Yes, I realize those words don't normally go together, but recently I stopped by the Sumner location (also in Tacoma and Olympia, but have not visted those).

https://www.goodwillwa.org/shop/blue/

Friendly staff, VERY large women/household good area compared to the mens, but everything is good quality. As far as I could tell, everything was brand new, or darn close.

Jean selection didn't work out for me (waist, length, style just didn't seem to align) but I did score some Carhartt shorts for summer.

Nice changeing rooms that let me put my G19 on with each pair of pants or shorts to see how it would carry.

Not sure what happened but seems like a year or two ago they upped the ante on all thier stuff. Someone or something started identifying the quality (retail) of articles taken in and started bumping the prices accordingly.

Also noticed a few pieces of new dollar store type crap finding it's way onto shelves as well as possibly retail surplus/ expiration dated goodies

I dare say it seemed as though it was working more on a for profit type place which may have occurred but not sure

The best Goodwill's in the state are in Kitsap. And, we donate a ton to them. The amount of good works they do for the community is astounding. The computer labs at the Silverdale and Bremerton locations are nearly aways holding free classes. That's a cause I can support.

At least the one in Sumner you wouldn't really know it was Goodwill unless you ask (or figure out they don't have 17 of the same shirt in different sizes).

I would agree it seems to be run for profit, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Not necessarily a bad thing and maybe it was an ebay/ worldwide market thing that someone finally came in and realized there was more money to be made

I've been to that Blue store, seemed OK but I'd rather bargain hunt at the regular stores. The Blue stores are cherry picked, they already know it's good stuff.

The Goodwills in Port Townsend and Shelton always seem to have good stuff. King and Pierce counties, no.

I went to the Blue store in Proctor district in Tacoma. Found a brand new with original store tags on it sport coat. Dept store tag said $199 blue price was $24.99. I get more compliments on it than on my expensive suits.

Several years ago, we would head down to the main Goodwill hub in Seattle every other Saturday morning when they opened. The line would always be a 10-15 deep before the doors even opened. Made a ton of extra cash by selling the stuff on Flea-bay & got a ton of cool shit to keep.

Clothes that you purchased by the pound, all put into large bins, and people going ape shit and digging for treasures was something I had never seen before.