Goodwill Manasota - Retail Store & Donation Center - Venice, Florida

John H.

Great place to shop and FANTASTIC place to work! The absolute weirdest and most unique stuff I've ever seen has all come through here. Plus everything varied and affordable you might need for home, work, family, school, and holidays. Goodwill is one of the country's most efficient and effective charitable organizations, outright transforming unwanted waste into great career opportunities for their community. This store in particular is one of the highest rated in the region!

Megan G.

This is a good stop if you are thrifting through the area. I would say that the shelves are generally sparser than other thrift stores I have been to. However, when the shelves are more filled, I find that the prices on small items and clothing are on the higher end. The furniture here is more affordable but hit or miss. A good stop and the staff are kind. I don’t usually find this store to be understaffed.

Bentley T.

The store is typical of any goodwill. I do find some pricing to be very fair and some items overpriced. Example- Glass pie pan is priced what a new would sell for. Clothing is priced well. Great place for old used kitchen appliances if you don’t mind cleaning them. Most are pretty filthy. I got a great hand mixer, well made but it took me a while to get it disinfected.
I must say the 2 big cons for me;
1. The parking lot is so degraded, full of pot holes.
2. There is sooo much air freshener and scent sprayed, it lingers on all clothing, no matter how many times you wash it. Horrible is you have a scent allergy.

Anne D.

Always greeted by staff and signage to let you know what color is 50% off. The store is huge with mostly clothes. Prices are competitive with other thrifts in the area. If you shop what’s on sale you can get a good price. They generally mark up better quality clothes and have them on a separate rack in the front. “Treasures” area in front with jewelry is not usually staffed but you can get help by asking at cashier.

Jaclyn H.

Greeter was super nice. Store was pretty clean. Selections were okay. Most importantly, the elderly cashier who waited on me was saying how she did NOT get a break or a lunch today, and I saw her at 3:30pm. The supervisor up front was like “well I don’t look after you guys.” That’s completely unacceptable. Shame on them for not giving that nice lady a break or lunch.

Jessica L.

This place gouges everything. I think they forget they get these items for free. It’s a shame. You’re better off going 2-3 doors down to the thrift shop there and/or shopping at your local thrift stores. The colored tag days are a joke, you can ironically never find anything with the tag color even worth the discount they’re giving.

I had the “pleasure” of working with Sandra B. at the cash register today. After she had a line of people waiting to get checked out while she gossiped with the girl next to her, she finally took me. She was arrogant & incredibly rude. I gave her my number, and she confirmed my name. And I mentioned that I had a $10 reward. She immediately gets snarky and says “we don’t do rewards..we never have”.. I simply said, “oh, well I went to a different location a week ago and they were going to let me use it, so I wasn’t sure ” she asks me where it was and I had explained that it was in a different state but I assumed all were connected. She quickly and rudely corrected that. So I will admit, after dealing with her attitude I was a bit over it and said “well, I don’t know I figured you guys could at least honor the reward considering you price gouge everything” she immediately replied back, “And you’re still Shopping here” I was taken back and said “excuse you, yeah I spent an hour filtering through junk to find anything worth what you’re asking for.. who do you think you are?” At first said, I didn’t want my things. But then she goes “fine” But after that, I asked for a manager, (female, dark shaved head and long top) , she stood there smirking then ran over to a manager and I could see her head bobbing and completely exaggerating/lying about the interaction.

Then both walk over and I heard her say “get her” as her manager walked over with a cocky grin and asked what the problem was. I knew immediately she had already taken sides, and wasn’t going to listen. So I explained the situation. I told her, I don’t care about the reward. It is what it is. It’s her employees attitude and the way she spoke to me when asked a question was uncalled for and disrespectful. It’d be one thing if I came at the lady hot, but i was simply asking a question. And her attitude is what warranted the gouging comments. The manager smiled and “I’ll discuss it with my employee” I explained in all honesty, that she can’t deny that they over price their items. Her defense? “We empower our employees to research prices online and price our items accordingly” I said, you’re full of it. You’re selling dollar tree items for double, and there’s a $20 pan with scratches and no lid going BRAND NEW online for $30. She said we also offer the newsletter discount and colored tags which gives customers discounts. Lol at that point I knew this was going nowhere. So I bought what I had just because I needed it, get home and noticed Sandra didn’t bother giving me my discount after it was all said and done

I’ve been frequenting less because I’ve noticed all goodwills have overpriced their things. However, customer service has always been on point with every one I’ve been to. This was the final nail in the coffin. Not that it matters or that they’ll lose sleep over it, but I will never step foot or support goodwill again after this interaction. So if y'all deal with Sandra B. the cashier, Godspeed… that woman just needs to retire if she can’t handle someone asking question

Lili K.

I have been shopping at this Goodwill for over 10 years. It was always one of my favorites in Sarasota County. Went yesterday. Completely surprised and sad to see how absolutely disgusting it has become. Over priced, broken junk. Clothes are cheap and dirty. Anything halfway decent is now in the “boutique” section. If it has any kind of name brand, expect to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a Chinese manufactured piece of garbage that was probably half the price when it was new at Kohl’s or Target. $10 for a Nike T-shirt with a stretched out neck and a hole in the armpit? Are you kidding me? I don’t know what kind of business model Goodwill thinks they’re using, but I do know that they pass themselves off as a company that exists to support the community. How can you support the community when you’re taking donations - which are free! and marking them with insultingly stupid prices? Everyone knows that Goodwill is a FOR profit business whose CEO makes $5 million a year (or more) but the unmitigated GREED that I’ve seen in the last three years is just disgusting. A family on a strict budget, or someone that’s just been affected by hurricanes or floods that’s lost everything, should be able to walk out with a bag of decent clothes and home goods for their family and not have it cost a month’s rent! And, the unmitigated gaul of them trying to guilt you into “rounding up“ for the veterans or other organizations adds insult to injury. When asked yesterday to round up, I asked the cashier and the manager, who just happened to be standing there, if the CEO is going to donate a portion of his or her Christmas bonus to the veterans this year. Blank stare. And no comment when I said, I’ve seen “classier, cleaner merchandise at the dollar store“. They just don’t care. I’ve seen the prices increase 200% or more in all of the Goodwill‘s in Sarasota and Manatee counties, but at least a few of them have bothered to clean and merchandise the store in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you have no dignity when shopping there. Honore is still okay. Barely. Support your local independently owned thrift stores, most of whom don’t get tax breaks, free inventory and cheap labor. At the very least, you’re supporting small business owners who will return your money to the local community in a manner that counts. Zero stars. Do not recommend!

patricia M.

Wow!!! Lots to look at and not just clothing. Best Goodwill I’ve been to. Checkout line was long with only one cashier but we made it through.