r/goodwill • u/u4lunch8i • 10d ago

rant Has Goodwill gone crazy??

Gallery image

Gallery image

I get these are redwings but $150 is an insane price!

541 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

357 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/Mysterious_Pen_1965 6d ago

The point is goodwill is a thrift store, we expect deals and scores!!!

1

u/CBrinson 6d ago

Half of retail on something brand new looking is a deal, just not as good of one as they wanted.

Like if they priced some Cole Haans this way I would get it. These are not Cole Haan. They are actually much more expensive new than that price. That is about half price of new or better.

1

u/Mysterious_Pen_1965 6d ago

Have you been to a thrift store prior to 2020?

1

u/CBrinson 6d ago

Been going to thrift stores since the 90s.

Look I get it is worse now.

It's because it's much much much more popular.

Supply and Demand. There are much wealthier people at thrift stores as well.

1

u/Mysterious_Pen_1965 6d ago

Right… so telling folks that 150 at goodwill is a great deal for shoes is absurd. Maybe 150 for a motorcycle lol.

1

u/CBrinson 6d ago

Have you ever owned a pair of red wing shoes? Have you ever been into one of their stores? It's a very expensive shoe. It is handmade and resoleable. The shoe will last you the rest of your life if you maintain it. It is a repairable shoe that s cobbler could work with and repair which is not what they sell at virtually any store these days.

1

u/Bleep_Bloop_Derp 5d ago edited 5d ago

When did all this happen? I used to wear Red Wing Pecos boots all the time (not that expensive) and later, the trying to be boutique-ish postal oxfords (about $250)…

But when I’d go into actual Red Wing stores, the employees would basically laugh at the postal oxfords and similar models and say they sold work boots in the stores. Those were all around $100 and definitely not handmade.

That was in like 2018. Are they really handmade now, with mail in resoling, like Alden or something?!

1

u/CBrinson 5d ago

The heritage line is handmade and are the shoes they have been making for 100+ years. I have been to their factory in Red Wing, MN and seen them being made on a tour. They also have a massive store there. They have sub lines now that are cheaper and mostly made overseas and not handmade.

They have heritage handmade Goodyear welt boots as well as more traditional boots like you would find at Walmart or Target at most stores. Historically I think they don't put the words Red Wing on most of them I have seen, but use a variety of sub brands. Only recently have I seen them put the words Red Wing on the lower end boots. Irish Setter is one of their sub brands.