TROSA Thrift Store and Donation Center

Reviews 3

KI

kim moore

TROSA business on Oxford Commons, 3500 N Roxboro St, Durham, NC 27704, on Saturday April 1, 2017. I asked the cashier if they sold Metal stand up shelves for the garage. She pointed to the household furniture and told me to look over there. I walked to the furniture and did not see any so I started to the other side of the store. I passed another worker and asked her if they had shelves. She told me to go ask them guys over there they are not doing anything. I started to an area that had 5 (FIVE) guys, one was leaning against the counter, one was sitting in a chair looking at something on his cellular phone and the other 3 (THREE) guys was looking at the cellular phone also. The guy that was leaning on the counter I asked him if they had any shelves for the garage he said look over there. I said I am tired of looking over there can you show me? He said he was helping someone, and I asked how? He said he was looking for a customer lost furniture. I asked how? He said he could not help me. The other 4 (FOUR) guys did not even acknowledge me. I said that alright I will look for myself, I also commented that I have never been in a store with so many workers and nobody is willing to help you. I started at the back of the store where he pointed and did not see any shelves. I saw another guy and I asked him if they had any shelves for the garage and he said he believe he saw one. We started to walk down different isles looking for the shelf. I was getting tired of walking (the store is a big store). I went to the front and ask to talk to someone about the lack of help. The guy that was leaning against the counter came from the back of the cashier area and he was with the store manager (did not know he was the manager at the time). I ask if I could talk to the store manager and the guy that was leaning said that is her. I said what do I have to do to get help around here, the store manager said that the leaning guy was helping me and I said he did not help me (did raise my voice). The store manager said you will not holler at me, I said alright we are not going to get an understanding I would like to talk to someone else. He said he is the store manager. I told him it is someone else over him and I ask for a name and a telephone number to get in contact with his supervisor, he said that TROSA policy is not to give out telephone numbers only email addresses. He also told me that just because they were standing around it did not mean they were not helping anyone and I needed to be patience. I said they did not help me. He said he was helping you (raising his voice). I asked him what ever happen to customer is always right (he did not answer). I asked what was his name and he offered me his business card. I took the card and left. As I was leaving I saw two ladies sitting in an office like setting, I went back in and asked them if I could get the owner name and number, the lady started writing down the information. The store manager came over and asked them what they were doing and I told him they were helping me, he started raising his voice higher and asked them what they were doing, I said again they are helping me and asked why he was over here because you were not willing to help me. HE SAID I NEED YOU TO LEAVE YOU ARE HARRASSING MY EMPLOYEES. I was shocked I have never ever been in a place that I was asked to leave. I go to my car and called the owner and his secretary said he did not work on the weekend. I told her my story and asked that the owner call me. As of 12:30 on Monday 4/3/17 I have not received a called from TROSA. I called today to see if he was in and talked to the same secretary and I told her who I was and asked if the owner received the message and she said she did not know what I was talking about. I asked how she did not know since it was her who I originally talked to, she said she transferred my message to someone higher than her. She transferred me she said to the owner and received a voice message left a message and have not heard anything. It is evidence they are not concerned about my complaint. I

A

A McTux

Its okay overall. Im new to the area and am really unhappy with most of the thrift stores around here - there seems to be a lot but nearly all of them have a really weak selection, are poorly organized, and charge way too much for the items. For clothing its not bad. Usually you can find one or two items worth buying. TROSA has a pretty good selection, is fairly well organized, but are some of the worst in town for overly optimistic pricing on everything but clothing. Most furniture items start at $50 if youre lucky, and its not uncommon to see dressers, etc. priced at $250+. They seem to think that just because something is an "antique" or "vintage" that they can charge an absurd amount - even when the item is damaged or outright broken. We bought one dresser there just because of luck - it was on sale due to not selling for a long time, but we bought another very nice, solid wood dresser off of Craigslist for $40, and after becoming very familiar with TROSA and their pricing structure, I estimate they easily would have tried to charge $150 for it. Ridiculous. There was some four poster bed in there the other day that yes, probably cost $2k new, but when its full of dings and scratches you simply cannot justify charging $500 for it. Their backstock section is HUGE, probably because they dont move enough product due to the obscene pricing. They have loads of pianos, obviously priced by people who know little or nothing about them. Many need serious work and they still want $100+ for them. Speaking of which, they need to stop the customers kids from banging on the pianos. Seriously. Its a given that if you walk into this store, some unattended brat is going to be banging away on a piano (read: damaging the merchandise). They have delivery but its expensive. $35 for a very small radial area around the store (< 5 mi?), and if its further than that its absolutely asinine. I can say that 99% of the time the employees are very polite, helpful, and generally good natured, so I guess theyve got that going for them. Its intensely frustrating knowing that these guys are getting all of their inventory FOR FREE and they have the gall to charge so much. They are preying on the poor - the very people they claim to try to be helping. Thrift / secondhand / donation stores are going to all drive themselves out of business at this rate.

AS

ashleycjstudent

I happen to be in Durham for an event and saw this thrift store while I was heading home. The size of this thrift store is what caught my attention. This is one of the cleanest and well organized thrift stores I have ever encounteted. The clothing and accessories are priced right. I love the fact that you can possibly get a percentage off the tag price based on the color of the tag. This thrift store has lots and lots of furniture. I would say the furniture is was takes 60% of the store space. I was not looking to buy furniture that day. The furniture is way over priced for the quality. For example, I noticed the store had lots of class room desks. I remember these pdesk from my elementary days in the mid 90s. The desk are the ones that you could put books inside. The store had those desk priced at 9.99. No one uses those anymore and the desk take up a lot of space because there were at least 100 of them. Those desk should be priced at 4.99 or less or free. Smh. Most of the furniture is old and from the 80s or 90s. Some could probably be from the 70s. Perfect place to go if you want to see the style of furniture from the 70s, 80s, or 90s or relive those years. I believe its so much furniture in the store because no sane person is going to spend 100 bucks on a couch or sofa that was produced 20 years ago. I really dont understand the reason the store chooses to overpriced furniture that is old and donated. It didnt wow me enough that I would drive an hour to shop there. I would visit the store If I happen to be in Durham again.