Not only do we love to travel, but we love thrifting and reselling. Whenever we find a Goodwill Clearance store on our travels, we always stop. These are some of our favorite bins stores and a little about the area around them.
Clearance Center Basics
If you aren’t familiar with Goodwill Clearance Centers, here is a quick overview of what they are. First, you should know most people refer to them as Goodwill bins. This is because most merchandise is either put in a big bin or piled on a long table that you have to sort through to find things on the bottom. Most items for sale at bins are charged by the pound and every bin has different prices. Some items such as books may be at a price such as 5 for $1. No bin store that we have been to is set up the same but all of them have the same idea of digging through a lot of stuff to try and find something you want. Before you go make sure you research what their prices are and the hours, they are open as these do vary. They all change out the bins at various intervals throughout the day.
Heidelberg, PA
This is the first clearance center we ever visited. It was close to where we used to live in Pennsylvania, so it was a no brainer to check it out. It is what I would call a medium sized store. Not only do they have bin (tables) with merchandise, but they have shelving on one wall with household fragile items, big dump bins with books and a small space for some furniture. They didn’t seem to have a regular schedule for changing bins, but they did do it quite a few times a day. It seems that within the first hour of opening, they change out most of the bins, so if you go early, you may only be finding things no one really wanted from the previous day. That doesn’t mean don’t look because you may find something that you really like. Make sure you stay for at least the first change out, if for no other reason, just to get a feel for what a new bin looks like. If interested in checking out this clearance center, the address is 1905 Washington St. Heidelberg, PA 15106.
This store is about 20 minutes from Pittsburgh. Heidelberg and Bridgeville (the town next to Heidelberg) are small towns but have lots of restaurants and independent stores in town. Of course, if you are traveling, you’ll probably want to head into Pittsburgh where you can find an array of shopping, restaurants, museums and lots of entertainment.
Morgantown, WV
Another bin center close to us when we lived in Pennsylvania. This clearance center is a bigger store space wise, but they don’t normally have furniture here. They do have some shelving for the fragile items, such as dishes. The bins are rotated hourly, but they only do about 6 or 8 bins at a time. The tables, or bins as they are called, seem a little deeper here, so they hold more product. The atmosphere here is much calmer than other bins, even though there are a fair number of resellers here. This is probably the reason this was one of my favorite bins to go to. But we also seemed to find a lot here to resell. The address is: 6540 Mall Rd. Morgantown, WV 26501.
Morgantown is the home to West Virginia University, so obviously it is geared towards the college students but there is still plenty of restaurants, shopping and entertainment. There are a lot of selections for overnight stays since people come to town for the football and basketball games and they need somewhere to stay. The clearance store itself is on the outskirts of town, so if you are just traveling through the area, you can bypass the town itself and easily get back on the highway.
Clarksville, IN
This is another of our favorite bins. This also is a pretty big store and has a lot of bins. There are both table bins and the big boxes with product in them. They change out their bins every hour and seem to do almost all of them. What I like about this store is that bins are sorted by category. The shoes are all together, the electronics, household items and miscellaneous are together and clothes are together. Again, as at any bin outlet I believe there are plenty of resellers here and they know the routine and where bins are located so they do have a little advantage. The customers and employees here were all really nice and helpful. We stop here every time we are in Indiana. We never go home empty handed. The address is 1212 Applegate Lane Clarksville, IN 47129.
Clarksville is just across the river from Louisville, KY and is a normal mid-sized town across the US. It has lots of chain restaurants and a few locally owned and shopping. We don’t usually stay here when we are in the area because we are going casino hopping and enjoying the scenery in both Indiana and Kentucky. To learn about our casino adventures in Indiana, click here. If you are traveling to Louisville or anywhere nearby and love to thrift, then I highly suggest you stop here!
Oklahoma City, OK
We really liked this store, but unfortunately for us we didn’t have a lot of room in the car since we were traveling to buy very much. This store is laid out very differently than any other one we have ever been to. They have totes going around the perimeter on rollers and then have bin tables in the middle. It’s what I would call a medium size space, but they pack a lot in by using the totes. They also change out the bins hourly, but not every bin is done each hour. The totes are pushed around so that new ones come out a little more often than an hour. I don’t know if there is a schedule for that because anyone we asked didn’t seem to know. The address is 1320 W. Reno Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73106.
Being the capital of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City has a wide variety of activities, entertainment, restaurants with many cuisine choices and lots of shopping. We love Oklahoma and have visited there quite often. To read about some of our adventures in Oklahoma click here.
Columbus, OH
This is another place we stop at whenever we are in the area. One of the things I like about it is that there is a regular Goodwill store right next to it so it’s a two in one stop. This store also has table bins, shelving for fragile household goods and some furniture. Like other clearance centers they do rotate their bins regularly and have their share of resellers. We usually end up here well after opening so I can’t say how crazy it is then, but when we were there, it was a really nice experience which is why we kept going back there. Even though the prices are a little high in the Goodwill store, as in most of them, they seemed to run some good sales so we could usually get some things at good prices. The address is: 2675 Brice Rd. Suite B Columbus, OH 43232.
Our main reason for visiting not only Columbus, but also the Dayton bins was to go to Eldorado Gaming at Scioto Downs to do some gambling at the casino. But Columbus is a pretty cool place with the Scioto River running on the outskirts there are many outdoor activities, lots of great restaurants and plenty of shopping. Since it is the capitol of Ohio, it doesn’t lack for much in terms of tourism.
Dayton, OH
This was one of the first bins we went to on one of our casino adventures and we were pleasantly surprised. It is a large store with a crazy number of bins. One thing we hadn’t seen before was they had their books in bins and were much easier to go through versus other bins where the books were in deep cardboard boxes and hard to dig in. There were quite a few resellers there that we met, and they were all really nice and gave us information on other bins in the area. The one drawback is that the more popular or expensive items, such as video games or jewelry, are at the register and priced the same as at a Goodwill Store. They also change out bins regularly, but I’m not sure what the schedule is since we were only there for a little while. Overall, we did pretty good here. I don’t think you would be disappointed if you went here. The address is 1750 Woodman Dr. Dayton, OH 45420.
Dayton is best known for all types of air flight. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it was the birthplace of Wilbur and Orville Wright. It is home to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. It is home to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Like any other city there are plenty of restaurants, hotels and fun things to do.
Las Vegas, NV
So, this is now our home location for bins shopping, and I have to say it’s a decent bins store. It is medium sized and has a lot of bins. There are a lot of resellers here and tend to stand where they can get to the new bins quickly, so if you want a chance at the new bins watch the regulars and try to get near them. When they change out the bins, they change an entire row at a time so you have to wait until this is done before you can start looking. They do have a small selection of furniture and big box bins for books. There’s nothing unique at this store, but it’s definitely a good source for resellers in the Las Vegas area. The address is 7940 S. Valley View Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89139.
I don’t think I need to say much about Las Vegas but if you’re headed there for the first time take a look at our article for tips on visiting.
Conclusion
If you love thrifting and traveling, then finding a Goodwill Clearance Store is always a bonus. As you can tell every Goodwill Clearance Store has their own ways of doing things, such as hours, type of bins, if they have furniture, etc. but they do all have discounted prices usually per pound. I think that a lot depends on when you go. If you’re not sure where you can find a bins store near you, find it here. I hope this has been helpful to you and helps with your reselling journey.
We like to tell people not only about our traveling adventures but also tips we’ve learned along the way to help them make decisions about their trips. We hope to inspire people to get out, find your adventures and have fun!