klein items at Walkersville tended to be much pricier than the Calvin Klein at other locations, even if the item was unassuming.
-Pricing Rating: 4/5
Additional Notes:
- This store had the largest selection of furniture out of all the locations I went to.
- There was a rack set up seemingly intentionally to appeal to teenage shoppers looking for early 2000’s clothing. Most of my purchases were made from this rack, because this is what I was looking for!
- The lighting is a bit dim, leaving some areas lacking ‘warmth’.
My Rating: 4.25/5
Google Rating: 4.1/ 5
Overall Rating: 4.175/5
Frederick
Visited on March 15 from 1:10PM-2PM
Cleanliness:
This was definitely the cleanest store of the three. I’d assume that part of the reason behind this is that it opened in 2021, making it the newest store. I even saw a staff member sweeping, which I’ve never witnessed before. The bathrooms here are also exceptional compared to the facilities at other stores.
-Cleanliness Rating: 5/5
Organization:
While this store’s color organization was not as seamless as Walkersville’s, the square footage of this location allows it to have multiple distinct sections of merchandise with adequate space for each section. It didn’t feel like things were ‘crammed’ together.
-Organization Rating: 4/5
Variety:
The clothing racks were a bit more sparse. There wasn’t much selection for things like shorts and coats, though shirts were ample. Of all three, this one had the most house/kitchenware items. Tools and electronics were also more abundant. They also seemed to have less high end items- most of the clothes were a bit basic.
-Variety Rating: 3.25/5
Pricing:
Prices were pretty reasonable and were comparable to both Middletown and Walkersville. Most shirts ranged from $1.99-9.99. There were fewer outliers, though it also seemed that there was a smaller selection of clothes from ‘high end’ or ‘expensive’ brands.
-Pricing Rating: 4.5/5
Additional Notes:
- This location had a computer set up as a self-service resource for customers. Written instructions were posted detailing how to use it.
- I have had clothes that I was meaning to buy stolen off of my cart at a prior visit. This location generates the most traffic.
- Newest and largest store.
My Rating: 4.1875/5
Google Rating: 3.2/5
Overall Rating: 3.7/5
Middletown
Visited on March 15 from 2:00PM-2:40PM
Cleanliness:
The floors were a bit dirty, and the customer bathrooms are not always well-kept. Other than this, the store is pretty clean.
-Cleanliness Rating: 3.5/5
Organization:
The color coding organization was a bit muddied, though this is also a smaller store with less traffic and staffing. Because of this, some items in the back were packed haphazardly onto shelves. I will note that the books were neatly placed.
-Organization Rating: 3.5/5
Variety:
Considering its size, this store has the best selection of children’s clothes. I’d say they have the same amount of kids clothes as the Golden Mile store, if not more. They also have more trinkets and glassware, though not as much as the Frederick location.
-Variety Rating: 5/5
Pricing:
Like the other stores, most tops ranged reasonably from $3.50- 9.99. I will note that one graphic shirt was priced at 11.99, and nothing about it indicated the reasoning for this.
-Price Rating: 4/5
Additional Notes:
- This store has a ‘cozy’ feeling to it, and usually isn’t crowded. I come here most often of all the three Goodwill stores I surveyed.
My Rating: 4/5
Google Rating: 4.1/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Another Perspective
To see how my findings compare to experiences of other thrifters in the community, I asked Autumn Crutchley how she would rate the Walkerville, Frederick, and Middletown Goodwill locations.
On the topic of Walkersville, which was ranked at #1 with my criteria, she made many points that reflected my own. For instance, we both agreed on Walkerville’s organization.
“[Walkersville is] always organized and the layout is really nice,” Crutchley said. “Their clothes and products are always clean.”
However, Crutchley only rated Walkersville a 3/5 stars—though she rated both Middletown and Frederick 5/5 stars.
Crutchley only made one complaint about Walkersville—and it had nothing to do with variety, organization, pricing, or cleanliness: “…I think it could use some new lighting as it just feels dark when you walk in! Crutchley said. This is not one of my favorites to go into…”
The Bottom Line
While the objective factors I measured are all important, equally are more subjective factors—like the uneasiness Autumn felt with the dim lighting. I agree with her that the Walkersville location is lacking in ambiance. It’s important to form a opinion based on personal experience. Go check out your local Goodwill stores; you never know what you’ll walk away with…
