Housing Works Thrift Shops - Columbus & 74th St

"I've been going to Housing Works for at least 30 years. I always drop off my used clothes, shoes, bags, boots, books etc. So I know they're going to a good cause! Also, I found my favorite boots ever at that store. Dark green lizards boots with just the right cowboy heal. I LOVED ! THEM. I had to give them back to Housing Works this year, 2023, because my tiny feet (size 5 1/2) got too large for them: -( REALLY GREAT STUFF*** IF YOU LOOK!"

"Great venue - make the donations process super easy. Offer a tax rebate form at time of donation, if needed. Great flow of customers so I expect they do a lot of business. Value having somewhere that is committed to supporting others and is easy to work with."

"I feel that this place is very hit or miss. Everything is rather overpriced, I can’t recommend as a vintage or thrift store because they charging so much for things that are donated. I know their cause, however it’s a bit ridiculous to charge so much. You can sometimes find a gem that’s fairly priced, but their best of season events are just ploys to hold inventory and mark everything up."

"Today was my first time visiting Housing Works Thrift and I had a bad experience with an employee who was unnecessarily rude. This is how it went down: I perused around the shop for about 20 minutes before I was done checking everything out. My husband was going to buy a book and was still looking. I saw a couple sitting on a nearby couch that seemed like it was set up for people to rest while they waited for their companions to finish shopping. There was no sign to indicate that one was not allowed to sit. I sat down on the couch just as the couple before me got up to leave. After a few minutes, I heard a snide voice say "How would you like to not sit there," in an extremely rude tone. I looked up to see an employee peering down at me with a mean smirk on her face. The way she went about this was unnecessarily nasty. It would have been fine if she had merely said "Excuse me, we are asking customers please not to sit on the couch" in a courteous tone. But instead, this employee chose to be rude for no reason. Despite her mean demeanor, I immediately stood up. I explained that because there was no sign that indicated people couldn't sit and since I had seen others sitting, it was not clear that sitting on the couch was "against the rules." She responded that sitting wasn't against the rules -- people are allowed to sit on the couch -- but that they were trying to sell the couch, and that they wanted people to be standing up looking around and spending money. There are a few things that struck me about her response. For one, you now have an employee (or perhaps owner, who knows) being rude to a potential customer not for breaking a clearly articulated rule, but rather, for doing something that was completely within the realm of established acceptable behavior. She approached me as if I was doing something blatantly "wrong" when in fact I wasn't even breaking any rule. Another baffling consideration: since sitting is not "against the rules," does this mean that the employee arbitrarily gets to decide who is "allowed" to sit on the couch and who isn't? Seems a bit shady. Finally, the employee explained her behavior in part by saying that she wanted to encourage people to spend money in the store. In case any management is reading this, I would like to note that, in fact, her approach had the opposite effect. After this encounter, I immediately went and found my husband to tell him we should leave. He was going to purchase a book but I explained to him that I did not want to spend any money in the store after an employee had been unnecessarily rude to me so he put the book back. I live in the area and buy most of my house and clothing items from thrift stores. Were it not for this negative experience, I likely would have been a regular customer but now I will not return the Columbus location of Housing Works Thrift. If Housing Works Thrift wants to encourage visitors to spend money in their store, I suggest they adjust their strategy by ensuring that employees are kind to potential patrons."

"Love the concept of this store. They make the donations process very easy/convenient…. As far as items available, it’s obviously a hit or miss… secret is probably to go often."